Northern Experiments
Northern Experiments - The Barents Urban Survey 2009, is a collaborative effort to discuss selected key cities and phenomena in the Barents Region. The project is directed by 0047 in co-operation with The Barents Triennale and Pikene på broen, the Departments of Urban Design and Planning, NTNU and Lapland University. Teams and contributors from various backgrounds, professions and locations, from outside and within the region, have been invited to investigate urban conditions, urban phenomena and ongoing processes in the region. The aim of the project has been to present a contemporary reading of the region and of Northern urbanity.
The 2009 Survey focuses on four aspects of the Barents region; the Barents resource pool, the great Russian urban experiment, transnational space, and the potential of the periphery. A general theme is the experimental nature of the region. Having been a space for industrial, political and ideological experiments it can potentially be a space for new endeavors in society.
The Barents Urban Survey 2009 is presented in the book Northern Experiments.
BUS 2009 TEAMS:
MURMANSK CMYK by BuroMoscow (Russia)
Murmansk is a port-based city in the North-West Russia. Surrounded by military and industrial middle-size settlements, Murmansk is an oasis of economic activity. Though it has lost about one third of the population in the last 18 years, it is still the largest city above the Arctic Circle with its 320.000 inhabitants. 50,000 new inhabitants are expected to arrive in Murmansk with the Shtokman gas field project. The city will transform its post soviet heritage to a modern, multinational metropolis. BuroMoscow has analyzed the largest city above the Polar circle and outlines a three step strategy for its development.
1. The two major voids in the city, disconnecting the northern and the southern part from the center, will be part of an ‘Arctic park’ embracing the city center. Low scale eco housing will be inserted into the park, creating a new typology for Murmansk.
2. One of the major disadvantages of Murmansk is the separation from of the Kola Bay waters. New plans for the Murmansk port system can open for redeveloping of the existing piers. The old city center can be extended to the water with mixed functions in a dense urban pattern.
3. The existing qualities from soviet times in the old center are worth preservation. The build-up of the city on different plateaus is unique, unfolding the different time periods of Murmansk. Small scale interventions, re-programming of the ground floor and cleaning heavily polluted inner city rivers can renew the city image.
Team: Olga Aleksakova, Julia Bourdova, Andreas Huhn, Igor Aparyn, Bastian Henning, Lidiya Koloyarskaya, Natalia Remizova, Natalia Suhova, Olga Vlasenko, Dimitrij Zadorin
BARENTS AT RISK - RESOURCES AT PLAY by Northern Office for Research and Design (Denmark)
The game about the future of the Barents Region.
Imagine that the Barents Region was a board game! What would the goals, stakes and risks be? What would the rules be, who would the players be? How would one win the game?
The Barents Region's vast deposits of natural resources will be put into play over the next several years, involving many future opportunities for the region but also great risks. The region’s challenge is to develop while at the same time achieving a sustainable relationship between its resources and its cultural values. The region faces a major task in the coming years: it will have to handle the transformation of its natural resources into societal resources.
”Barents at Risk - Resources at Play”, is an exhibition concept that is built around a Barents Game board, presented as an outline of the region and acting as a negotiating table where the audience can interact and play with the Barents Region's future. The game is equipped with playing pieces and 10 missions that the audience should try to achieve. The missions are formulated as possible future scenarios for the Barents Region. Four boards are respectively titled, "Barents", depicting a collage of the identity creating elements in the region, "at Risk", which describes the risks the region faces, "Resources", which describes the region's resources as a whole, and "Play", which describes the rules for how to play the Barents Region game.
Team: Johannes Pedersen, Morten Rask Gregersen, Maika Moerner Jensen and Moa Björnson.
IRON TRAILS by Testbedstudio (Sweden)
The city of Narvik lies in a fjord along the coastline of Norway. The inhabitants of the fjords live their lives by the sea, but close by there is a hidden resource in the hinterland. Behind the mountain range are the vast lands of Sweden, not normally considered an asset for the Barents region. But at one specific point, this connection becomes visible and active. This is at Narvik, through its connection to the city of Kiruna via the Malmbanan railroad.
The project concerns the Kiruna Narvik area of the Barents Sea region, and takes as its departure the Malmbanan railroad. The track transports purified iron ore pellets from the mine in Kiruna to the port of Narvik. This trail of transportation ties the two cities together. It is their base of economy and it permeates everyday life. Together with the landscape and the resources of nature, these factors open up the possibilities for the future of the region. These riches have given rise to what may be called a testing ground, where many new experimental technology ventures have started. Eventually, these activities may take over and form the new base of life in the post-industrial society.
Team: Henric Ericsson, Anders Johansson, Fredrik Magnuson, Helena Mattsson, Magnus Nilsson, Katarina Rundgren, Erik Wingquist
BREATHING CITY by Department of Urban Design and Planning, NTNU (Norway)
What happens in the periphery as the urban areas grow? In a few years time around 70% of the world's population is expected to live in cities. With this enormous exodus of the rural areas, it is problematic only to focus on the issues that arise in the urban realm, while the problem actually is far more severe for the depopulating remote rural areas. The focus of the project was the development and future potential of rural towns and villages along the coast of the Barents Region in a time of change, economic revolts and environmental threats.
Is it possible to rethink what rural living implies? Can smaller towns and villages play a new role in a time when we see an increased focus on the bigger cities? Maybe one should allow considering temporary inhabitants like commuters, shift workers, specialists on rotation and even tourists as citizens? Could modern demands for culture, leisure activities and shopping be fulfilled through introducing a part-time urbanity? Can a new type of "rurban" living manage to stem the stream of rural refugees? And is this type of living actually the most ecological and sustainable solution for tomorrow?
Team: Magnus Jørgensen, Kari Dalland, Rune Stangeland, Synnøve Sæle and Eirik Gya Jacobsen.
WELCOME TO BORDERLAND by 0047 (Norway)
As the affairs of Norway and Russia are getting more and more intertwined, the borderland is where these intertwinings find its physical form. It is the showcase of the Russian-Norwegian relationships, and a micro cosmos of the grand Barents region. This is where the petroleum establishment in Norway has found its new playground. This is where the power struggle between the Russian military, FSB and its new energy elite will show who is on top. This is where mining giants find the origin for its billion dollar profits. And at the same time it is home to more than 53 thousand border citizens.
The borderland has been a stage for world wars, border disputes, cold war tension and a continuous experiment in control and surveillance. But in spite of this, ties across the borders have prevailed throughout history. It is now time to see what the border citizens have long seen: the borderland as one.
The borderland bears many different meanings; a politically supercharged area, an international system cocktail, a militarized territory, a common historic landscape and an increasingly strategic space in the development of the Barents sea. By showing this area and viewing the Russian and Norwegian borderlands as one, hopefully one change the perception of this part of the world, and one can begin a discussion on an alternative use of it, an alternative future. The time that could very well be the turning point in history, when the rationale of the border towns merges with the national state's agenda, is slowly emerging.
Team: Espen Røyseland, Øystein Rø, Tanja Bergqvist, Håvard Breivik and Denis Shirshov
