Trevor Davies, who led Copenhagen’s year as European Capital of Culture in 1996, says the Danish capital now needs a new direction. He made the case in a DR feature published on August 24, 2026.
Davies was 47 when he served as general secretary of Kulturby 96, the project that marked Copenhagen’s designation as EU cultural capital. In the feature published by DR, he describes a city that was slow moving and close to insolvency in the early 1990s. Per DR, the state had warned Copenhagen that it risked being placed under administration.
At one point, one in seven residents of the municipality was unemployed, and one in three was over 60. Kulturby 96 had a budget of almost one billion kroner, which the team spread across multi year initiatives rather than single events. According to Københavns Internationale Teater, Davies held the post from 1992 to 1997.
The traces remain visible. The concert venue Vega opened in September 1996 in the renovated Folkets Hus in Vesterbro, and the Arken art museum in Ishøj opened in March 1996. The former naval area Holmen was opened up for performances, and Havneparken on Islands Brygge received support for renovation.
Kulturby 96 was criticized at the time for financial disorder and for favoring the capital. Trine Bille, professor and economist at CBS, tells DR that the year created optimism, international attention and a new cultural self understanding. She stresses that renovation of old apartment blocks, the Øresund Bridge, the metro and Ørestad were already underway or planned.
Jakob Parby, senior researcher and curator at the Museum of Copenhagen, says the year put extra speed on the process and showed that the city wanted to become more attractive. Davies, now 77, leads Teater Metropolis, which has offices on Refshaleøen. The island once housed the B&W shipyard, which went bankrupt during the culture year in 1996.
Concern about the Refshaleøen plans
DR notes that a new vision would turn Refshaleøen into a district with 70,000 residents within about 10 years, and that Davies fears the development. Refshaleøens Ejendomsselskab states that a planning process began in the winter of 2023, and that the evaluation committee’s assessments of five structure plan proposals were published in May 2026. As reported by Politiken, the two largest landowners have presented seven dogmas for the new district.
According to Byens Ejendom, the owners’ vision commits to preserving existing buildings, keeping the creative environment central and building to ambitious green standards. Davies tells DR that Copenhagen has become very exclusive, bordering on excluding. He calls for more focus on social responsibility, sustainability and broad cultural life, and less on capital and large events.
He also urges the city to cooperate with surrounding municipalities instead of concentrating more people in Copenhagen. Per DR, he argues the city no longer needs more taxpayers, since its books are now in the black.
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