Dumb geography question from a foreigner. I was looking at google earth and noticed this big island between Copenhagen and Malmo, why is it completly empty? Wouldn’t it make sense to build some stuff there, since it’s in the middle of the two cities?

12 comments

  1. A quick google search would tell you it is flooded a lot as it is only 2 meters at its highest point. However 2 people live there according to wiki. Give the wiki a read, quite interesting.

    It has apperently had a lot of different usages throughout the history

  2. It floods, it’s protected as natural sanctuary due to unique plant life, an estimated 70.000 birds use it every year during migration, an estimated 18.000 pairs use it each year to breed. The largest colony of Common eider in Northern Europe can be found here and it’s used for grazing livestock, which keeps the natural growth down, preserving it as a place for the birds.

  3. If you zoom in a little you will notice that the bridge/tunnel do not go through Saltholm, but rather through an artificial island called Peberholm. This island was named to complement Saltholm, and was created entirely to avoid building on Saltholm which would interrupt the ecosystem there.

    So there is no connection to Saltholm, and it would not be a convenient stopping point between the two cities.

    Peberholm is also an ecological reserve, in this case an experiment to see what nature will come to this new island.

  5. There was a proposal in an architect contest in Sweden to use it and construct two more islands to make Malmø and Copenhagen a connected metropol with several bridges and tunnels.

    Future someday vision, but maybe. Copenhagen is running out of “cheap” land, so alternatives are needed.

  10. There once was a farm there. I don’t now how that was possible, as the groundwater is too salty for consumption.

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