This master studio course in landscape architecture is the first in a series focusing on the natural- and cultural heritage relating to the extraction of raw materials. The overall field of study is landscape transformation – how to deal with landscapes undergoing significant reconfiguration following changes in use and or appraisal. In this particular case, the core objective is to explore alternative approaches to the proposed mining reclamation at Svea coal mine on Svalbard.

As the name suggests, the mining activities at Svea was initiated by the Swedes back in 1917. In 1934 the mine was purchased by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani AS which has operated an active mining community until 2016 when the mining activities was put on hold due to unfavourable market conditions. In 2018 the Parliament of Norway finally decided for a permanent shutdown and termination of mining activities at Svea and launched a “clean-up” project.  

The idea of cleaning the site might be seen as an obvious and environmentally sound response reflecting the immediate contrast between an industrial complex in a wild and pristine natural landscape. At the same time, coal mining can be considered an essential part of the cultural history of human presence on Svalbard, which is directly tied to the specific landscape and its material qualities. As such Svea constitute a heritage site requiring not cleaning, but a clarification of the entanglement of human and other-than-human actors – hence the need to explore alternative approaches to the proposed mining reclamation.

The course builds on the strong solidarity between the concepts of heritage and that of landscape. Both are unifying concepts; they bring together previously separated aspects of the world into a stronger whole; both sit at the interface between people's perception of the world and the world itself.[1] A central task will be to investigate how landscape architecture can help negotiate between different and potential conflicting understandings of the landscape by highlighting existing nature-culture assemblages or creating new stronger “naturecultures”.[2]

[1] See Graham Fairclough (2009) New heritage frontiers. In: Heritage and beyond, 29-42. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.

[2] See Rodney Harrison (2015) Beyond Natural and Cultural Heritage: Toward an Ontological Politics of Heritage in the Age of Anthropocene, Heritage & Society, 8:1, 24-42