Better Communities

We live in cities to benefit from each other, share resources, and socialize and interact with each other. Yet throughout the world, we see cities and neighborhoods, where living together is not as attractive and safe as it could and should be. At SLA we are dedicated to creating better communities, where the physical environment empowers the social sphere and strengthens social equity.

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Cecilie Jessen Hansen

Anthropologist

Most municipalities and housing associations have recognized the importance of attractive urban spaces and the public realm in socially challenges neighborhoods. Our behavior and co-existence are affected by our physical outdoor environment.

At SLA we believe that nature holds the ability to affect all of us in a positive way. It stimulates our senses. Makes us aware of each other and our surroundings. And it makes us care. Along with robust architectural interventions and space design, nature can play a key role in creating better communities.

Our anthropologists and sociologist are a central part of our engagement in communities all over the world. We use their wide knowledge and deep insight into human behavior to infuse our strategies and design, so we ensure that our work has the intended impact on all humans.

We work together with a variety of housing associations and a wide range of multidisciplinary advisors and consultants, to provide the best, knowledge-founded guidance and design for communities and cities of social equity.

Perspectives

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Our economies, livelihoods, and well-being all depend on our most precious asset: Nature

These were the opening lines of Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta’s report “The Economics of Biodiversity” and were also at the center of the conversation our CEO, Mette Skjold, had with Dasgupta at the UIA World Congress of Architects CPH 2023.

They agreed that we, as humans, depend on nature – not only as a source of resources and wealth but also as the foundation for our physical and mental well-being. We are not separate from nature. We are nature.

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Rasmus Astrup: 'City Nature' - The 2022 Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Lecture

In spring 2022, SLA partner and design principal Rasmus Astrup was invited to give the annual Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Lecture by the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture in Vancouver.

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Small town values: When villagers drive the development

How do citizens – and not just municipalities and experts – drive the strategic development of villages?

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Fundamentals

Come explore the fundamentals of our office together with us

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Atmosphere

“Atmosphere is a thin film of enclosure around our world. Without our vaporous, water filled atmosphere, life on Earth – or indeed life anywhere – would not exist. But atmosphere is also what you sense…

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Sound

“Sound. The soundtrack of our lives often passes us by without us noticing. But I have begun noticing the poetry of the noises around me. The rhythm and the song of the poet. The calling…

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White

“In the beginning was chaos. While the universe began to expand after Big Bang it also decreased in temperature. It became more and more ordered. With that order, the Universe changed its background colour toward…

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Roots

“A tree consists of three parts: Its foliage, its trunk, and its roots. All three parts are important for the aesthetic feeling of nature. But of these three I find the roots most intriguing, most…

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Mist

Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in air. Physically, it is an example of a dispersion. It is most commonly seen where warm, moist air meets sudden cooling, such as…

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Essay: The Bark Room

“Bark is both living and dead, growing and cracking, a shell, a protective layer and an integral part of the wood’s tissue. It’s the bark structure and the way it peels, which separates the different…

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Sakuteiki
– The Book of Garden

Sakuteki – The Book of Garden is a manual, a textbook for Japanese gardeners in the 11th century. This introduction sounds like this: “In making the garden, you should first understand the overall principles. According…

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