Work on Gammel Strand is now almost finished.

This very long and narrow triangular space - over the canal from Christiansborg - was the location of the old fish market. There are large old houses across the long north side - facing across towards Thorvaldsens Museum and the Christiansborg Castle Church - and the long south side is defined by the quay of the canal itself,

The space has been a building site for almost a decade with the construction of one of the new stations of the circle line of the metro here at the east end of the space. The entrance to the metro is close to the bridge over the canal to Christiansborg - Højbro or High Bridge with its ornate stone balustrade. The other key feature of the space is a magnificent tree at the west end in front of a large courtyard house that steps forward from the main line of facades, to enclose the space, although the quay continues on as the narrower Nybrogade.

The metro station opened in September and work then started on laying a new arrangement of cobbles.

Whereas before there was traffic cutting through the space with a relatively narrow pavement in front of the houses, this has now been restricted to access and bikes are encouraged to follow a long curve through the space marked by a relatively narrow strip of smoother cobbles or setts. There are no pavements, as such, but again changes in the arrangement of the cobbles and the line of shallow gullies for drainage mark in a subtle way a suggested line for people to follow. The new design allows much more space for restaurants here to move more tables and seating outside.

It is actually at night that you see the real gains from this new arrangement of the space. Lighting is kept relatively low and people seem to appreciate and respect the calm space.

There are steps down to a lower level of walk along the canal itself where, because it faces south, people can sit in the sun so it is actually a complicated space, in terms of hw people move through or stop in and use the public space but it is all demarcated by subtle and careful differences in the hard landscaping and with street furniture and artificial lighting kept to a minimum. Copenhagen planning at its best.