Constructing a Centre on the Periphery: Urbanization and Urban Design in the Island City of Nuuk, Greenland
Both islands and cities are often conceptualized in terms of centre-periphery relationships. Scholarly attempts to nuance popular associations of islands with peripherality and cities with centrality reflect awareness of underlying power relationships. Drawing upon island studies and urban studies k...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:10e516536ac44e2caa3695e3b65bb8c8 2023-07-16T03:58:41+02:00 Constructing a Centre on the Periphery: Urbanization and Urban Design in the Island City of Nuuk, Greenland Adam Grydehøj 2014-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.302 https://doaj.org/article/10e516536ac44e2caa3695e3b65bb8c8 EN eng Island Studies Journal https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.302 https://doaj.org/toc/1715-2593 doi:10.24043/isj.302 1715-2593 https://doaj.org/article/10e516536ac44e2caa3695e3b65bb8c8 Island Studies Journal, Vol 9, Iss 2 (2014) Physical geography GB3-5030 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.302 2023-06-25T00:35:35Z Both islands and cities are often conceptualized in terms of centre-periphery relationships. Scholarly attempts to nuance popular associations of islands with peripherality and cities with centrality reflect awareness of underlying power relationships. Drawing upon island studies and urban studies knowledge, the case of Nuuk, Greenland, is used to explore how centring and peripheralizing processes play out in an island city. Greenland as a whole came to be regarded as a peripheral region under Danish colonialism, but since the 1950s, Danes and Greenlanders have sought to transform Greenland into its own centre. Nuuk grew into a city and a political, administrative and economic centre relative to Greenland’s small settlements, which came to be seen as central to Greenlandic culture. Nuuk’s rapid growth – dependent on imported Danish designs, materials, technologies, policies and labour – has resulted in an island city of immense contrasts, with monumental modern buildings standing alongside dilapidated 1960s apartment blocks and with strongly differentiated neighbourhoods. Nuuk is both at the centre and on the periphery, enmeshed in power relationships with other Greenlandic settlements and with Denmark. Nuuk is a result of urban design processes that are conditioned by both infrastructural systems and a confluence of spatio-temporal factors. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland greenlander* greenlandic Nuuk Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Nuuk ENVELOPE(-52.150,-52.150,68.717,68.717) Island Studies Journal 9 2 205 222 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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language |
English |
topic |
Physical geography GB3-5030 |
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Physical geography GB3-5030 Adam Grydehøj Constructing a Centre on the Periphery: Urbanization and Urban Design in the Island City of Nuuk, Greenland |
topic_facet |
Physical geography GB3-5030 |
description |
Both islands and cities are often conceptualized in terms of centre-periphery relationships. Scholarly attempts to nuance popular associations of islands with peripherality and cities with centrality reflect awareness of underlying power relationships. Drawing upon island studies and urban studies knowledge, the case of Nuuk, Greenland, is used to explore how centring and peripheralizing processes play out in an island city. Greenland as a whole came to be regarded as a peripheral region under Danish colonialism, but since the 1950s, Danes and Greenlanders have sought to transform Greenland into its own centre. Nuuk grew into a city and a political, administrative and economic centre relative to Greenland’s small settlements, which came to be seen as central to Greenlandic culture. Nuuk’s rapid growth – dependent on imported Danish designs, materials, technologies, policies and labour – has resulted in an island city of immense contrasts, with monumental modern buildings standing alongside dilapidated 1960s apartment blocks and with strongly differentiated neighbourhoods. Nuuk is both at the centre and on the periphery, enmeshed in power relationships with other Greenlandic settlements and with Denmark. Nuuk is a result of urban design processes that are conditioned by both infrastructural systems and a confluence of spatio-temporal factors. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Adam Grydehøj |
author_facet |
Adam Grydehøj |
author_sort |
Adam Grydehøj |
title |
Constructing a Centre on the Periphery: Urbanization and Urban Design in the Island City of Nuuk, Greenland |
title_short |
Constructing a Centre on the Periphery: Urbanization and Urban Design in the Island City of Nuuk, Greenland |
title_full |
Constructing a Centre on the Periphery: Urbanization and Urban Design in the Island City of Nuuk, Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Constructing a Centre on the Periphery: Urbanization and Urban Design in the Island City of Nuuk, Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Constructing a Centre on the Periphery: Urbanization and Urban Design in the Island City of Nuuk, Greenland |
title_sort |
constructing a centre on the periphery: urbanization and urban design in the island city of nuuk, greenland |
publisher |
Island Studies Journal |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.302 https://doaj.org/article/10e516536ac44e2caa3695e3b65bb8c8 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-52.150,-52.150,68.717,68.717) |
geographic |
Greenland Nuuk |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Nuuk |
genre |
Greenland greenlander* greenlandic Nuuk |
genre_facet |
Greenland greenlander* greenlandic Nuuk |
op_source |
Island Studies Journal, Vol 9, Iss 2 (2014) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.302 https://doaj.org/toc/1715-2593 doi:10.24043/isj.302 1715-2593 https://doaj.org/article/10e516536ac44e2caa3695e3b65bb8c8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.302 |
container_title |
Island Studies Journal |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
205 |
op_container_end_page |
222 |
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1771545927433060352 |