Casting a shadow

The Reykjavik Grapevine has reported on changes in the city, and how tourists are prioritised over the lived experience of residents.

An example is shown in this article.

For generations, Vitastígur sported stunning views of Faxaflói bay and Reykjavík’s mountain Esja. But that was then. 

Now anyone walking the old downtown street is greeted by the most hideous blight in the neighbourhood. A bleak, monstrous, 17-storey Radisson hotel that will dominate the skyline and cast an endless dark shadow over its surroundings. Two hundred and fourteen rooms, not one of them for anyone who lives here. Through winter, when the sun barely clears the horizon, a building that height casts a shadow 11 times its height. Apart from foreign investors capitalising on Icelandic tourism and the contractors assembling this IKEA-style unit block, does anyone else like this?

I walked past this on my most recent visit... it is out of character with the rest of the area.

Sunlight is important in a place like Iceland.

The consequences are already built. At Ártúnshöfði, one of the city’s flagship development areas, the plan permitted playgrounds that sit in near-permanent shade because the sunlight requirement could be waived if other open space existed nearby. Children’s playgrounds, in the darkest capital in Europe, designed into the shadow.