What are the highlights of recent developments in Esbjerg?
We laid out a vision for more of a ‘city-type environment’ in Esbjerg back in 2015. That may sound like a bit of a fancy ambition on paper, but we have already achieved a number of the goals
we set. There is more social and private housing in the city centre, and the pedestrian streets have undergone extensive renovation to link city and port together. The new bike- and footpath at Landgangen has created a natural link between the port and the city centre. The number of new, varied restaurants and cafés in the city is one of the results.
What are your visions for Esbjerg over the next few years?
Esbjerg is Denmark’s youngest large city, and I would love to attract even more people to come and live here. I’d like to see more dramatic and attractive buildings to be able to offer better housing in the city centre. These are all things we already know can and will be achieved over the next few years. I am also looking forward immensely to seeing how the new Esbjerg Strand neighbourhood turns out. There will be new office buildings and a marina here, something Esbjerg’s many nautical associations are eagerly awaiting. I hope that Esbjerg Strand will attract even more businesses and tourists to our city.
What do you think Esbjerg will look like by 2025?
I think that it will be a city comfortable with its role as a city in a state of dynamic change, as it always has been. We will have a city that will be even more certain of which direction it is going in, something its businesses and inhabitants will
help decide. I’d like to see even more businesses that recognise the wide range of opportunities offered by the area, encouraging them to move here. And of course, I hope that we have a city that will have even more to offer in the way of the arts and culture within music, theatre and exhibitions, enriching the old and the young of the city with new experiences and impressions.
Events for you