The beach park in the Køge Bay, south of Copenhagen, is an artificial landscape created in one of northern Europe’s largest land reclamation projects. The construction of the Beach Park was started in 1977 and it is actually an expansion of natural barrier islands formed during the 20th century in the shallow bay of Køge.

The main purpose of the Beach Park is to provide fine beaches for the population of the area (recreational function). The suburbs of Copenhagen are densely populated and the human lives and investment at stake are very considerable.

Land use around the case area mainly consists of industrial and inhabited areas. The Køge Bay Beach Park itself, however, is mainly restricted to recreational and natural functions. Besides being a recreational area for the metropolitan area, the park functions as coastal protection against flooding for the hinterland.

This is a perfect example of how it can be possible to work together with natural processes to create a stable structure with low maintenance demands, but also a structure that serves two purposes – both as flood protection and as a recreational zone for a metropolitan area.An explanation for the success is that its design was based upon the character of the original morphology.

• Study area: 7 km
• Type of coast: sandy beaches
• Tidal regime: micro-tidal (< 0,1 m)
• Range of waves : low energy; Hmax<1.5 m
• Other: sea level fluctuations ( –0.8 to 1.1 m in 24 h) because of temporal wind tide.