"You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself"
Prince Siddhartha Gautama

Bringing Places To Life  

Aalborg’s Waterfront Transformation

When I got into Aalborg, the information boards made no sense. There were streets and buildings that simply didn’t exist on my map. And, always a topic of mild concern for a guidebook writer, the tourist office with which I had an appointment, appeared to be no more.

Then I walked down Boulevarden to where this port city meets its waterfront, along the opening of Limfjorden. And it became clear. Aalborg had been transformed.

In place of the old industrial swathe of town that had stagnated the area north of the Medieval quarter and east of its main shopping street as recently as 2005, a new Aalborg was rising out of the ashes.

An audio park that played various pieces of classical music from within an intriguing series of stone pyramids now greets the eye on Slotspladsen, a pedestrianised waterside area beside Aalsborg Slot which, along with the rest of the city’s still-enticing Medieval core, seems no longer to be the focus of the new Aalborg.

It’s a brave move, ditching medieval for modern, industrial chic, but if there was a place that could do it, it was here, the home of the architect behind the Sydney Opera House (Jorn Utzon). And, sure enough, Utzon had a major part to play in Aalborg’s revamp, I discovered. His Utzon Center project, a daring construction inspired by his wanderings through shipyards as a young boy, was his last commission before he died in 2008 and stands as the fitting catalyst for change along the Aalborg waterfront. To the east of the Limfjorden bridge, it’s now a cool cafe/restaurant and, most importantly, a platform for architectural exhibitions and development.

Just a block or so inland, I found the tourist office. Hiding behind a new shopping centre (including the latest branch of Denmark’s stylish budget hotel chain Cabinn), the centre was part of Nordkraft, a former coal power station now transformed Tate-style into a concert and exhibition venue, with an arthouse cinema and a number of cool new bars and restaurants. The design has kept totally in touch with the old, industrial Aalborg, too, with thecoal chute and everything still exposed and the grime the coaldust created an absorbing part of the decoration.

“So what?” I asked Catherine, a dedicated member of the campaign behind Aalborg’s rebranding “is that big construction site beyond the Utzon Centre going to be?”

“Just the new site of Denmark’s national orchestra” she informed me calmly.

Aalborg, it seems, still has a few surprises up its sleeve. And the best thing about it is that industry, far from becoming just a museum exhibit, is still a living, breathing part of the city fabric. In fact, it’s not even that far away. The country’s main Aquavit distillery is just down the waterfront and across the fjord, the smoking chimneys of Aalborg’s current industry are now just far enough away to appear, yep, beautiful.

And before I get the comments floding in, yes, the picture is of Newcastle. Another waterside city recently transformed through great projects using former industry as the key to regeneration, such as the Baltic centre. Isn’t the link obvious? I’m still getting used to this…