When There's Nothing but Nature: The Danish Experience with Natural Playscapes

In this article I provide an overview of my natural playground and sensory garden design practices and theories. I discuss how I was inspired by the landscape architect, Carl Theodor Sørensen, and the key role his work and writings played in Denmark and beyond in the development of natural playscapes and in the setting up in 1961 of the International Play Association. I reveal how my first project, while still a student, to design a sensory garden for a special school was to influence my future career and thinking. My time working for the City of Copenhagen began with the design of the first public sensory garden in Denmark, which I describe here. I then highlight another Danish concept: the manned playground and its manifestation in the Nature Playground in Valbyparken for whose design I was responsible, and which I present here. I go on to discuss the dangers of standardized playground equipment designed by adults with no input from children, who prefer to make their own play and benefit from so doing. I describe my design for Murergaarden Daycare Centre and Afterschool Club playground which has no fixed play equipment. I then emphasize further the benefits of 'green' playground design and present the example of the Skovstjernen Daycare Centre, where 'there's nothing but nature and loose parts'. In short, my message is that Nature is the best place for children to play and develop their creativity.

Denmark: experience of market turnover of agricultural land

The purpose of the article is to reveal the experience of the functioning of the market circulation of agricultural land in Denmark, in order to further implement in Ukrainian practice, the positive and avoid negative aspects of this experience. Research methods. The study used an empirical method (comprehensive assessment of the modern model of market turnover of agricultural land in Denmark); generalization and systematization (construction of the concept and logical-structural model of economic turnover of lands); abstract-logical method (theoretical generalizations and formulation of conclusions). Research results. It was found that the tightly regulated market turnover of agricultural land in Denmark was changed to a more liberal one, with permission to buy land for foreigners, but this not only did not attract investment as expected, but on the contrary, led to even more negative and crisis phenomena in country. The main tools, mechanisms and conditions of land turnover in agriculture of this country are determined. Scientific novelty. The main purpose of regulating the market turnover of land in Danish agriculture has been established. The legal framework of Denmark for regulating the market circulation of agricultural land has been studied. The structural and logical scheme of market circulation of agricultural lands is formed. The provisions on the Ukrainian model of regulating the market turnover of agricultural lands were further developed, taking into account the experience of the studied country. Practical significance. The results of the study of the experience of the Kingdom of Denmark on the market turnover of land, in terms of granting non-residents access to the right to purchase agricultural land, is a clear practical answer and a caveat that should undoubtedly be taken into account in Ukraine. The application of the Danish experience should help to build an effective model of market turnover of agricultural land in our country. Tabl.: 1. Figs.: 1. Refs.: 18.

Economic Policy

The Danish economy found itself in deep disequilibrium in the late 1970s/early 1990s, with high unemployment, inflation, and deficits on public budgets and the current account. A string of reforms starting with the fixed exchange rate policy from the early 1980s, followed by labour market reforms (the flexicurity model) in the 1990s, have radically changed things, eliminating all macroeconomic imbalance problems. Moreover, in a forward perspective, pension and retirement reforms ensure high replacement rates for pensions, and fiscal policy is sustainable. The Danish experience shows that policy choices are possible even in an era of globalization. Overall, the welfare state has been consolidated, and in a comparative perspective, Denmark has attained a high per capita income level and low income inequality. Two points are particularly important. First, while the public sector is large, the private sector is regulated in a market-conform way. Thus, the Danish model is not ‘politics against markets’. Second, welfare arrangements focus on supporting labour market participation and human capital acquisition. Since the financial viability of the welfare model ultimately depends on maintaining high employment levels in the private sector, the conflict between welfare objectives and economic performance is not as stark as it may first appear.

I Assure You, We Have the Strictest Alien Act Possible!

This essay tells the story of how Denmark transformed from a very welcoming and tolerant country to one whose prime ministers reassure its residents, “We have the strictest Alien Act possible.” The approach is genealogical, following Michel Foucault, and the empirical focal point is Danish immigration policies as they evolved from the late 1960s until today. This development culminates in the emergence of the “restrictionist policy paradigm,” which associates immigrants with risks like economic burdens, high unemployment levels, crimes, undemocratic attitudes, and the development of ghettos. From the perspective of the welfare project, the immigrants became “risky” as they were profiled in terms of their higher probability of developing suboptimal or dysfunctional behaviors that endanger the welfare state. The Danish experience is analyzed from a broader thesis on the welfare state as caught up between welfarist universality, industrial-capitalist expansion, and sovereign territoriality. Drawing on Foucault’s work, these different logics of statehood are analyzed as evolving constellations of law, discipline, and security. Danish immigration policy mutates over time so that policies of security premised on free circulation gradually give way to discipline and legal sovereignty that block, filter, and segregate immigrants. Alongside this movement toward territorial enclosure, the discursive construction of the immigrant changes fundamentally.