On the hunt for valuable cultural environments

Aarhus School of Architecture is screening the peripheral areas of Denmark.

12.12.2016

“The cultural environments of Denmark hold a great narrative power. Cultural environments tell the story of the specific histories and identities of places. And the strongest stories are often found in Denmark’s peripheral areas,” says Simon Ostenfeld Pedersen, from Aarhus School of Architecture, who is in charge of the project Umistelige kultumiljøer i Danmarks yderområder (Indispensable Cultural Environments in the Peripheral Areas of Denmark).

The two-year project is carried out in collaboration between Aarhus School of Architecture and The Realdania Foundation. And the foundation has granted DKK 3.5 million for the purpose. The aim of the project is to map the most important cultural environments of Denmark’s peripheral areas and show how they can help strengthen local developments and attract tourists to the area.

Local characteristics

18 of the 22 municipalities that are part of the project have already been examined, uncovering many diverse narratives:

Along the west coast of Jutland, the many lifeboat stations and landing places tell the story of how storms and the sea made groundings a source of permanent income to the inhabitants of an environment where it was necessary to pull the boats ashore after the day’s fishing had ended
In the Tønder Marsh, people’s struggle against the sea has shaped the landscape and its dikes and buildings that are elevated on sophisticated architectural structures in the flat landscape
On Lolland, sugar production brought prosperity, and local cultural environments include sugar factories, juice extraction stations, and sugar beet tracks
In the South Funen Archipelago, the importance of shipping and trade is evident from the many ports, shipyards and sailors’ towns
On Læsø, sea salt making destroyed the island’s forests, which in turn created a new cultural heritage, when the residents began building houses from new building materials such as seaweed and driftwood
In Djursland, lime burning was an important profession, and, for centuries, large deposits of this raw material has fed lime kilns and lime works you can still experience in the landscape

A boost to the municipalities

So far, 750 building cultural environments of special value have been examined, and the number is increasing as all 22 municipalities are gradually being screened. The next step is to prioritise and reduce the list to 100 “indispensable cultural environments”.

“In many cases, we are dealing with a building heritage that is disappearing due to the depopulation of rural areas. And if it disappears, part of our history will be lost forever. That is why it’s so important to map the culture-historical and architectural values, identify the most important values, and provide proposals for securing and developing them. And there is no doubt they can help boost municipalities that are currently struggling”, explains Professor Mogens A. Morgen, Aarhus School of Architecture, who has the overall responsibility for the project.

He emphasises that the involved municipalities have embraced the project, and that many of them will be using the method for screening cultural environments developed by the school when next year they have to revise their municipal development plans.