The Electronic Neighbourhood - a New Urban Space

During the event Cultural Market Days on 23 and 24 August 2003 at Noerrebro Park in Copenhagen, visitors could also enter the marketplace from their home via the Internet, as a digital 3D model had been constructed that showed the marketplace with all its information booths and activities. This virtual marketplace functioned as an extension of the urban space, allowing you to take part in the flow of information, activities and experiences that were offered in the marketplace. And this just by a click on the Internet address: http://www.e-kvarter.dk. Furthermore at certain times of the day you could chat with people from some of the many working groups of the urban regeneration project in Noerrebro. The digital 3D model is similar to the marketplace, but it creates its own universe in the green surroundings of Noerrebro Park. And now, when the Cultural Market Days are finished and the booths and people have gone, the Electronic Marketplace still remains on the Internet, with a potential for developing a new public space for information, dialogue and cooperation between the actors of the urban regeneration project. This paper presents the results of a 3-year research project, The Electronic Neighbourhood (2000-2004). Researchers have developed and tested a digital model of the urban area and other digital tools for supporting the dialogue and cooperation between professionals and citizens in an urban regeneration project in Copenhagen. The Danish Agency for Enterprise and Housing, the Ministry for Refugees, Immigration and Integration and Copenhagen Municipality have financed the research, which is planned to be published 2004. The results can also be followed on the Internet www.e-kvarter.dk.