15th Day: Celebrate the Community

Today was the day of the “Communal Things”… I dedicate my time to participate and feel more integrated with this community. The first one was the Action Day, the second one was the meeting with a friend and the third and final one was the barbecue.

The Action Day is one day in a month where people are invited to do something to Christiania. They can sweep the floor, paint something or even fix anything broken. I offered myself to clean the garden in the Christiania’s entrance. It was a nice experience to me. There I could spend some time of my day thinking about how to keep clean the urban space of the cities and specially the Christiania urban space. I became disappointed with the number of the people involved but they told me that use to have more people in particular occasions. I knew some people and increased the number of friends in here.

At the lunch’s time I met a nice girl who is participating of the CRIR program. She was really kind with me. She told me about the community feeling in Christiania and the way they used to do together the things in the past. Everybody in here seems create a kind of strong relationship which helps to keep one of each other. She even told me about how the process of finish with the fences started near of her house.

At the evening I was invited to participate of a lunch in one of the neighborhoods. There were around 20 people eating on a group of small tables. Together that group of table was forming one huge table. We chat about many things and the language wasn’t a problem. The people were really kind in speak in the english language with me. This way we could share many different experiences.

It’s important to experience a different way to live in community. Today a huge number of people live in flats all around the world. They don’t even know their neighbors. It does quite strange arrive in here and notice that everybody forms a kind of huge and beautiful family. Everybody knew each other. It happened from the morning at the Action Day till the evening. At the same way it was strange to me, it was too familiar. I felt like one with them. It is important today… in our cities.

I’m sorry due have not any image for today… I was very busy doing the social things ;-)

14th Day: The Little Places

Christiania is a city full of secret places. We can even find it in the hills, in the top of the trees, in the middle of gardens, inside the squares and under the earth. Each day I find one different little space.

The most of these little spaces fit inside two or three people. They seem have been built to gather friends who wants to protection against of the cool wind. They have many different shapes and each one seems to be painted by a different person. They are built in wood, in glass, in metal and even with branch and leaves.

They are frequently used by friends at the night to chat, to do picnic, to smoke or drink. This kind of space is a really good particularity in Christiania’s space due the simplicity they were build. They are even more special when they surprise us while we walk through the paths near of the lake in the borders of the city.

This kind of human intervention gives to the urban space a human touch. They remember our childhood and the houses on the trees. They even create a personal atmosphere and a kind of feeling that’s your space

Little place found near of the lake

Little place even used as slide by children

Little bench near of the Maelkeboetten

Little place found in the paths though the lake

13th Day: The Politic Art x the Free Art

In the past Christiania seems to have used art to do politic. After read the C.A. Guide (http://www.maori.dk/christiania/engguide.html) we notice the incredible number of manifestations that happen in the city. In the past, Christiania was a kind of urban artistic laboratory... an open air museum where you could find contemporary artistic intervention at the urban space. Sure these manifestations marked the urban space of the city and increase the strongest of some places like for example the Pusher Street.

Not only the Pusher Street but the whole city seems have signs of political expression like freedom, rules, hash, music idols, community, etc. These expressions are exhibited in the squares and out of the houses though paintings grafittis, sculptures and even in the architecture.

Walking though the Christiania streets today we even notice many art interventions but without the same political energy than before. The thematic seems to have changed. The most art found today there’s relationship with a kind of free and individual art. Sometimes we even find a kind of vandalism art which doesn’t valorize the public space.

For the moment the only cultural scene found in the city is about the good shows in Nemoland, Lopen, Operaen and in the Jazz Club. The expression seems was reduced to the music expression. We don’t use to find painters of plastic artist in the streets. In the actual political stage of Christiania, the city should reinforce its voice though an educational thematic about your history and culture to valorize its identity. I believe this could be an interesting to way to revitalize the artistic scene in Christiania urban space.

The red sign says “The dreams that never dies. Longing for freedom”

Political art in a public manifestation. Picture from the site http://www.maori.dk/christiania

An example of “Free Art”

Another example of “Free Art”

12th Day: The Garbage and the Recycling

How an independent city can manage all the garbage its produce? Answer: Recycling.

Christiania is responsible by your own garbage. They have a community system which manages the whole garbage through recycling. We find the colored garbage cans scattered through the city and even really integrated to the funny urban environment of Christiania.

They also have a sewerage system based in natural techniques which decompose the human residues in a kind of public toilet called “Hummus Toilet”. They are really useful to those whom intends to camp in the Christiania’s borders.

They also have a recycling center where the plastic, metals and paper are separated and conducted to the right destination. The garbage separation starts inside the house. The whole community is involved in the process of the household waste.

The garbage doesn’t look the bigger problem of this city. The small scale of this community and the individual conscious of each resident seem to be the secret to the successful recycling system.

The Garbage Cans

The “Hummus Toilet”

11th Day: Cars Not Allowed

After the many tentative that the most great cities in world is trying to finish or decrease the number of cars in their roads, Christiania seems to reached it with success. There’s no use of cars inside the town.

The many signs scattered in the roads says “Car-free Zone”. For the most residents it means less pollution and welfare in the roads where children can freely run. How they achieve it? The answer is bikes. Christiania is in the world bike’s history. Here was invented the "ladcykel" (cargo bikes) also called as boxcycles.

Many different models are shared in two exclusive shops. One of them still produces the cargo bikes in here. They have a huge workshop and the different models are located at the sidewalk. The other one does have a beautiful show window where the bikes are exposed like jewels.

It’s really pretty to watch parents carrying on their children from the kindergarten at the evening.

http://www.christianiabikes.dk

http://www.christianiacykler.dk/

Precious Bikes

Shop and Workshop of Christiania Bikes

The Cargo Bikes

Sign for the car drivers

10th Day: The Christiania’s Gates

Another thing which can be interesting to Christiania is to change the visibility to the Pusher Street and to the others roads. Among this strategy we would reach the first step to finish the division between Copenhagen and Christiania.

This strategy would pass by the Christiania’s gates. Despite of the many different entrances Christiania do have, seems the city doesn’t explore their particularities. There is only one or maybe two main entrances to the most visitors and tourists whom arrive in here. Both of these two main entrances guide the paths to the Pusher Street which helps to keep the feeling of closed community. The number of people crossing their entrances is incredible huge but the others entrances are very used by another whom doesn’t live in Christiania.

The particularities of the Christiania’s entrances are about the art. The number of drawings and the thematic they carry on is different one to the other. It is really nice to identify the multiple interpretations you can have from the Christiania history by the gates. There are messages like: “Welcome to Christiania”, “No photo, please” and “4. Fuck the new world order”... while getting out from Christiania you does have messages like: “Good bye” and “You are now entering the EU”

A new way to keep the identity of the Freetown is to rethink the others entrances. To explore the potential of the gates can create sympathy and a magical feeling to the outsiders. News gates and fewer walls between both cities have the potential to finish the ghetto character which Christiania has today.

Black Arrow: The Main entrance and the Pusher Street / Red Arrows: The unexplored entrances

Behind of the Main Entrance…

A Shinny and beautiful entrance to the Pusher Street

“F*** New World Order”

9th Day: The Pusher Street

Yesterday I wrote about Drugs. Today I write about the Pusher Street because is impossible write about drugs and don’t write about the Pusher Street.

The Pusher Street is the main Street in the commercial area of Christiania. It’s interesting to notice that in spite of this Street to be the main connection with Copenhagen, it’s not seen straightly from the streets around it. The street is a kind of hidden or secret street. We can’t see it from the Prinsessegade Street, from the Refshalevej or even from the canal. It’s hidden between residential buildings and high vegetation. I think it´s one of the characteristics which help the illegal commerce to stay there. When the people don't see what is happening there, they don't even want to change it. The middle of the Pusher Street concentrates the illegal hash market.

Another thing I notice is the potential of the Pusher Street. Historically it´s where happens the political public manifestations of the Christianities. Many political discussions and artistic interventions already taken place in there. It´s a huge symbol for Freetown Christiania but for the moment it's blurred by some strange agony feeling.

The fire in cans at night, the vigilance and the "No photo, Please" signs wrote in red spray paint, creates a bad impression of the Christiania Community due this street to be the Gate to the Freetown.

My opinion is that this street should be reformulated to an original urban design and works as an trophy to Christiania... The problem is to have a license by the Danish Government to apply this project.....

The Woodstock Bar

A little market of clothes

The hash commerce

Pusher Street in the morning

8th Day: Drugs

One week goes by and I didn’t touch at this concern: Drugs. I think now is the time.

As an alternative society in the middle of an European Metropolis, Christiania has a lot of amazing ideas and a one particular way of life in a Freetown. What means to live in Freetown?

For me, it’s a kind of city where there are no rules, you can do what you want, in the time you want, respecting all the people around you.

It’s not the same for the people outside Christiania. They seems don’t understand what means live in a Freetown or they don’t even want to understand what it means.

In the heart of a huge urban city and without the police presence, all the hash dealers seems to have meeting in here, in a kind of Free Trade Area to the hash market. Freetown doesn’t mean Freetrade. Christiania seems suffer a lot with it. The mistake is to think that it’s a problem started in here. Christiania don’t know how deal with it without the police force. It seems a problem of a huge city being administrated by a little community… It’s impossible to resolve at the Christiania scale because it’s not a problem of Christiania… it’s a problem from outside her…

There are a lot of politics concerns involved in this matter. I can’t touch it in here because would have no space to relate it in a personal blog. I don’t want say Christiania is a victim of the drug but this Freetrade seems a kind of external political extortion to try to finish with the Freetown.

The people seem to link Freetown with drug’s use. It’s sad to see a community with so beautiful and pure ideals suffering with the wrong understanding.