Copenhagen Is 2023 World Capital of Architecture

The news, spotted at Conference & Meetings World (CMW), comes a couple months before the 2020 iteration of the UIA World Congress of Architects would be taking place in Rio de Janeiro, the first city to be named UNESCO World Capital of Architecture. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 27th World Congress of Architects will instead take place one year later, from July 18 to 22, 2021.

Happening on a triennial basis, the title and accompanying Congress aim to help a city in preserving its architectural heritage and create new synergies between culture and architecture. 

Copenhagen's winning bid is based on the theme "Sustainable futures – Leave no one behind." The city will, per CMW, "put a strong focus on the role of architecture in sustainable city planning and promote architecture as a crucial tool to achieving the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030." No doubt, such high-profile projects as BIG's CopenHill — a waste-to-energy plant topped with a ski slope that opened in 2019 — made the city and its theme hard to resist.