Sustainable Business Management BA Honours student Anna Gennotte was invited to join the University of Westminster’s Business Management BA Honours’ sustainability field trip to Copenhagen alongside Course Leaders Beverley Marsland, Setenay Dilek Fidler and Jake Barber. Together they had the chance to explore sustainable urban living, transport, architecture and community initiatives across Copenhagen and Malmö.
What were the highlights of the trip?
On our first day, we visited CopenHill, Denmark’s cleanest power plant that burns waste to create heating energy for over 150,000 Copenhagen households. This “urban mountain” was designed by Bjarke Ingels, one of the most celebrated Danish architects, who focuses on sustainability and innovation. The roof offers free and public access to a hiking trail, the world’s tallest climbing wall, a rooftop café and a ski slope.
As Business Management students, we understood the significance of creating a recreational and public urban space that benefits the community while generating energy from waste. It was impressive to see how this innovative, disruptive idea for handling waste had been implemented and proven successful in practice.
How did your understanding around sustainability develop during the visit?
Cycling around the city we learnt so much about sustainability efforts in Copenhagen, which really widened my understanding on how cities can make green decisions to help tackle climate change, including beehives and responsible waste management at the Tivoli Theme Park, as well as the use of green spaces on the roof of the National Archives, right in the centre of Copenhagen.
The Nordhavn district integrates renewable energy and green buildings to protect the city from climate change, and innovative technology helps to reduce CO2 emissions, noise and air pollution when ships are docking. All these sustainable initiatives demonstrated that it is achievable to successfully implement sustainable solutions and environmentally friendly alternatives.
What key sustainability lessons did you come away with?
Copenhagen really opened our eyes to the importance of dedicated cycle highways and bridges within cities. We immersed ourselves in cycle traffic and experienced the rush and unspoken rules of cycling among real Copenhageners. We understood the importance of accessible, safe cycle paths and appreciated how a government focused on providing efficient, high-quality cycling infrastructure can enrich travel options, flexibility and physically active lifestyles.
As a cycle enthusiast myself (and bike commuter in London), I am convinced that these well-maintained, safe cycle paths could make a huge difference in the London metropolis and encourage even more residents to replace their car travel with biking. For future projects or coursework, I can imagine using this topic and my first-hand experience of cycling in Copenhagen.
What stood out to you about the people and group experience?
On an interpersonal level, all students and lecturers engaged with one another, showing interest and curiosity in making new connections and meeting like-minded people, which created an incredibly welcoming and inclusive atmosphere.
As Business Management students who manage many group projects, it was a very useful opportunity to develop our people skills, including patience, active listening and compromise to find solutions.
What advice would you give to other students thinking about going on a trip like this?
I believe every Business Management student at the University of Westminster should join one of these trips because of the first-hand experience of implementing sustainable practices in big cities and the international and intercultural exchange with other students.
By learning about sustainable organisations and initiatives, we deepened our understanding of urban development and sustainable transport and infrastructure, which is invaluable for both our personal and educational development.
It has great value for our studies, projects and coursework, as we gained practical insight and first-hand exposure to sustainable practices and their implementation in a real, big city.
Overall, I am really glad that I had the opportunity to join this incredible trip to such an interesting European capital, learn about many different sustainable initiatives and get to know lots of students from diverse backgrounds, ages and nationalities. It is a trip I hope every Business Management student gets the chance to take!
Find out more about Sustainable Development at the University of Westminster.
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