Small-town Architecture:Three Critiques on Architecture as an Instrument for Regional Development in Peripheral Small-towns

• Main Author: Jørgensen, Morten Birk
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: /dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/artisticdevelopment/no; name=No; Norway; Steilneset; Vardø; Northern Norway
• Online Access: https://adk.elsevierpure.com/da/publications/fc9a98d4-b051-4e36-adda-b02c83e8e583

The outskirts emerged as a popular concept in Denmark in 2010 to describe regions that socially, economically and culturally were disconnected the societal development. The emergence of the concept is to be seen in light of a long-standing liberation of settlement from food production and where towns and cities offer better conditions for changing societal production. Urban growth has had considerable attention from politicians, planners and architects and theories and professional discourses have been developed to hande the consequences. Parallely, the rural regions have beed marginalized in public debates and architectural discussions. However, as consequence of the outskirt-concept, a renewed attention have been directed towards the social, economic and cultural inequality that challenge societal cohesion. Here, architecture is activated as an instrument for regional development which outlines the contours for a new architectural task. This new task call for answers to a range of questions. How are we able to contribute to regional development? What are the risks involved with engaging in this task as a profession and where should we have our attention? What are the criteria for succes? To qualify the answers to these questions, with this dissertation I take a look at three cases where architecture is initiated with an intention of regional development in peripheral small-towns. First, the Danish village Høve where students from KADK in 2014 developed projects with the specific intention. Next, the fishing society Vardø in Northern Norway where Peter Zumthor in 2011 constructed the pavilions for a memorial Steilneset. Last, the village Vrin in the Swiss Alps, where local architect Gion Caminada invested a long-term engagement in the development of the place. The three cases are elucidated through architectural critiques that involves aethetical as well as political aspects. Together the critiques show these peripheral small-towns as incribed in a range of conflicts that call for increased attention to the ...