The current urban development in Copenhagen can be outlined by four main societal changes which have been ongoing for the past two decades: increasing levels of debt per household, liveability as a monetizable indicator, profit driven urban planning conducted in negotiation with real estate developers, and an ever increasing gap between housing prices and wages. These four drivers are altering Copenhagen’s demography and social coherence; provoking the creation of a scenario in which only the highest income group has the right to a home appropriate in size, location and capacity of adaptation in the city. The remaining multitude is consequently priced out of their right to live in the city and to access its affordances, reduced to carrying out an existence dominated by debt and inequality. In this way the home has shifted from being the strongest asset in one’s life to the strongest liability. Despite the visible risks that these dynamics contain, new real estate developments in Copenh
