Screening the cultural environments of Denmark

Screening cultural environments (SAK) is a tool that can be used to assess cultural environments based on readable parameters, making visible values, characteristics and development potentials. The aim is to create new opportunities and initiatives aimed at preserving environments through development – and also simplifying the process of working strategically and goal-oriented with cultural environments for municipalities.

Aarhus School of Architecture developed the method in connection with an earlier project funded by Reladania; a project involving the screening of 22 municipalities in Denmark’s peripheral areas.

“Now the time has come to work with 30 new municipalities which are currently being selected. The new grant is a unique opportunity for Aarhus School of Architecture to screen cultural environments in more than half of Denmark’s 98 municipalities. This is a much-needed boost for the area, which opens up new opportunities for using and preserving local Danish heritage”, says the project manager, Associate Professor Simon Ostenfeld Pedersen.

An eye opener

The screening is carried out in cooperation with the municipalities and local museums and will ensure a uniform management of the nation’s cultural environments that have been deemed worthy of preservation.

“It is an uncomplicated and effective tool that enhances the skills of stakeholders for working with local potentials, be it buildings or landscapes. Yet, we will also be creating a national overview across administrative boundaries, which may prove to be an eye opener in terms of identifying values ​​and opportunities for development of local cultural environments”, says Professor Mogens A. Morgen, who is in charge of the project.

Focusing on teaching and research

In addition to the screening, Aarhus School of Architecture is organising a supplementary education course that focuses on how municipalities can assess and stimulate valuable cultural environments. The SAC method will also be integrated into teaching at the school, and ongoing research in the area will be strengthened.

The project will be implemented over the coming four years.

Facts

A cultural environment is a geographically defined area which in its appearance reflects essential characteristics of social developments, e.g. a cultural environment that has come into being around a local industry, a village, or a fishing hamlet on the coast.

These are the 22 municipalities Aarhus School of Architecture has screened so far: Bornholm, Faaborg-Midtfyn, Frederikshavn, Guldborgsund, Hjørring, Jammerbugt, Langeland, Lolland, Læsø, Morsø, Norddjurs, Odsherred, Samsø, Slagelse, Svendborg, Sønderborg, Thisted, Tønder, Vesthimmerland, Vordingborg, Ærø and Aabenraa.

More about the cultural environments that have been screened so far