Sustainable Cultural Environments in Focus at First Nordic Seminar

Researchers and practitioners gathered at Aarhus School of Architecture to discuss the management and stewardship of future cultural environments in the Nordic region.

08.10.2024

In early October, Aarhus School of Architecture hosted the first seminar of the newly established Nordic Cultural Environment Research Network. The seminar, titled Connectivity in Cultural Environments, focused on the complex and dynamic interconnections within cultural environments. Discussions centered around the links between past, present, and future, and how landscapes, buildings, and people interact within these settings.

A key theme of the seminar was how to best manage cultural environments to ensure a sustainable future. The speakers provided a cross-Nordic perspective on the challenges and approaches to cultural environments and discussed how these can be addressed both in practice and policy as we face future challenges.

The seminar was facilitated by the research project Sustainable Cultural Environments, which aims to investigate the role of cultural environments in sustainable physical planning. Through a series of seminars and meetings, the network will continue to share knowledge and collaborate to enhance the understanding of how we can safeguard Nordic cultural environments for future generations.

Nordic Cooperation on Sustainable Cultural Environments

The research group Sustainable Cultural Environments, based at Aarhus School of Architecture, is behind the establishment of the Nordic research network Cultural Environments in the Nordic Region. The purpose of the network is to create a forum where researchers and practitioners can collaborate to develop methods for preserving and promoting cultural environments through sustainable planning.

Cultural environments are a relatively new category within cultural heritage, which is increasingly being integrated into physical planning in Scandinavia. The Nordic countries share a common approach to architectural heritage, but there are also differences between the countries, for example in evaluation and mapping methods, management practices, and legislation.

The research project Sustainable Cultural Environments runs from September 2022 to March 2026. The project collaborates with several municipalities and has a strong application-oriented focus, with the aim of developing concrete tools to sustainably preserve and develop cultural environments.