Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.09.2012, Page 14

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2012 What's your take on that whole airport debate? Do you hate the airport? Are you
madly in love with it? Could you care less?
Reykjavík | City planning
Two-dozen little girls in Icelan-
dic sweaters are singing songs
inside a small glass building
just outside the Nordic House.
To the north one can see Vatns-
mýri (“water swamp”), the
small wetland area and wildlife
reserve in downtown Reykjavík.
Somewhere behind the plants
Mayor of Reykjavík Jón Gnarr is
waiting for his cue. He’ll be ca-
noeing through the body of wa-
ter to the shore where 20 or so
eager guests—journalists, uni-
versity employees and Nordic
House staff—will greet him.
A few minutes before this grand event,
Nordic House CEO Max Dager takes a
moment to address the crowd, huddled
together under the shelter of the build-
ing. “So why are we holding all these
festivities here on a rainy day in Reyk-
javík? It is because we think that here in
Reykjavík we have a unique extra quality
which is rather unknown. And that is
this wetland area and bird habitat here
in the absolute centre of the capital.”
The mayor’s canoe trip is merely
a gimmick of the September 13 press
conference held to celebrate the opening
of the Nordic House’s ‘Life in the Vatns-
mýri’ exhibition, as well as to celebrate
the first steps taken towards improving
biodiversity in the wetlands.
Educating the next generation
Housed on the basement level of the
Nordic House, the exhibition covers the
wildlife and vegetation in the area and
the Nordic House’s future plans for the
area. The walls are lined with actual
plants cut from the wetlands, as well as
feathers and life-like dummies of the
birds that nest there.
The second room of the exhibition
contains a table with several magnify-
ing glasses, where elementary school
students can study samples from Vatns-
mýri up close. This, after all, is the goal
of the exhibition, to educate the next
generation about the importance of
nature in the capital. Max stressed the
importance of teaching children about
the importance of preserving nature
and biodiversity. Instilling this sense of
responsibility in the younger generation
is a step towards ensuring the longevity
of Vatnsmýri.
“Every weekday there will be a nature
school for all of the elementary schools
in the city and every day until the end
of the exhibition in November it’s fully
booked even though it hasn’t opened,”
Max said. “I’m just sorry that I’m not
9–12 years old because then I could par-
ticipate in this.”
Man vs. wild
The day isn’t just about the nature
school. In collaboration with the Univer-
sity of Iceland, the City of Reykjavik and
a team of scientists, landscape artists
and engineers, the Nordic House has
taken the first step in improving Vatns-
mýri, a project that may take several de-
cades. Specifically, they have expanded
the ditches near the bird reservation so
the area is completely surrounded by wa-
ter. They have also lowered the level of
the water by one metre and taken strides
to remove some of the invasive plant spe-
cies.
Over the years we have forgotten to
upkeep the area, Max said during his
opening remarks. “Now it’s polluted, we
have a lack of birds nesting here and the
number is diminishing every year. But
now, at least, we have started a change in
this development.”
Pollution in Vatnsmýri comes from
two locations: Hringbraut, the main road
that borders Vatnsmýri to the north, and
the domestic airport, Vatnsmýri’s south-
ern neighbour. When it rains, various
contaminates—oil and chemicals used
to defrost airplane wings, for example—
are washed from the offending sites di-
rectly into the wetlands.
Katrín Ragnarsdóttir, the Nordic
House’s architect, said the next step in
improving the wetlands would be to pre-
vent pollution by building drainage sys-
tems along Hringbraut and the airport.
The Nordic House is also investigating
methods of cleaning the water in Vatns-
mýri naturally, using plants that are able
to filter out chemicals and toxins. They
have partnered with environmental
NGO Landvernd (“Land protection”) to
host a series of lectures with experts on
the subject.
A call for ideas
In 2007, the Reykjavík City Council
called on the international community
to come up with suggestions for the
development of the Vatnsmýri area.
The area under consideration encom-
passed the Reykjavík Domestic airport,
Hljómskálagarður park, the Univer-
sity of Iceland and Reykjavík University,
Nauthólsvík thermal beach, Öskjuhlíð
hill, the Nordic House and Vatnsmýri
wetlands and nature reserve. Partici-
pants were allowed to assume that the
Reykjavík Domestic Airport (scheduled
to be phased out by 2016) was no longer
present.
In the introduction to the call for
ideas, Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir, the
chair of the jury and a city councillor at
the time, wrote: “Urban planning is al-
ways an interesting task, but planning
capital cities and their key areas is not
only fascinating but also very challeng-
ing for all communities which set them-
selves high standards. And Reykjavík is
indeed that kind of community and that
kind of city.”
Part of the ‘Life In The Vatnsmýri’
exhibition takes the winning design of
the competition—presented by Graeme
Massie, Stuart Dickson, Alan Keane and
Tim Ingleby of Edinburgh (UK)—and
alters it to further expand the suggested
park area to span from Reykjavík City
Hall to the Nauthólsvík thermal beach.
The hope is to create one large area to
centre the city around.
“A lot of very good things came up
from the contest. I don’t think the last
ten years of Reykjavík growing into vari-
ous suburbs is very good,” Katrín said.
“Reykjavík has become too spread out,
in a L.A. way, where you have to go ev-
erywhere by car and you don’t really have
any centres.”
The plan to phase out the domestic
airport and develop the area that has
been nicknamed 102 Reykjavík (the
competition results were published in
a 206 page book titled ‘Vatnsmýri/102
Reykjavík’). However, the biggest road-
block to this development has been the
question of where the domestic airport
will be relocated. Those opposed to the
move cite the need for large city centres
to have access to air transportation, es-
pecially considering the country’s lack
of trains.
Even the Nordic House, which would
benefit greatly from the absence of the
airport and the pollution it produces,
isn’t intent on the airport moving right
away. “The airport should move when
people are ready,” Katrín said.
“It’s not really a pressing matter, I
don’t think it has to be exactly now,”
Katrín said. “Iceland doesn’t really have
the money to develop the area right now
anyway, but in the future I think that
this will be one of the areas that will be
important and valuable for the city cen-
tre.”
This spring the Nordic House
launched a call for entries of its own,
asking participants to suggest ways to
improve Vatnsmýri and connect it to the
lake. The winning entry proposed dig-
ging a trench, or a “rainbow” passage
under Hringbraut, “letting water, people
and nature f low freely between the two
sites,” as the proposal reads.
Connecting Vatnsmýri to Hljómskál-
agarður park makes sense. Ecologically,
Vatnsmýri and the lake share the same
water supply. Water f lows underneath
Öskjuhlíð hill, down to the airport,
through Vatnsmýri, under Hringbraut
and into the lake. It continues to the
stream underneath Lækjargata (“stream
road”).'
Manufacturing wild nature
At the end of the day, the Nordic House
understands its limitations. Despite the
presence of natural water in the area,
Vatnsmýri is a man-made wetland. The
first generation of ducks to settle in the
area were brought in by humans. Their
wings were clipped to keep them in
Reykjavík and only after several genera-
tions did their offspring get in the habit
of returning to Vatnsmýri.
“The birds are there because the Nor-
dic House chooses for them to be there,”
Katrín said. The inorganic develop-
ment of the Vatnsmýri makes humans
responsible for the area, but also limits
how successful it can become.
“The important thing is to under-
stand that... we call it wild nature in the
capital, but it’s man made and it’s really
there for the birds to nest,” Katrín said.
“You have to take care of it as if it were
a garden or a f lower bed. It’s really not,
and it never will be, the most perfect
wetlands area. What’s interesting about
this area is it being a showcase to the citi-
zens.”
For the Nordic House, the Univer-
sity of Iceland and ultimately the city
of Reykjavík, the key is to not take the
development opportunities available to
them for granted. Only a handful of cap-
ital cities can lay claim to a giant swath
of green nature in the centre of their city.
So while Vatnsmýri may not be the most
impressive wetlands area in Iceland, it
serves a specific purpose.
“It’s really a unique opportunity to
have the capital of a country with a very
large, green park in the city centre,”
Katrín said. “And we should take care of
that option and not build a little here and
a little there until the possibility’s not
there anymore because you cut it into
pieces.”
“
It’s really a unique oppor-
tunity to have the capital
of a country with a very
large, green park in the
city centre. „
Keeping Downtown Wild What does the
future hold for Vatnsmýri?
Words by Arit John Photography by Arit John