Gellerup is a district of Brabrand and a western suburb to the city of Aarhus, Denmark. The name Gellerup is also commonly used to refer to a large housing project called the Gellerup Plan (Danish: 'Gellerup Planen') located in the suburb. The project houses people from many places in the world.

The Gellerup Plan

To address housing problems that suddenly emerged in the late 1960s, Brabrand Housing Cooperative initiated and financed the Gellerup Plan. It was designed by architects Knud Blach Petersen and Mogens Harbo, who were influenced by the functionalistic ideas of Le Corbusier. The Gellerup Plan was constructed between 1968 and 1972, and contains a total of 2448 apartments in two neighbouring sectors, Gellerupparken and Toveshøj, containing 1824 and 624 apartments respectively. ^{[1] [2]}. The buildings are characteristic high rise concrete apartments, constructed from large prefabricated concrete slabs. The Gellerup Plan is the largest housing project in Denmark, with approximately 8000 residents, but was originally planned to house more than twice as many people in 6000 apartments.^[3]

The whole area and its facilities, was built as an architectural and functional unity owned and administered democratically by the residents through Brabrand Housing Cooperative, based on a socialist idea. It works as a self-supporting satellite city, including a mall that originally offered a post office, bank, dentist, doctors, general and grocery stores, supermarkets, restaurants, cafés, hairdressing saloons and a cinema among other stores and facilities.

The individual apartments of the Gellerup Plan were large, with open space between the blocks. They came equipped with bathrooms (some have two) and central heating (hot water circulation), where the energy is generated from a local waste incineration plant, collecting the daily waste through a special tube system, reaching every apartment. Very luxurious for the vast majority of Aarhus citizens in the early 60s. ^[4]

The mall was designed by architectural firm Tougård and engineering company Nieport & Co, and was finished in 1972. A two story building, with 45,000 m2 of floor space, it was at the time the largest mall in Denmark. It is now holds a 3rd place. ^{[citation needed]}

Called the Gellerup Center, and owned in part by Brabrand Housing Cooperative - the representative organization for the residents- it made great profits, but some were invested unwisely, and other communally owned elements of the housing projects (such as the swimming pool) were less successful. Eventually the cooperative sold their shares, and the Gellerup Center went bankrupt in 1976. ^[5]

The insurance company Baltica bought the Gellerup Center for kr 125,7 million, and redeveloped the building in 1980. The mall's name was changed to City Vest. Today City Vest is owned by Danica Pension.^{[citation needed]}

The concrete buildings of the Gellerup Plan, have experienced costly and widespread damages, beginning shortly after it was raised. As early as 1991, it was suggested to demolish it to save expenses, but renovations was initiated instead.^[6]

The Gellerup Plan is the poorest neighborhood in Denmark.

The Gellerup Plan has the highest density of new-Danes in the country (88% of the residents).

The Gellerup Plan have through the last couple of decades experienced a lot of social, cultural, political, religious and ethnic tension in daily life and is now officially labelled a ghetto and an 'especially vulnerable residential area'^[7].

A bazaar in the northern part of The Gellerup Plan, owned and developed by Danish building company Olav de Linde, houses around 110 stands, rented mostly by immigrants. Bazar Vest claims to have around 30,000 visitors each week (with 10,000 at weekends).^{[citation needed]} Template:See the Bazar Vest homepage

Crime

The Gellerup Plan has been known for its high crime rate and social problems and therefore a special police unit, has been dedicated to the area ^[8] , as well as several social projects. ^{[9] [10]}

At the beginning of 2007 a local Shell gas station closed down after years of problems including robberies and assaults on staff and customers.^{[11][better source needed]}

In mid February 2008 there was a spate of arson, with around twenty incidents of arson per day spread over the western suburbs. These included the throwing of firecrackers onto traffic from an elevated walkway, and the setting alight of dumpsters and cars.^[12] In October 2008 a local kindergarten was burned down by children, destroying an estimated 7 million kr. of property. TTwo families of the boys committing the crime, were evicted from the Gellerup area in 2010 after two court cases. ^[13]

As a recent example, there were a shooting incident at Bazar Vest in january 2013^[14].

The Master Plan

Because of the status as an 'especially vulnerable residential area', The Master Plan has been launched. The Master Plan (Danish: 'Helhedsplanen') is a project aiming at improving the quality of life and overall image of the area. Budgeted at kr 452+ million ($ 75-80 million), the project is intended to change Gellerup and Toveshøj from a disadvantaged residential area to an attractive urban district by implementing physical changes in collaboration with the residents. ^[15]

There has been controversy over the project, especially the demolition of housing blocks and the lack of involvement of the affected residents. ^{[16] [17]}

The Mosque project

For many years Islamic (and other) organizations have worked towards building a mosque in Gellerup ^{[18] [19] [20] [21]}. The project is still in the planning and fundraising phase, and has caused debate in Aarhus and Denmark. ^{[22] [23] [24] [25] [26]}

Social activities

Unlike the usual poor neighborhood projects, there are many social activities in the Gellerup Plan, including music (especially rap and hip-hop ^{[27] [28] [29]}) , dancing (especially break dance ^[30]) , journalism ^[31] , film and TV ^[32] , gardening ^{[33] [34]} theatre, ^[35], circus and sport. ^{[36] [37]}

Recreational Surroundings

Gellerup and the Gellerup Plan are surrounded by easily accessible nature. Hasle Hills lies right next to the Gellerup Plan, east and north of Toveshøj.

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  Hasle Hills. A view of The Gellerup Plan and beyond. The smokestack from the waste incineration plant can be seen.hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
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  Skjoldhøjkilen reaching west, viewed from Hasle Hills.
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  Example of public exercise apparatus on a natureground in Skjoldhøjkilen (Hasle Hills).

Transportation

Gellerup is connected to the surrounding neighbourhoods by several bus routes.

Notes and References

External links

• Neighborhoodportal gellerup.nu