Researchers to study all villages in Viborg Municipality

Viborg Municipality has entered into an agreement to cooperate with Aarhus School of Architecture on a new research project.

17.03.2020

As part of the research project Screening Cultural Environments, researchers from Aarhus School of Architecture have been travelling around Denmark in order to analyse particularly valuable cultural environments. The aim was to highlight qualities and potentials represented by the built cultural heritage in Danish municipalities.

Aarhus School of Architecture has now begun a collaboration with Viborg Municipality that involves researchers from the School doing a thematic study of all villages in the municipality. The work is based on the so-called SAK Method, which was developed at Aarhus School of Architecture in connection with the project Screening Cultural Environments.

‘This thematic study aims to explore the potential of creating a basis for a methodological approach to a differentiated and strategic development of villages and rural areas as one comprehensive area. Aarhus School of Architecture also wants to use the project to explore and expand the potential of using cultural environments as a basis for future municipal planning and development’, says Kasper Albrektsen, who is employed as a research assistant at Aarhus School of Architecture.

The thematic study of the villages – which is based on the cultural environments that can be read – examines the values and characteristics of the different villages. The ambition of the project is to explore the possibility of, through an understanding of the local cultural environments of the villages, providing a methodological approach to planning – strategic as well as physical – based on local narratives and characteristics. And, furthermore, to make visible special narratives, to ensure we have a tool for site-specific development.

A great tool

In terms of area, Viborg Municipality is Denmark’s second-largest municipality. Four months have been set aside for the project. In this period, researchers will be mapping more than 80 villages.

‘We don’t have the necessary resources for such a meticulous study of the villages, which is why it’s a really great tool for us. Using the SAK Method, we get a visual presentation of the different values and potentials of the various towns. This is very hands-on, and it is a method that can inspire our future work’, says Jørgen Tryk Hansen, an architect employed in the planning department of Viborg Municipality. He goes on:

‘We are aware that the SAK Method is based on cultural environments and that, for this reason, it is only part of the picture when we look at a village. Nevertheless, it is a really powerful tool that we can incorporate in our work. We can use the SAK studies strategically. And we can use the summary, which will comprise all the villages, in our future municipal planning’.

The work of mapping the many villages has begun and will continue until July 2020.