Where It All Began

It was 1971 when a group of young squatters occupied an abandoned military barracks in the Christianshavn district. They wanted a free space — a place to live by different values: freedom, creativity, sharing.

What at first looked like a provocation became a long-lasting social experiment: a village in the heart of the city, where around 800 people still live today. Colourful houses, art everywhere, urban gardens, self-managed cooperatives — every corner tells a story of resistance, utopia, and transformation.

A Model of Urban Self-Governance

Christiania is one of the most iconic examples of urban self-governance. There is no private property here. Decisions are made in assemblies, through consensus. Money is reinvested into the community. And every new person wishing to live here goes through a collective welcoming process.

The community runs cultural spaces, concerts, art workshops, but also cafés, bakeries, an organic market, and an autonomous recycling system. A fully alternative urban infrastructure, built day by day through collective vision.

Art as a Language of Liberation

In Christiania, art is not decoration — it's a way of life. The walls, the streets, the houses: everything is colourful, transformed, reinvented. Here, people paint, sculpt, and play music every day. Creativity is a tool for liberation, a language to denounce what doesn’t work and to imagine what could be.

Over the years, the community has hosted hundreds of artists, activists, and thinkers from around the world. But it's also a space of daily cultural production: concerts, theatre, ceramics, crafts, murals. A living, ever-changing place that doesn't aim to isolate itself from the system, but to build an alternative where freedom of expression is a core value.

Creative Anarchy and Urban Resistance

Christiania is one of Europe’s most powerful examples of urban resistance — a place that chose to exist outside the frameworks of state control, real estate speculation, and bureaucratic governance. Here, anarchy is not chaos, but a chosen order. A system built on trust, responsibility, and self-management.

Over the decades, the community has faced eviction threats, state negotiations, and pressure to privatise. And yet, it has always resisted. Because Christiania is not just a physical space — it’s an idea. And ideas, when rooted in everyday life, become acts of daily politics.

This creative anarchy lives in every gesture: in the way the community governs itself, in the art that speaks, in the freedom that is defended day after day.

A Community in Fragile Balance

Christiania is no perfect utopia. It's always lived between internal tensions and external pressure. The relationship with Danish authorities has often been complex. But it's in this fragility that its strength lies: the capacity to adapt, to negotiate, to never give up.

The community continues to reinvent itself, facing challenges around space management, security, and economic sustainability. But it resists. And it inspires.

How to Take Part

Christiania is open to visitors. Some areas are public, others reserved for residents. Guided tours, cultural events, and markets are organised. Those interested can propose artistic projects or volunteer within local collectives.

It's a place to approach with respect, curiosity, and openness. A space to be transformed by.

In Conclusion

Christiania, the self-managed city in the heart of Copenhagen, is a one-of-a-kind example of an urban intentional community in Europe, home to around 800 people today. A place where art, self-governance, sustainability, and collective living have been intertwined for over 50 years.

It’s not just a place to visit. It’s a place to listen to. To walk through. And to be transformed by.

By Valentina Bracciodieta