Launching Sif City: Let's Diversify and Enrich the City

Written by Sif Høg, 05/08/2023

The event is set to start at 17:15 at the long ‘new moon’-shaped bench. A diverse group of people are starting to gather, each with their own personal or professional interest in the issues that Sif's blog will be addressing: friends, urban scholars, a few local politicians, some interested people from local NGOs, and a handful of friends from Copenhagen's underground performance scene. I gaze over the people that have arrived and among them, I recognize Freja, an urban scholar from the University of Copenhagen. Last year, she was teaching a university course on urban culture that gave deep insights into social issues and solutions in the urban environment of Copenhagen. She is in a deep conversation with Andrey, a festival planner and official of the Government of São Paulo. He went to Freja's course together with Sif. He is telling Freja about his plans to engage in cultural projects across Europe, and seems excited to hear what Sif will say about Sif City and her perspectives on urban culture.

A new arrival at the launch is Astrid, a recent geography graduate and also an active politician serving in the Copenhagen City Council. It was during Astrid's election campaign that she crossed paths with Sif, who supported Astrid’s advocating for more available and affordable student housing options in Copenhagen, for younger individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.

As a geographer and council member, Astrid regularly engages in discussions about urban planning initiatives. She expresses to Rasmus, another council member with a green and social agenda, her interest in observing Sif's blog: “It will kind of interesting to see if we can use Sif's blog for something in the city hall, don't you think?”

As my watch approaches 17:15, a few more interesting people fill Den Sorte Plads with small talks on city festivals, Copenhagen's housing market and the underground performance scene, not to overhear a few frustrations and hopes for the sustainable course of the city. I express to Sif how excited I am to see all these people interested in her blog.

It is about time and Sif seems ready for her speech.

Sif steps up on the 'new moon'-shaped bench serving as a podium and with its arch implying a space for the audience to stand. She smiles, gratefully.

"Good afternoon, and thank you all, friends, and colleagues, and thank you to those of you that have arrived of pure interest in the blog. It makes me really happy to see people interested in my blog – to see people, wanting to explore with me, the power of communities and the transformative potentials of the city.

"Sif City will delve into the intricate forces between the diversity of cultures within our cities, the lived lives of the people that inhabit the urban landscapes, and the impact of the authorities planning and designing our spaces.

"Sif City will delve into the concept of urban trust. With trust, communities can flourish, and without trust, we are divided and left to solitude in a landscape of myriads. On this blog, I will conduct a study on the strength we gain when politicians trust the citizens to shape their own neighbourhoods, ensuring that if nowhere else, then here one can feel at home.

"On Sif City, I want to throw away the myth that one space can include everyone, and instead explore the options to create a city where everyone is included somewhere. A city that embraces diversity and if someone is heading towards homelessness, they will be met by an alternative on the way.

"Watching the city through the lenses of feminist and Marxist urban theorists such as Jana Cephas, Leslie Kern, and Lefebvre, Sif City will be a forge for planning principles that won't push Queers, BIPoCs, women, and disabled people to the margins of the city.

"Methodologically Sif City will become a knowledge bank of spaces and people from the urban landscapes, gathered through field observations and conversations. Paying close attention to this knowledge bank, I believe we can uncover the needs and solutions that will diversify and enrich our cities.

"To build this, Sif City will be open to collaborations, to suggestions, to guest writers, to debates with the experts we call experts and with the experts that we pass on the streets. Maybe Sif City will become a platform for the exchange of ideas and planning for the future of urban spaces, and maybe Sif City will grow so strong that it becomes a catalyst for concrete change in our cities.

"So let us come together and embark on this journey of exploring the power of communities and the potential to diversify the city!

Sif feels a surge of contentment as the guests sound an applause. Her eyes catch sight of her girlfriend Ingrid, beaming brightly while engaged in a conversation with Sif's dad. Though not knowing what words the two of them just exchanged, they fill Sif with positivity and warmth.

Sif takes a moment to feel the atmosphere before stepping down from the bench and engaging in conversations with friends about the city, listening to their thoughts regarding her presentation and her blog.