Urban cultural environments - "Heritagization" in urban regeneration processes

The built environment is a significant part of cultural heritage. Different types of cultural values can be associated with buildings and built environments, and values often change over time.

The Urban Cultural Environments project analyses cultural heritage processes in the built environment, examining how buildings and built environments are transformed into cultural heritage. The study focuses on cultural heritage processes in relation to urban transformation and urban renewal projects.

Cultural heritage processes are also studied in relation to spatial planning, as the diversity of cultural values that exist must be addressed in planning. The aim is to strengthen the cultural environment in physical planning in order to develop sustainable and attractive living environments. One objective is to develop methods for analyzing the interaction between cultural environments and their protection at different levels, through different laws, for improved knowledge base where different actors need to collaborate in urban transformation processes.

Research questions in the project are: What methods can be developed to present and strengthen heritage buildings in urban transformation processes? How is the built environment perceived as cultural heritage and how is cultural heritage documented and presented in planning processes? How are the cultural values of the built environment affected by trends in society and by structural changes in the urban environment? How is the cultural environment managed in urban transformation processes in relation to identified cultural values?

The research project is conducted as a qualitative multi-case study. Among other things, the large-scale changes of Kiruna and Malmberget that are underway, caused by ground deformations caused by mining, are studied. European examples of how built cultural heritage is affected by urban transformation and urban renewal are also examined, and compared with the Swedish cases.

The project is interdisciplinary and is carried out by Kristina L Nilsson, Professor of Architecture at Luleå University of Technology, Ola Wetterberg, Professor of Cultural Conservation at Gothenburg University, and Jennie Sjöholm, PhD student in Architecture at Luleå University of Technology.

The project is funded by the Research Council Formas.