Danish Urban and 3D Property Design

In recent years mixed-use developments in major Danish cities have become attractive amongdevelopers, municipalities and citizens. In mixed-use developments, a broad variety of land useand ownership situations is mixed in the same building. Land use include e.g. a mix of differenttypes of housing (affordable housing and private owned apartments), offices, shops, retail,department stores, underground parking. There is no limit in terms of mixing different types ofland use in mixed-use developments. However, the composition of different types of land useis important, and the right mix is context depended. Only the right mix creates a secondaryfunctionality, that is desirable. In real life the strategy is determined by the developer andplanning authorities (the municipality). Both parties have an interest in developing a sustainablesolution that attracts people and businesses to invest.The variety of different types of land use in mixed-use developments leads to fragmentation ofproperty ownership rights in three dimensions (3D). Mixed-use developments often includehigh-rise buildings and the property boundaries are therefore both vertical and horizontal whena high-rise building is divided into individual property units. Condominiums holds the legalmeans of creating 3D property ownership rights in Denmark. The law of condominiums wasintroduced in Danish legislation in 1966 and despite recent development of more complexbuilding structures the original draw is in large still untouched. Initially the purpose ofimplementing condominiums was to make it possible for renters to become owners of theirapartment. Remarkably, not intended to comprise contemporary mixed-use developments oftoday the law of condominiums is sufficient supporting the creation and designing of complex3D real property ownership rights. The interesting situation is, that in Denmark exist afunctional 3D property formation and design institution supporting a sustainable developmentin terms of creating mixed cities, successfully operating in real life. Despite unadjusted legaltools professionals has found a way to support continuously developing demands for urban 3Dproperty design. This paper presents initial results from a research project analyzing Danish 3Dreal property formation and design processes. The research is being carried out as cooperativeresearch between academia and industry. Aalborg University and a Danish land surveying andland management company (LE34) have partnered up to analyze and improve the company'sbusiness area within land use consulting and other tasks in the real property formation process.The project provides research-based input to streamline the current process and legal basis usedto develop 3D real properties in Denmark supporting a sustainable development towards mixedcities.