When an industrial building area becomes a new urban area of possibilities

In an old industrial area in Aarhus, Denmark, right now filled with building sites for a whole new central town area, an urban idea has been brought into daylight. The re-establishing of an old railway running parallel to one of the main roads leading to Aarhus, created an opportunity to give visitors a creative and inspiring welcome to the city instead of just a noisy, ugly experience.

Now, a small ‘popup city’ on old train-wheels accompanies the constant sound from the building sites and the smell of roasting coffee beans from a nearby factory. The railway consists of a number of wagons; a one-room-hotel, a greenhouse, a popup shop, a sitting area and a tree on wheels. It’s called ‘Give’ism Road’ and it is meant to be a public place that exudes life. The railway is part of the non-profit organisation Give’ism’s project filling the are with wondrous buildings and wagons build to be a platform for citizens who takes initiatives and creates activities for their fellow citizens.

The successful Danish architectural company AART has designed all the wagons and Give’ism has then gathered a group of citizens with different backgrounds to build the popup city in just a few days. The wagons were built just in time to be a part of the huge music festival; Northside. In one of the wagons a pharmacy set up shop and served the festivalgoers with painkillers, sunscreen and what you might need, when going to a festival and a lucky pair won a night in the one-room hotel.