• • LOCATION: ELEV, DK
  • CLIENT: TÆKKER
  • SIZE: 220 HECTARES, 13,500 INHABITANTS
  • YEAR: 2006-2050
  • STATUS: CONSTRUCTION ONGOING SINCE 2014
  • ARCHITECT AND URBAN PLANNER: CEBRA
  • LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: LABLAND
  • PLANNING CONSULTANT: TERRITORIUM
  • WATER AND MOBILITY CONSULTANT: COWI
  • AERIAL PHOTOS: TÆKKER
  • PHOTOS: NAJA KIRKEDAL JENSEN, IB SØRENSEN, MIKKEL FROST

Nye is an entirely new suburb for 13.500 inhabitants north of Aarhus. In close collaboration with Tækker, CEBRA has designed the masterplan for the area, which forms the foundation for the development of the entire 150 ha site. The development of Nye is based on principles for sustainable urban planning combining the best aspects from the dense city centres with the open green suburbs. The masterplan for Nye is based on three main values – Diversity, Life and Balance.

Diversity
Nye will be a diverse suburb offering varied housing types to a wide range of different people and age groups – like a patchwork of families, children, young people, couples, singles, and seniors living door by door creating a vivid and manifold city. When the first thoughts about Nye was formed, the site was laid out as conventional farmland. But due to a focused strategy for biodiversity – working with blue and green landscape rooms – the area is continuously being transformed into a natural habitat for more plants and animals. The architectural expression of Nye is characterized by a great variation in both landscape and buildings. A combination of different textures, colours, scales, and materials will appeal to our senses – adding increased aesthetic value – and creating a long-lasting city characterized by high architectural quality.

Life
The overall planning strategy for Nye is based on proximity. To motivate residents to walk and bike, the area is divided into clusters with a walking time from the centre to periphery of five minutes. Six clusters are placed around a city centre with a light rail station and shopping markets distributed in dense hexagonal city blocks. The clusters around it all have unique identities partly based on their natural context: forest, lake and farmland. Thus, the nature and landscape in and around Nye will offer the residents different experiences. Nature is present everywhere and offers a wealth of opportunities for movement and recovery for all ages to support both mental and physical health. Nye will be a vibrant suburb with city life, shops, homes, jobs and a good setting for local engagement and social communities. The suburb creates the framework for the good life with meeting spaces and facilities that support local engagement and collaboration between the residents.

Balance
Nye will be developed on the premises of nature and is expanded in a balanced relationship that unites nature and city. Shortly said, the residents of Nye will live with the city in the front yard and nature in the back yard. Nye is a project with a remarkably ambitious approach to sustainability focusing on i.e., rainwater management and biodiversity. Thus, Nye is a forward-looking urban development project, that proves that it is possible to develop new sustainable cities while simultaneously protecting and developing nature.

Learn more
About Nye
Danish podcast about the urban development of Nye