Attractiveness as an investment factor, irresistible solutions, and life-centered innovation

The Creative Denmark Dispatch: October 2024

Over the past decade, I’ve had the opportunity to attend Climate Week in New York, including this past September, where I noticed a significant shift in how we approach sustainable urban development. What began as conversations primarily focused on energy, climate, and CO2 emissions have evolved into broader discussions about liveability, sustainability, and holistic long-term investments. Today, the focus is more on creating vibrant, resilient neighbourhoods that address not only environmental needs but also social and economic challenges.

Terms that are being used much more frequently in these discussions are “green thriving neighbourhoods and sustainable liveability”. Whether we are designing cities, buildings, or learning environments, creating spaces that are resilient and attractive to both residents and investors is increasingly seen as crucial. This attractiveness goes way beyond aesthetics - it’s about creating environments that are thriving, liveable, beautiful and sustainable - while catering to the balance of people, planet, and profit. Achieving this kind of balance requires the private sector, public entities, investors and citizens to collaborate to ensure more successful and long-lasting sustainable outcomes. For investors, this holistic kind of resilience is becoming a key factor in building strong investment portfolios focused on long-term return on investment.

Creativity and collaboration are more important than ever in tackling these complex challenges. We need innovation that integrates climate, social equity, aesthetics and mobility strategies in our cities and collaborations across sectors and borders that drive progress, making life-centred innovation investments attractive. This kind of innovation requires bold thinking, actions, and a willingness to take risks. To turn these ideas into reality, we must start the journey - by collaborating, experimenting, implementing, measuring, and then scaling those results with a contextual understanding.

Creative approaches and solutions are the key to addressing the world’s most pressing challenges in innovative ways, which is why I am very proud that we just launched a new white paper, “Creativity as a driver for quality of life”, showcasing ways creativity drives meaningful change, creating a future where both people and the planet thrive. With more than 40 contributors from diverse industries, the white paper illustrates how creativity can make a wide range of solutions possible - from sustainable urban planning to mental health innovations - all aimed at enhancing quality of life.

As always, Creative Denmark is ready to support your creative business or organisation, and we welcome international delegations interested in Danish creative competencies and solutions. Don’t hesitate to reach out to one of my colleagues.

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Majken Kalhave,

Executive Director, Creative Denmark.

White paper: Creativity as a driver for quality of life

How does creativity help us navigate the complexities of a rapidly changing world? Our newly launched white paper highlights how creative solutions have the potential to improve quality of life, drive innovation, and embed sustainable practices at individual, organisational, and societal levels.

Exemplified through inspiring case examples the white paper showcases how creative solutions can help improve wellbeing, address mental health, and progress life-centered innovations. These transformative approaches are not only redesigning and reshaping local cities but are also being scaled and applied internationally, positioning the Danish creative industries as pivotal contributors to solving global challenges. From healthcare and technology to urban design and education, the white paper showcases how creative solutions drive meaningful change across a wide range of sectors.

Read the white paper: ?https://bit.ly/4edbcn2

In Focus article: Designing the Irresistible Circular Society

Looking towards the future, Europe faces a significant challenge as many old buildings and urban areas require renovation or transformation to support the green transition. Therefore, the New European Bauhaus initiative, along with its ambitious ‘lighthouse demonstrator’, the Danish-led project ‘DESIRE – Designing the Irresistible Circular Society’, is leading the way in setting a new vision for cities worldwide by transforming the built environment into sustainable, aesthetic, and inclusive spaces.

Our new In Focus article explores these projects and includes inspiring cases from Karens Minde Aksen, B?rneRiget, BESTSELLER, and Living Places Copenhagen, exemplifying the Danish strength in the New European Bauhaus as they reflect core Danish values that are characterised by a life-centred, creative, and aesthetic approach to building, living, and innovating.

The New European Bauhaus and Desire Project demonstrate the vital role of creativity and collaboration in addressing complex challenges within the built environment. They showcase the potential of creative problem-solving and the creative industries in making sustainable and circular solutions the irresistible choice.

Read the article: https://bit.ly/3XRZerE

Rethinking change: Creativity, collaboration, and community at Climate Week NYC

In September, people from all around the world gathered in New York for Climate Week to discuss this year’s theme “It’s time” – a call to rethink how we design, build and live for a greener future. To succeed with transformation, it’s crucial to involve end-users in the process, ensuring that solutions are tailored to their needs and interests, which leads to broader adoption and meaningful impact. This collaborative approach, which brings together a broad range of stakeholders and communities, was a central focus at events throughout the week.

We were proud to be part of several events focused on driving this change. In partnership with Urban Partners and C40 Cities , the role and importance of sustainable investment strategies were discussed, while events co-hosted with AIA New York | Center for Architecture and our BLOX community; DDC – Danish Design Center , Danish Architecture Center (Dansk Arkitektur Center) , and BLOXHUB emphasised the importance of community-driven solutions for climate adaption in cities. Additionally, Gehl - Making Cities for People , alongside Second Nature Ecology and Design emphasised the value of integrating nature into urban design to boost creativity and improve wellbeing at kyu Collective .

Drawing inspiration from other industries at Climate Week, Danish stakeholders like Pandora focused on increasing the use of recycled metals, including recycled silver and gold, to reduce environmental impact. Meanwhile, SYBO demonstrated how the virtual world can inspire real-world environmental action through creative storytelling in games.

Throughout these discussions, one thing was clear: Creativity, collaboration, and community involvement all play a vital role shaping a more sustainable future. It was great to see Danish solutions presented on the global stage, demonstrating how they can help transform urban areas and drive the green transition.

Impacting global agendas with digital games

With a global audience of over 300 billion gamers, digital games have the potential to do far more than entertain – they can shape societal trends, foster wellbeing, and influence global agendas. In Denmark, the digital gaming industry is leading the way by using creativity and storytelling to address some of today’s most pressing social and environmental challenges. Danish developers are moving beyond traditional entertainment, creating games that offer enriching experiences focused on sustainability and inclusivity while addressing real-world issues in thoughtful and inspiring ways.

This forward-thinking approach was showcased at Gamescom 2024, where 28 Danish companies united at the Denmark Booth to present their creative games and competencies currently shaping the future of gaming. The initiative highlights Denmark’s growing influence in shaping a future where digital gaming play a vital role in addressing global challenges and inspiring meaningful global change

Denmark’s presence at Gamescom 2024 was organised by Dansk Erhverv , Game Hub Denmark , VisionDenmark , Udenrigsministeriet ( The Trade Council ), and Creative Denmark

Read more about Danish Digital games and XR: https://www.creativedenmark.com/industries/digital-games-xr

Creative Denmark assists international stakeholders and decision-makers in exploring solutions, products, and processes within the Danish creative industries. As a not-for-profit, public-private partnership our primary objective is to connect international demand for innovative solutions with Danish creative companies and competencies. Through our efforts, we strive to raise awareness about the transformative potential of Danish creativity as a driver for sustainability and increased quality of life.

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