Ishøj Municipality is a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 (Danish

Danish language

Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...

: kommune

Municipalities of Denmark

This is a list of Municipalities of Denmark.-Region Hovedstaden:* Albertslund Municipality* Allerød Municipality* Ballerup Municipality* Bornholm Regional Municipality* Brøndby Municipality* Copenhagen Municipality* Dragør Municipality* Egedal Municipality...

) in Region Hovedstaden

Region Hovedstaden

The Capital Region of Denmark is an administrative region of Denmark established on January 1, 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which replaced the traditional counties with five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the...

 on the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in eastern Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. The municipality covers 26 km², with a total population of 20,687 (2008), many of whom are Pakistani, African, Arab, or Turkish immigrants

Turks in Denmark

Turks in Denmark or Danish Turks covers people who have immigrated from Turkey to Denmark. However, the term may also refer to Danish-born persons whose parents were born in Turkey or who have a ancestral background from Turkey...

. Its mayor is Ole Bjørstorp, a member of the Social Democrats

Social Democrats (Denmark)

The Social Democrats , is a Danish political party committed to the political ideology of social democracy. It is the major coalition partner in Denmark's government since the 2011 parliamentary election, and party leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the current Prime Minister of Denmark...

 (Socialdemokraterne) political party

Politics of Denmark

The Politics of Denmark takes place in a framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy, in which the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system...

.

The main town, and the site of the municipal council, is the town of Ishøj

Ishøj

Ishøj Municipality is a municipality in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers 26 km², with a total population of 20,687 , many of whom are Pakistani, African, Arab, or Turkish immigrants...

, which has one of Scandinavia's biggest housing projects - Vejleåparken (formerly Ishøjplanen). More than 76% of the people living there are immigrants or have immigrant parents. Consequently, Ishøj has many nicknames, for instance such as Istanhøj (a merge between the names Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 and Ishøj).

Neighboring municipalities are Vallensbæk

Vallensbæk

Vallensbæk Kommune is a municipality in Region Hovedstaden on the east coast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark.-Overview:The municipality covers an area of 9.15 km², and has a total population of 12,399...

 to the east, Høje-Taastrup

Høje-Taastrup

Høje-Taastrup Kommune is a municipality in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 78 km² , and has a total population of 47,158...

 to the north and west, and Greve

Greve municipality

Greve Municipality is a municipality about 21 km south-west of Copenhagen in Region Sjælland on the east coast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 60 km², and has a total population of 47,773...

 to the south.

Ishøj Municipality was not merged with other municipalities by January 1, 2007 as the result of nationwide Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007).