Arctic placemaking

About the project

Övertorneå municipality and Pajala municipality are two Arctic sparsely populated municipalities that through the Arctic Placemaking project aim to explore how we can develop unique, sustainable and health-promoting meeting places for citizens that are so attractive that they create local destinations in everyday life. In this project we intend to co-create (co-design) modern Arctic meeting places that live all year round. Drawing on international and national research and knowledge on placemaking, design and architecture, we test and challenge the physical design of meeting places to find the keys to the living Arctic public space. The project aims to develop important knowledge about what creates an attractive and active sparsely populated area that can be disseminated and used by others. The aim is to identify both design and process principles for creating well-designed public meeting places that promote health in small Arctic towns. The goal is to increase outdoor recreation and everyday movement among all social groups in the municipalities and attract more visitors to the towns. The project is a collaboration between Övertorneå Municipality, Pajala Municipality and Luleå University of Technology. The project is funded by Formas within the framework of the national research program for sustainable spatial planning.