How Denmark's capital Copenhagen is built on trust

DW (English)

Nowhere else in Europe do people seem to trust each other more than in Denmark. You can buy bread without going to the cashier, borrow kayaks for free and discuss problems openly with complete strangers. So how do they do it?

Transcript

00:00Pop quiz. Where can you rent a kayak for free, have a nice chat with a complete stranger,

00:08and help yourself to bread without being rung up at the register?

00:13It's our first time in Denmark. People are really trusting here.

00:18Copenhagen is a city built on trust. But just how do the Danes do it? We see for ourselves.

00:27A 90-minute kayak ride for two. It's free, but there's a catch.

00:32They have to fish out as much trash as possible from the river and canals.

00:37They mostly find plastic, but there is the occasional surprise.

00:46Bag of dog poop.

00:49The man behind the idea, Tobias Weber-Andersen.

00:53I was frustrated to see all the trash floating in the canal, so I wanted to do something about it.

00:58So the idea was to activate as many people as possible.

01:03With Green Kayak, he combines sport and recreation with nature and environmental responsibility.

01:09And of course...

01:11It is a concept that is based on trust very much.

01:15And it works. In Copenhagen, there's hardly any trouble with missing or damaged kayaks.

01:20These two paddlers give it all they've got.

01:24The current makes it an uphill battle, or an upstream one. Paddling upstream is pretty strenuous.

01:32It's work combined with fun. And you know, it's for a good cause.

01:36It makes you want to collect as much as possible.

01:40When you get something for free, you want to give something back.

01:46I don't know if it would work back home. Not sure.

01:51In the Nørrebro district, you can borrow a sympathetic ear like you can a book in a library.

01:57That's why this place is called the Human Library.

02:01Half an hour for a chat about personal stories or worries.

02:06I have a hearing limit of 50 decibel, with the same sound level of a truck.

02:12So, all sound higher than 50 decibel, I can hear.

02:16But everything that's below, and especially high tone voices, I cannot hear.

02:22Ronny Abergel knows how challenging life can be.

02:26So he came up with the idea of the Human Library.

02:30We are a library for all of mankind.

02:33So it's a place where you walk in and you get a chance to explore humanity.

02:37Through dialogue, we hope people will find understanding.

02:40And through that understanding, we pray for acceptance.

02:44All of us need that acceptance.

02:47We won't get it by standing alone and shouting.

02:50We'll get it by standing together, shoulder and shoulder.

02:53Whether speaker or listener, the encounters here take place on equal footing.

02:59People here tell us that equality is a guiding principle in Denmark.

03:05So there's a foundation of trust.

03:09Delicious breads, rolls and cake, but no cashier?

03:14Here in the north of the Danish capital is one of the city's most popular bakeries.

03:18It's tiny and always full.

03:21Customers serve themselves, tally up the price and pay online.

03:25Cheating the system would be easy, but the baker says it rarely happens.

03:30I did not put much thought into it, to be honest.

03:33It was just a way of running a bakery in a small, very quiet street

03:40located in a small street in Østerbro, Copenhagen.

03:43So for me alone, it was necessary to run a bakery, one man, as it was in the beginning.

03:52Pragmatic and typically Danish.

03:54I mean, the concept of the trust, giving the customer to come in

04:00and choose their own bakery items and pay with mobile pay is a very Danish concept.

04:08I'm from the U.S., and that would not work at all in the United States.

04:13The buns are coming in five minutes.

04:16The baked goods are a hit.

04:20But Martin Fogelius is amused by the fuss over having no cash register.

04:26It was not a big deal for me to begin with,

04:29and that the trust base alone would take so much attention.

04:33Copenhagen's reputation as a city of trust is known well beyond Denmark,

04:37and people here will tell you that's just how it is.

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