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kAl Borgmesteri Asii Chemnitz Narup: Nuup illoqarfiit
pingaarnersaanera ilisimaarilluarparput.
An Arctic city with growing pains
With Mayor Asii Chemnitz Narup in the lead, a significant and
visionary change is on the way in Nuuk, where citizen number
16,000 has just started in nursery
By Christian Schultz-Lorentzen
Nuuk has grown explosively over recent generations.
New parts of town have shot up, most recently Qinngorput.
The whole of Greenland is drawn to the capital. This
means that the municipality must constantly be at the forefront
of developments, if it is to prevent randomness from taking
over.
There are many reasons for the growth problems in the capital.
In 1947, there were about 1000 inhabitants and today this has
passed the 16,000 mark.
There is a tendency everywhere in the country to move to the
towns, not least on the part of the better-educated women.
Moreover, Nuuk provides more job opportunities and a wealth
of activities that cannot be found anywhere else in the country.
It is here, the government, parliament and central administration
are located. It is here, a series of major companies have
their head offices. It is here, the media – both the written press
and the electronic press – have their offices. Not to mention the
Katuaq Culture Centre, the National Theatre, Greenland University,
and Greenland’s National Museum and Archives, Greenland’s
Teaching College and other important institutions.
Dk Borgmester Asii Chemnitz Narup: – Vi er meget bevidste
om, at Nuuk er landets hovedstad.
GB Mayor Asii Chemnitz Narup: - We are very aware of the
fact that Nuuk is the country’s capital.
But like so many other capitals, Nuuk is still battling a series
of big town issues. The police day-reports are not the shortest
in the world and there is a huge demand for housing in a price
range that ordinary people can afford. In addition, there will
be effects resulting from the iron mine in Godthåb Fjord, if it is
realised. In its construction phase, this project will have more
than 1400 employees – an increase in population, which will
obviously have a knock-on effect in Nuuk.
praisE to toWn plannErs
In other words, there are multiple challenges facing Greenland’s
biggest town. It was founded under the name Godthåb in 1728
by the Danish-Norwegian missionary, Hans Egede.
– We are very conscious of the fact that Nuuk is our capital.
We have self-governance and this has given Greenland a different
status. But our focus is first and foremost on developing
the town for the benefit of its inhabitants, states Asii Chemnitz
Narup, Mayor of Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq, which stretches
all the way to the East Coast and is therefore one of the world’s
biggest municipalities, measured in square kilometres.
Suluk #03 Air Greenland Inflight Magazine 2012 41
Leiff Josefsen