The goal of the parallel competition of Køge Coast is to create the foundation for a combined plan of development of a new part of the city, including the three areas of Station area, Collstrop site and Southern Harbour.

Køge’s placement by the estuary where Køge stream meets Køge Coast, combined with the many qualities of the city rooted in its history as a local trade centre, gives it a unique nature. A series of old townhouses surround Køge Square where Denmark’s oldest town hall is located next to the beautiful old townhouses. Next to the old city centre, Køge offers a modern urban environment. The city is adjacent to the major motorways E20 and E47/55 and has a thriving industrial harbour, being expanded by the soil depot of Køge.

Both the modern harbour and the historical centre are central to understanding the special nature of Køge. Both contain cultural property. It is in the dynamics of the two opposites that the special identity of the city is sensed. Simultaneously, Køge contains a minor scale: refined, densified and organized – and a large scale of the harbour: robust, raw and industrial. The difference and the juxtapositions must live on and create meetings between new and old, raw and refined, industrial and picturesque, open and dense, cheap and expensive.

Our vision is that in the future Køge is a city where these dualities converge and live together in a dense and lively unit - in the future Køge is a city of multiplicities.
With a project of this scale and complexity, it is decisive that the vision of the project is supported by tools that enable it to develop the thoughts in a quantitative manner throughout a long and unpredictable developmental process. To ensure this, the project is constructed of four elements that together secure the birth of the vision and the holistic approach of the team. The following are the four elements:

The Culture street - Key grip: In the current proposal, Køge city meets with the blue waters of the bay and the surrounding green areas via an innovative and live cultural spine. By using existing qualities, activities and functions as a starting point, this ’culture street’ can be established from day one, and be developed in time in close cooperation with city stakeholders and citizens.

Along the cultural spine different scales, economic profiles, characters and typologies will arise in the course of time and transform into a symphony of diverse experiences.

The Urban principles – Strategy: The dream of the Multiple City is not just about how life in the city will be. The vision is also about how a living strategy for development could get us there. The intention is to let the multiple city grow in Køge Coast via a flexible and instructive planning process - a plan that is open and available to other dreamers.
The urbane principles create a frame with accurate measurements and guidelines that can be developed and manifested physically in many different ways. This combination of precision and flexibility is developed strategically in relation to a series of factors that together make the project a robust planning tool.

City quarters – Immersion: By developing three different city quarters, the diversity of Køge is strengthened and the interesting relationship between the historical city centre and the industrial harbour is preserved. It is in this contradiction, in this multiple relation, that visitors will remember, and residents will use to describe Køge as a city.