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REFERENCES Baudrillard, J. (2005). Synudakry i sytrndacja. Warszawa: Sjel Borowik, I. (2004). Blokowiska — habitat miejski w ogladzie socjologicznym. In: A. Majer (Ed.), Wokol socjologii przestrzeni (pp. 153—166). Lodz: (iL. Canter, 0. (1977). Fsychology ofplace. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press. Casey, E. 5. (1998). The fate af place, ei phllosophical hi.siory. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Castells, M. (2003). European cities, the informational society, and the global economy. In: R. T. LeGates & F. Stout (Eds.), The city reader (pp. 475—485), London: Routledge. Chwalibég, K. (2009). Polska polityka architektoniczna. In: R. Janikowski & K. Krzysztofek (Eds.), Kultura a zréwnowaiony rozwdj — irodowisko, leid przesn’zenny, dziedzicrwo (pp. 127—147). Warszawa: Polski Komitet do spraw UNESCO. Giddens, A. (2002). Ivowoczesnoié i zotsamoié, ja’i spoleczeiist,vo i.’ epoce pdtnej nowoczesnoéci. Warszawa: PWN. Hague, C., & Jenkins, P. (Eds.). (2005). Place identily, participation and planning. London: Routledge. Michalski, K. (Ed.) (l995). Toz’samoié w czasach zmiany rozrnowy .i’ Casve! Gandolfo. Krakôw: Wydawnietwo Zaak. Mumford, L. (1961). The city in 11w history. New York, NY: Harvest Books. Norberg-Schulz, C. (1971). Existence, space aud archirecrure. London: Studio Vista. Norberg-Schulz, G. (1979). Genius be!: To,i’a,’ds a phenonienobogy of architecture. New York, NY: Rizzoli. Relph, E. (1976). Place ane! placelessness. London: Pion Limited. Rykwert, 3. (2002). The seduction ofplace. London: Vintage Books. Sandercock, L (2004). Praeticing utopia: Sustaining cities. In: R. Paloscia (Ed.), The conlesied meiropolls: Six cities ar i/re beginning of I/re 2ist cenrury (pp. 15—23). Basel: Birhauser Publishers for Architeeture. Somer, K. (2007). Thefunenona! city. CIAM aud i/re legacy of Van Lesteren. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers. Tuan, Y. F. (1977). Space andpbace, iheperspeenve of experience. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Venturi, R., Scott Brown, 0., & lzenour, 5. (1977). Learningfrorn Las Vegas. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Wallis, A. (1977). Miasto i przestrzeti. Warszawa: PWN. WalIis, A. (1979). Informaeja igwar. Warszawa: PIW. Wnuk-Lipinski, E. (2004). Sw!at rniedzyepoki. Krakéw: Znak, ISP PAN. Zmudzinska-Nowak, M. (1998). Leid i chaos jr przesrrzeni miasta. Research grant n. PBU-67 Rar-4/96, Unpublished. Zmudzinska-Nowak, M. (2006). Between global and local: Polish city space during a time of transition. Journal of Urban Technobogy, 13(l), 33—53. Zmudzinska-Nowak, M. (2010). Miejsce: rotsamaié i zrniana. Wydawnictwo Politechniki Slaskiej.
CHAPTER 9 A HERITAGE CLAIM TO PUBLIC SPACE: EXAMPLES FROM A MIXED NEJGHBOURHOOD IN DRAMMEN, NORWAY Grete Swensen, Sveinung Krokann Berg and Johanne Sognnæs ABSTRACT The multi-ethnic neighbourhood of Strømso in Drammen in Norway is facing a major rransformalion. The town hus undergone major renewa/ processes during ilie last decade and has been presenred as a successful example of urban development both narionally and internationally. In the chaprer, we bok cboser at what spaces and qualities are underlined os signjficant in this neighbourhood by ihe exa’nined appropriators ofpublic space, and how their views rebate ro the qualiiies stated in pbanning documents for the area. Public spaces and meeting points can play a vital role in safeguarding diversity and urban cultural heritage associated with these spaces. Fublic space represents physically defined struclures (streets, squares, parks), bul even more i;nportantly a social space offering possibilities of encoun ter and activiry otherwise not displayed in dre city. These qualities inighi be perceived as heritage values and
Everydny Life in the Segmented City Research in Urban Sociology, Volume 11, 195—221 Copyright © 2011 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: I047-0042/doi:10.1 l08/Sl047-0042(2011)000001 1012 195
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sign(ficant constituenty inherent in public space. This niakes public space the keeper of values that are seen as basic urban qua!i/les. Keywords: Cultural heritage; public space; urban renewal; multicultural neighbourhoods; opportunity space; heritage by appropriation
INTRODUCTION Identification of heritage value is often used to capture the identity and historical qualities immanent iii a site. In urban areas of homogeneous character or with clearly defined and designated heritage value, this identification is less disputable than how to capture the historical qualities of fragmented and heterogeneous areas. When il comes to ‘ordinary’ mixed urban areas which consist of a blend of buiklings and physical structures from different periods, the chances are more likely that colliding views exist among planners, developers and inhabitants of what strategies wilI benefit the area. In this chapter, focus is directed towards the relationship between heritage and publie spaces and how publie spaces can be regarded as a keeper of qualities in an ongoing renewat process in the neighbourhood Strømsø, Drammen. It is a neighbourhood close to the commercial centre and the riverbank, both intluential factors in making it an attractive development area. The area can at the moment be described as a compound area when it comes to ethnicity, functions and physical appearance. The town of Drammen has undergone major renewal processes during the last decade and has been presented as a successful example of urban development and honoured with several prizes both nationally and internationally. In an established neighbourhood like Strømsø where a wide spectrum of buildings and urban spaces from different periods contribute to give this neighbourhood a patchwork-structure, the challenges the municipal planners and architects face are large when they strive to succeed their visions of establishing well-functioning integration between the new and the old areas (Fig. I). In the chapter, we ask what spaces and qualities are underlined as significant (‘appreciable’) in this neighbourhood by the examined appro priators of public space, and how do their views relate to the qualities identified or stated in planning documents for the area?
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Local tradesmen and fifth-grade schoolchildren are deliverers ofempirical material in the survey through interviews and photo documentation along with observations of the use of publie space to identify which qualities are appreciated by people living and working in the area. By observing the use of public space, the user groups inhabiting and dominating the various spaces are identified.
Urban Renewal, Heritage and Opportunity Space Identification of the heritage value is generally used to capture the identity and historical qualities immanent in a site as potential guidelines for further development. If it concerns urban~reas with already clearly defined heritage values, it might open up a testing out at a larger scale of the restoration prineiples developed through, for instance, World Heritage Sites assign ments. When it comes to more ‘ordinary’ mixed urban areas, however, which consist of a blend of buildings and physical structures from different periods, the chances are more likely that colliding views exist among planners, developers and inhabitants of what strategies wiIl benefit the area. Heritage is often understood as buildings and other kinds ofconstructions. We are, however, focusing on the space bet ween those material objects and the way this space is appropriated and taken into use. Could the open space and the use of it be denominated as ‘heritage’? Could it be valued as something worth taking care oP What are the funetions of these spaces: how have they been used traditionally, how are they used today? Who are the primary users? Is there a territorial ‘battle’ with winners and losers or do the new forms ofuse bring different groups together, thereby opening up for new kinds of communication? Are there qualities inherent in public space that play a vital role in defining which spaces are appropriated and valued? Cultural heritage often gains its status by use of evaluation and assessment methods developed by national or international cultural heritage manage ment and are safeguarded through corresponding jurisdiction. Another approach is to view heritage produetion as a process, where regular use of one’s everyday surroundings leads to appreciation of special features. These two processes have been described as heritage by designation and heritage by appropriation (Tweed & Sutherland, 2007) to elaborate what qualifies as cultural heritage and to explain why it is so. Another way of conceiving the contingent nature of value is as a spectrum withfundaniental values at one end and incidental values or benefits at the other (Pendlebury, 2009, p. 203). This recognizes the socially constructed nature of heritage values and that —
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heritage is instrumental and valued for something. The relationship between public value and heritage is used within this specirum to distinguish between what are established values, which thereby underpin the system of protection and what are socially constructed values (Pendlebury, 2009, p. 202). Valuing a place includes identifying the essence or sense of piace, and in particular for sites that have not been formally identified as having heritage value character has been used as a means of identification (Pendlebury, 2009, p. 219). Characterization is used to consider the (historic) character of a place rather than focusing exclusively on particular places because of their perceived special quatities (Department of Culture, Media and Sports & Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, 2001). It is an attempt to bring together as many aspects of a place as possible, in order to appreciate and understand it better and to understand the experience of being in it (English Heritage, 2005). The first generation of preservation plans in Norway which was made according to the Planning and Building Act of 1965, focused strongly on character (Nyseth & Sognnaes, 2009, p. 37). These plans were formulated in a way that permitted to build extensions to the houses, if the character of the preserved agglomeration was taken care of. The character of an area was approached as something more than the single objects. Later, we will return to the complex character of Strømsø’s cultural environment and its heritage assets as defining an opporrunisy space rather than a historic place, a binary distinction described by Pendlebury, Townshend, and Gilroy (2004). They underline that when historic environ ment is interpreted as an opportunity space, it may bring a physical quality to regeneration that is otherwise not easily reproducible. Rather than putting emphasis on intrinsic historic nature, regeneration may occur and relate to its historic setting without restraining new additions (Pendlebury, 2009, p. 200; Pendlebury et at., 2004, p. 12). The inclusive aspect immanent in the opportunity space might also cover the appreciation of the situatedness of reading and operating within sites, and particularly in fragmented cultural environments like Strømsø. To stress the qualities of what is already there, As Found as a design approach has developed within architecture, urbanism and heritage studies to give what is found on the site and its uses and interpretations of a determining role for preservation of urban landscapes. It seeks to perceive urban landscapes as dynamic lifeworlds rather than enclosed objects and to identify opportu nities rather than absolutes. The As Found principle might be described as ‘picking up, turning over, and putting-with’ (Smithson & Smithson, 1990, p. 201) or as an even more inclusive approach through what Chemetoff
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describes as adoption, which ‘serve[sJ the purpose of revisiting the past years’ production not to bring it in line with contemporary taste, bul to find a place for each thing in today’s city’ (Chemetoff, 2009, p. 14). The fact that something was already there is asserted to be a positive thing. As Found stresses the property of the thing, not the thing itseif and not the activity that produced it. As Found is the tendency to engage with what is there, to recognize the existing, to follow its traces with interest (Lichtenstein & Schregenberger, 2001). As Found is a perceptive recognition of reality, a new seeing of the ordinary, an openness to how prosaic things could re-energize our inventive activity (Smithson & Smithson, 1.990).
Public Space and Urban Social Lqe Most outdoor areas in Norwegian towns are publiely accessible, even though most of these areas are seldom mentioned or thought of in terms of public space as such. They include streets, parking lots, sites which are temporarily vacant and in-between areas of various characters. Today most town planners naturally relate to issues to ensure well-functioning public spaces in their strategic thinking, and this concerns more aspects than just form and aesthetics. Different but complementary approaches to public space have been used in different disciplines, and discussions on this topic have been supplemented with various socio-cultural, political and archi tectural perspectives (Garcia-Ramon, Ortiz, & Prats, 2004). Public spaces in the city are social spaces of encounter and communica tion. Public spaces also fill people’s economic, social, spiritual and physical needs. They are action spaces, spaces of orientation, places of identification and important habitats. The combination of their physical, social and temporal dimensions forms both the physical and the spiritual framework of people’s lifeworlds. Public spaces have many roles without which a city cannot function or be liveable. By providing people with an important living space beyond their private homes, public spaces are essential guarantors of urban life. The quality of public spaces is a gauge of the quality of life and without doubt will play a significant role in deciding the future viability of cities (Engel, 2006). When focus has been directed to factors which are considered positive dimensions of such places, it is underlined that they can strengthen a sense of community. Both by offering possibilities for breaks from daily routines and by providing opportunities for making bridges between people, they can
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have a direci infiuence on well-being by raising people’s spirits and thereby influencing the general feeling of health and welfare (Cattell, Dines, Gesler, & Curtis, 2008). ‘Often quite mundane places attain symbolic significance for people through social relations that take place there’ (Cattell et al., 2008, p. 556). Such places can have cultural values that add to the more traditionally aceepted values of historic places that are used by heritage managers: ‘Living in a place for a long period of time, working in a place, narrating stories and telling myths about a place, and engaging in any activity can generate a particular relationship between a person, a group and a particular location’ (Low, Taplin, & Scheld, 2005, p. 15).
Plann ing to Ensure Multi-Functiona! and Multicu/tural Dimensions Aspects of relevance to areas with a considerable amount of cultures present are the possibilities such areas offer as ‘glimpses into otber worlds’. This aspect is mentioned particularly by Hajer and Reijndorp (2001) when they discuss the new challenges that planning for public domains in the post industrial society raises. People tend to live in separated spheres, where public spaces are one of the comnion grounds where people with different backgrounds and worldviews can meet. By the mere fact that different cultural groups have different traditions for using public space, it provides options for making diversity visible and opens up for cultural exchange and interaction. It can add to the particular flavour of a place and represents a dimensjon of vitality, adventure and culture much appreciated and searched for in contemporary urban development. Public space indicates an area open to everyone. Juridically this is mostly true, although some areas with a public character, such as commercial centres, are owned by private interests. Public spaces are mostly owned by the community, ruled by civic legislation and political decisions and maintained by public funds. However, this is no guarantee that cveryone will feel welcome there; some may not even be at ease. In spite of the designated and intended use, the space might be appropriated by special groups, thereby keeping others out. The activities can sometimes be interesting for passers-by to watch and thus make the area as a whole more attractive to walk through. At other times, the use or the users can be of a kind that has a disturbing effeet on the passer-by. First it will be observed as something unfamiliar going on. Next it will be interpreted: is it ok? Or could it somehow be threatening? This might be met with indifference. But it could also cause negative reactions such as intruding and reprimanding, —
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positive ones such as greeting and smiling, or in some cases reactions like withdrawing or avoiding passing or entering the area. There will always be a fine balance, however, between appreciating the unknown and fearing the unfamiliar. In a study of urban parks in the USA, Low et al. (2005) show how a new tendency has arisen in the American metropolis to reduce general access, which can be seen as a process affecting both the ‘vitality and vibrancy of such places’. It is interpreted as a new kind of threat to public space, one not of disuse but of patterns of design and management that exclude some people and reduce social and cultural diversity. In some cases, this exclusion is the result of deliberate programmes to reduce the number of undesirable people. In others, it is a by-product of privatization, commercialization, historic preservation and specific strate gies of design and planning (Low et al., 2005). Town planning processes of today are grappling with issues ofcommunity participation and engagement, while criteria for defining heritage value rather reflect cultural values that are regarded as having special historical or architectural interest designated by the heritage management. By including children, local tradesmen and observed users of public space to identify carriers of vahie for their own use and appropriation of space, this chapter addresses the potential exclusion immanent in the designation process and by that prepares for a more user-oriented practice which is both more inclusive and more in terms of the identity, economic potential and pluralism/diversity urged in contemporary town planning.
METHODS The methods used in the study include observations and photo documenta tion of types of public spaces along with qualitative interviews, supple mented by critical reading of planning documents.
Observations and Photo Documentation Observations were made by walking around in the area at daytime, sometimes two of US together, sometimes one alone. The observations are also accompanied by photo documentation supporting the material. The photos were seen as means to Jiterally bring forward a picture of the physical and material surroundings that define and constitute the different open
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spaces. They were important to be able to describe, characterize and categorize the different spaces present in the research area. ~iBoth physical and perceived borders have been sought to analyse various tpologies of publicspace. The design of the surrounding structures does not only constitute the streets and squares physically but also provides them with certain qualities experienced as ‘sense of place’. The borders can be firmly or vaguely defined, and thus give the space a distinct or blurred charaeter. We also wanted to study the degree to which the surrounding ‘walls’ can be interpreted as means to stimulate or prevent contact and communication. Dothey enable or block visual contact? When they create a distance, how
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big is it? What can be ~een and heard at this distance, and what cannot? Can • the walls be penetrated or are they absolute, more like fortifications? Do they signal that those on one side have to be protected from those on the • other side? It was also considered important to see how people used the different spaces, and as a by-product, even how they reacted to our • presence.
fnterviews Based on a mapping of the areas present trades and ownership and on Strømsø’s historical business structure, an enquiry was introduced by • telephone to a selected number of local tradesmen/proprietors located close to the public square Bølgeplassen. Eight of the persons contaeted accepted to participate in the enquiry and were asked to describe their neighbourhood and define which qualities are fundamental and important for their localization and their perception of Strømsø. The interviewees represent different trades, various periods of time ~ being located at Strømsø and places of origin. The interviews took place dUring working hours and were carried out as semi-structured conversa tions, based on an interview guide, emphasizing their own descriptions and uses of terminology. Methodically, they were asked to define nodes, landmarks/points of orientation, local identity and the basis for being localized in the area. This draws on both visual methods as presented by Kevin Lynch (Lynch, 1960) and an effort to identify qualities ‘on site’ as presented in the As Found approach (Chemetoff, 2009; Lichtenstein & Schregenberger, 2001; Smithson & Smithson, 1990). Contacting people by telephone might have an effect on the participation r. in the enquiry ending up with a selection of interviewees comfortable with 4-.
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the theme. Persons not willing to or interested in being interviewed either referred to other people expected being more qualified to answer or didn’t find time to participate. Representativeness might not be pleaded by the interviews completed, but same common denominators indicate certain qualities of relevance for the capture of the fragmented sense of place characterizing the area.
Document Study The documents studied in the project involve programme, strategy and jury reports from the city and housing exhibition located in Strømsø in the period 2009—20 18.’ In addition to this, a preliminary strategy note for the heritage work (Insam, 2007) and the municipal sector plan for Drammen central area (Drammen kommune, 2006) constitute prevailing guidelines for further development in Strømsø regarding cultural heritage.2’3 The municipal sector plan is politically approved, while the other documents must be regarded as professional initiatives contributing to the further process of regenerating Strømsø. In addition, various local literatures have provided important historic data on the use of the built environment, supplemented by maps, photos and observations.
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facilitated contaet with an interested teacher in charge of the fifth-grade ciass, and three visits were made to the school while the project was being carried out. The method has some marked limitations. When children have been involved in visual research projects, it has often been from one of two angles: either as a theme for the study itself or as active participants by providing results by use of visual media (Thompson, 2008). This project belongs to the last category. In such a project, children have an opportunity to be heard via their ‘visual voices’ (Burke, 2008), which has a potential to expand perspectives to include groups and aspects which may have been excluded ar marginalized (Thompson, 2008). A rather similar project has been performed and described by Burke (2008), who stresses that this form of project requires engagement by the researehers over a longer period of time. This has not been possible in our case, and the project therefore has some limitations which have been accounted for. When interpreting the results, it is, for instance, not possible to tell whether the teacher or other grown-ups, for instance, parents, have had a major infiuence on either the selection of themes for photographing ar the organizing of the story. Many children aged 12 13 years have mastered the use of the Internet very welI, and when asked about what they consider cultural heritage, this might also have influenced their views.
RESULTS The Schoolchildren Project: Photo and Storytelling As Found: A Parch,,’ork Struciure Students from a primary school in the neighbourhood were invited to participate in the projeet. They were asked to produce a series of pictures using mobile phones or cameras illustrating places they greatly appreciate in their neighbourhood. The final task included writing a story describing the place they selected as their most appreciated place. Thirty-eight pupils participated, of which twenty were giris. Approximately half of the pupils were second-generation immigrants. When choosing the school and age group to involve in the project, the following factors were emphasized: we wanted to reach children in an age group in which there was a chance they would still have maintained some of their childish curiosity concerning the areas where they live. We therefore chose the only primary school in the area (Brandengen skole), which is situated on the border between the two neighbourhoods Strømsø and Tangen. A short information sheet was distributed to the headmaster, who
Strømsø is a neighbourhood undergoing urban renewal. In this area, wooden houses from the nineteenth century stand next to concrete flats from the 1960s and brick buildings from the late twentieth century, and former upper class listed wooden buildings from the seventeenth century are located in close proximity to typical dwellings of people of more humble means. It is one of the neighbourhoods in Drammen where we still find important parts of the old wooden settlements from the seventeenth and eighteenth century, and this is mainly due to the fact that the devastating fire which hit a large part of the town in 1866 did not reach this part of town. Part of this neighbourhood, the lower part of Tollbugata, consists of a row of listed buildings which are ciassified as belonging to the national heritage. A major part of these impressive buildings was owned by rich merchants dealing with the export of timber. There are other areas in the neighbouring streets with
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a more mixed population basis. Many of them originated from the nineteenth and twentieth century, and the area has from the start been dominated by a blend of houses and outbuildings with workshops. There is stil a certain degree of mixed use in the area. There is a rather high proportion of immigrant inhabitants, and several of the shop owners were originally from Turkey and Pakistan, which contributes to giving the area a special character. During the last 45 years, there has been a tendency to build blocks of flats with shops and offices in the most central part of the neighbourhood, which is the upper part close to the town’s railway station as well as the main bridge connecting the two major commercial centres of Drammen. From an overall point of view, Strømsø is today best described as a neighbourhood consisting of a set of different fragments, and it is designated by the urban plannbrs as an area with further prospects for development. The various zones with a wide spectrum of buildings and urban spaces from different periods contribute to giving this neighbourhood a patchwork structure, which can present large challenges to planners and architects with visions of well-functioning integration between the new and the old areas. Through our survey of how fifth-grade pupils and tradesmen/estate brokers define their neighbourhood and an observation study of how public spaces and squares are appropriated by various groups of users, we have tried to identify which qualities inherent in Strømsø today may be of significance for the maintenance of local and situated character and by that cultivate and strengthen the local identity.
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~ The Mai,, Themes Accentuared in the Plans for Strømso ~‘
The present aims, strategies and tools for developing Strømsø have been sharpened lately through the ongoing city and housing exhibition for the period 2009—20 18. Streets, outdoor areas, squares and places to meet have been one of several focal themes in the city and housing exhibition, and 8 out of 24 sites indicated for development are public estates and possible squares/green areas.’ Heritage aspeets are mainly connected to buildings, but areas where several listed buildings define a larger unity or a street structure are considered as cultural environments including both buildings and the structures in-between. From the heritage management, seven areas of Strømsø are designated as preservation areas in addition to the city axis connecting Strømsø and Bragernes across the river. Streets and squares are considered important to
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safeguard, maintain and obtain coherence and activity in the apparently fragmented Strømsø district. Tollbugata is the main street running through the whole area and is a significant structural element connecting the designated heritage areas and a central nerve/public space defining movement and interaction within Strømsø. Intercultural activity has been considered a main feature of Strømsø throughout history, and constitutes a dynamic and vivid production of footprints regarded as valuable and significant for the interpretation of Strømsø today. Again Tollbugata turns out to be the focal point exemplifying how various ethnic groups appropriate and influence the public space by establishing a wide spectrum of businesses. Vitalizing Tollbugata to reflect its time span from the seventeenth century until the multicultural present is regarded as an important strategic move in the further development of Strømsø. Heritage aspects are presented as one of several premises for the initiated development of Strømsø, but the basic premise for the ongoing exhibi tion/competition, named Future Built, is to promote climate-effective architecture and city development. The role of heritage in this guiding principle is not necessarily evident. In the appointed panel’s general comments on the submitted proposals, the importance of distinguishing between some streets generating major meeting places and defining new uses of streets with a weaker public ôharacter is stressed. This is anticipated to strengthen the complex character ôfthe area without losing its diversity/pluralism. Regarding city spaces, the proposals favouring small-scale spaces generating buildings ciose to the stjuares are preferred to obtain intimate demarcated spaces in a dense po~itive interdependency with the business and trade at street level. No specific architecture is given priority, but as a principle the jury has approved the idea that the new structures facing the river, which is also an important public space, should be designed by different architects to create variety. In respect of heritage, the city structure and Strømsø as a unity is regarded as a cultural environment in addition to single objects. The history 6f the street structure, the significance of backyards, the location of wharfside sheds and so on are considered and have contributed to the perception of Strømsø’s history as highly fragmented and not automatically instructive for a further strategy for densification. In addition to the aims emphasized in the exhibition, the prevailing municipal plan for Drammen and the municipal sector plan for its central area give the premises for further development.2 A sector plan for street use in Strømsø is approved where the street structure is. partly aimed at safeguarding and strengthening the historic public spaces, areas and
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building struetures. In a preliminary strategy for how to follow up the cultural heritage in Drammen’s central area, Strømsø’s main street, Tollbugata, is given priority as a structural element embracing four centuries of city development including material struetures representing various epochs within this period.3 The strategic approach is meant to inciude both nimbus (common apprehension of monuments and national treasures) and dissonance (diverging opinions of historical representation) both to cover the shared memory and to represent the various epochs as extensively as possible.
Use of Publie Spaces in Stromso Observations Our observations have been set out to throw light on opportunity space immanent in the material structures at Strømsø. By the concept opportunity space, we here think of surroundings enabling and promoting encounter and communication between persons and groups of people, qualities that are crucial to make the spaces come alive as true urban spaces. We have focused mainly on two questions: • Are there some features connected to the material heritage that facilitate informal contact? Incidental meetings and informal contact can be a first step to a more extended contact; • How do we experience the different public spaces at Strømsø? Are they true public spaces with equal rights for everyone to attend, or do they seem to be dominated or even ‘occupied’ by certain groups? The question is reflected in the fact that when dilTerent people and cultures are assembled in small areas, feelings of ownership to certain spots and places might anse. At a first glance, some groups are identified by their presence or dominance or by leaving footprints characterizing certain areas: • • • • • • •
the populace/the public; car owners; small-scale traders of immigrant origin and their customers; skaters inhabiting the park under the highway; boat owners populating the quay; visitors at the graveyard; graffiti artists and other sub-cultures.
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Some selected spaces are further examined regarding their physical expression and their users. The recently constructed footpath along the riverbank seems to attract and be accessible to ‘everybody’. Immigrant women in long dresses, young mothers or fathers pushing prams, or single men with a dog, seem to be comfortable and relaxed when walking along the river, alone as well as in small groups (Fig. 2). In another newly created park, traditional park elements in old style (benches, lawns, fiowers and a fountain) are surrounded by buildings and roads which don’t seem to adequately define the area as a park. In addition, this vaguely defined space seems localized in an area with a blurred character. It neither belongs to the city centre on the upper side nor to the harbour area on the lower side, but is something in between. When compared to the newly established river park, the most striking difference is that the river park is very vivid and well looked after, whereas this small ‘old style’ park area is less used and more littered. The skatepark is certainly dominated by skaters, but paradoxically this is not as exclusive as one might think. Passers-by are included as observers and people in different ages children as well as grown-ups are hanging around on the ramps when they are not used for skating (Fig. 4). Tollbugata is the main street of Strømsø and stands out as the main business district of the greater city for immigrants from outside Europe. Although open for thoroughfare, it has the impression of being a pedestrian area and a marketplace: clothes for sale are exposed outside of the shops, small groups of people are hanging around in front of mobile phone companies, Internet cafés and travel agencies and small children are sitting on the doorsteps or peeping out from display windows. When we did our photo documentation, the reaction from people in thc street varied between rejections to friendly accommodating attitudes. —
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Jnterviews The public square called Bølgeplassen, named after the sculpture located in the square, is defined by the meeting point of Strømsø’s main street, Tollbugata, the perpendicular Langes gate and the end of Schultz gate, resulting in five corner buildings defining the closure of the square (Fig. 3). This city space has been defined by the meeting streets since the layout of Strømsø in the seventeenth century and today makes up a kind of cross section of Strømsø’s character in terms of both buildings and activity. The five corner buildings house a Turkish gift store, a Turkish café, a furniture shop, a hairdresser, a mason’s for tombstones, an undertaker’s office, a parking lot and a church. The five blocks surrounding the square consist of
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four seventeenth-century buildings, fine from the nineteenth century, two from the first half of the twentieth century, six buildings frem the period 1950—1980 and eight buildings erected after 1980 (Fig. 3). Qualities connected to this cultural environment and the surrounding parts of the city are identified and analysed by interviewing business people and property developers located in the vicinity of the square. Among the qualities emphasized by the persons interviewed are as follows: • • • • •
E
a
accessibility; low thresholds; low prices; a preference for the urban rugged/grey areas; long history in the area.
According to what is inherent in the opportunity space and partly the As Found approach, these qualities underline the importance of a city space that is perceived as not restricted, not too organized and not too adjusted to accommodate a predefined and narrow purpose. The appreciation of Strømsø’s fragmented character is expressed through a description of Strømsø as ‘having a more attractive urban situation’ than Bragernes, which is the present commercial centre, and also having a more homogeneous building structure raised after a city fire in 1866. Strømsø’s content, however, differs in the informants’ view from having ‘everything’ to description of an area where nothing exists; the former statement was made by a retired third-generation local tradesman, the latter by a settling restaurateur. In deseribing important landmarks/points of orientation, the post office, the railway station and the museum are pointed out by several of the informants. The museum and the railway station may be connected to monumental buildings as parts of the sites, but pointed out together with the post office the use and the public character might be of significance. For development of the area, more housing and inhabitants are expressed by all informants as a benefit based on the opinion that during the last decades the area has lost a lot of inhabitants, leaving the streets empty and thereby leading to a loss of public life. Schoolchildren ‘s Visual Voices
&
Schoolchildren were selected as one relevant group to obtain insight into what they considered as Strømsø’s major assets to enable us to learn more about whether there were special places in the neighbourhood people seemed to particularly like (or dislike) and to try to better understand what
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causes these situations. To make their ‘visual voices’ (Burke, 2008) heard, the children were asked to take photos from their favourite places and write an accompanying story. The intention in this part of the project was to try to get an impression of the aspects which are important in a child’s relationship to everyday places: number ofplaygrounds, football pitches, easily available kiosks, ‘exciting’ places etc. There are in total 38 presentations produced by the pupils participating in the project. The school is situated in a mutticultural neighbourhood, and the pupils involved in the project had parents who were of Vietnamese, Turkish, Philippine, Polish, Afghan and various African as well as Norwegian descent. The presentations have been divided into four types depicting 1. institutions, 2. assigned cultural heritage places, 3. publie and recreational spaces and 4. diverse spaces. The first group, institutions, comprises presentations of the library (2), their own school, Brandengen (5) and a secondary school, which was ciosed down recently (3). The cultural heritage places entail photos and stories about a rock carving (1 presentation), the local church (2 presentation), and Austad mansion, a designated heritage asset owned by the museum (1 presentation). The third group public and recreational spaces is by far the largest. Here we find presentations portraying the popular riverbank (4 presentations), the pedestrian bridge (3 presentations), the outdoor swimming p001 and stadium (2 presentations), the large sports arena (2 presentations), the skatepark (4 presentations) and a local outdoor recreational area, Tegger’n (4 presentations). The more individual presentations are placed in the fourth group: a modern monument, a private beach, a football team, a shopping centre and a shop —
o
and gallery. The stories that accompany the pictures have varied degrees of personal character; while some undoubtedly are made up from information from the Internet, several have the character of personal stories, even sometimes supplemented by personal poems. A closer bok at the material presented by the pupils gives insight into what places in their neighbourhood they appreciate. When the public bath and the football arena are picked as favourite places primarily by boys it is owed to the fun these places give and the good memory they attach to them (P27, P12, P5).4 The library was chosen because it is a calm and peaceful place (P19, P7), but one of the girls also added that the place had other qualities as well; ‘Read, dress up, homework, borrowing books’ (P19). The local outdoor recreationab area, Tegger’n, was by one pupil described this way; ‘In the summer it is green and warm, in the winter cold and fun! We ski and toboggan down the hill. And we have a fabubous time! A bit gloomy at night when you pass by’ (P21). The descriptions two of the girls give of two designated cultural heritage sites give —
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room for some reflection. The first presentation is of a church, and here the giri, with her partly Philippine background, succeeds in pointing out the fact that there are many different culturat understandings of what church attending means, when her poem concludes in the statement that ‘the church provides no tea’ (P6). In the other presentation, the pupil has produced a beautiful picture of the Austad mansion bathed in snow in a dark winter night, which has a personal poem about friendship attached (P16), which appeals to the reader’s emotions. Despite the fact that these presentations cover a wide spectrum of places, they have a rather dominant feature in common: namely that the great majority of them are public meeting places of various types. This is also the case for the three cultural heritage assets they have chosen: they represent publicly accessible places that the schoolchildren visit with parents, friends or schoolmates. They underline the important role that public spaces play in ehildren’s everyday lives. The popularity of the riverbank and the skatepark can also be interpreted as a confirmation that the planners’ attempt to establish areas which are easily accessible and well appreciated by children and youths have succeeded.
0
DISCUSSION We wilI now return to the main research questions we have raised in the chapter: what spaces and their qualities are underlined as significant (‘appreciable’) in this neighbourhood by the observed and examined appropriators of public space’? And secondarily: do we find that these qualities coincide or collide with qualities which are stated in planning documents for the area? A quality characterizing the use of this neighbourhood is aceessibility. Accessibility may be defined in broad terms of social, economic or physical content. When accessibility is emphasized by the local tradesmen, it seems most likely that the opportunity for potential customers to reach their location is in focus. Whether walking, public transport or driving is preferred depends to a certain degree on the type of activity, but few restrietions and easy access by car seem to prevail. Whether restrietions of car access would alter the business strueture is uncertain, but one of the informants chose to locate here because of the easy car access and another is already on the move partly because of restrietions, while another remains regardiess of this based on the business’ long-lasting belonging in the area. The belief that development wiJl tend to go on where access is easy, as
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expressed by Peter Smithson (Smithson & Smithson, 2005) is not necessarily correct; it rather indicates that this is an important quality to certain trades: Inclusion is an aspect of accessibility. Despite the fact that the schoolchildren involved in the photo project represent at least seven different nationalities, there are few signs that their cultural backgrounds played a decisive role in their selection of places to portray. When we bok more closely at their choices, it is evident that easily accessible public spaces within walking distance from home mean a lot to young people in an urban neighbourhood. Such places are free for everybody to attend and can:be visited with schoolmates and other friends and thereby instigate social interaction across different age groups and cultural backgronnds. At .the same time, they represent a type of meetingplace in an urban context which ~ is clearly set out and considered secure from parents’ point of view. Newly prepared places like the skatepark, the riverbank and the library are much appreciated, along with a more rugged area like the one withcharacter:of being a nature recreational• area, considered ideal as a sledging bil in the winter and playground in the summer by children. The risk that design and management might exclude some people and reduce social and culturål diversity to which Low et al. (2005) called attention has not yet presented.a problem. Accessibility, however, might include a territorial battle defined b9 use. A dominant group observed as the user of public space is the car owners, who do so through the use of assigned parking lots and temporary parking at abandoned building sites, filled up streets and post-war buildings where the first floors are arranged as garages. This can lead to a situation where Strømsø is considered more as an area to supply the city than providing valuable public spaces as such. Low thresholds and bow prices might touch the same appreciation by local tradesmen of few restrictions, but also indicate an opportunity space for establishing businesses which are less commercial or differ from what can be perceived as the conformable city. In Strømsø, as. in plenty of other worn areas, this has turned out to give birth to new trades otherwise not capable of existing and often localization of various cultural ethnicities. Taking photos in one of the shopping streets dominated by immigrants was deciared non-grata by some of the traders/inhabitant~, which consequently made the observer appear to be a stranger or someone who did not fl in. A territorial battle might also here be present indicating a vulnerability inherent in city spaces principally with low thresholds. Finding pleasure in the urban areas of a more rugged character can be comprehended as a mere preference for the worn, mature and distinguished
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that is often present in these areas. Perceiving these areas as something unfinished or as raw material, they might also be a parallel to what Tim Edensor finds in former industrial sites as possible assets for inclusion of the contingent, ineffable, unrepresentable, uncoded, sensual, heterogeneous possibilitiesoften sought after in contemporary cities (Edensor, 2005, p. 19). These observations require further analysis, but raise considerations concerning which activities are present and which ones are desired/undesired in the public space. Jdentifying these various types of appropriations also poses a claim for strategies to facilitate these activities and how to safeguard desired qualities through planning. ‘Thequalities pointed ont might not have any obvious connection to what • can be claimed to be heritage or given legal protection. However, identifying ~these qualities might indicate aspects of what constitutes a site’s character or • ~nse of place requested both in defining cultural environments and in • planning for urban diversity. The appropriation of these areas by groups not hécessarily planned for introduces qualities otherwise not detected which ein both safeguard variety and by that generate a broader and more inclusive approach to what is regarded as heritage. q-~.Strømsø is an area where urban renewal is approaching. Is there any resonance of the approaches and qualities identified in this chapter with the -: intentions outlined in the plans for the area, and what are the means and practical implernentations following this? L’.The municipal plans for the area, as webl as the guidelines for the city and housing exhibition, show us that attention has been paid to the robe that streets, outdoor areas, squares, and places, that is the role of publie space, plays in an urban setting. Creating small-scale spaces is given precedence, partly due to the importance placed on business and trade at street bevel. •~: This can also be viewed as catching an important part of the bocal character ånd therefore in accordance with some of the As Found principles highlighting what is already there. Two of the main public spaces in focus for regeneration, which are abso declared heritage areas in the strategic plan (2007), are Strømsø Torg, as ~ part of the city axis, and Tollbugata. Strømsø Torg is the main square in ~•
~
Strømsø; it acts as a route connecting Strømsø and Bragernes and also makes the starting point for Tollbugata. From being an open urban area with a mix of short-term private parking bots and bus stops, the square is how being upgraded to create a new teeming meeting place in this part of town as a supplement to the main square on the Bragernes side of the river. The role of the square is not clearly defined by our user groups in respect of preferred use, but varies from creating displeasure about car restrictions to
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being valued as an important and accessible connection space for infrastructure and movement both within the city and out of the city due to the railway station located at the square and the hus station just off the square. Tollbugata is Strømsø’s main street heading south-east from the square parallel to the river. With its long history, safeguarding this street is considered important for rnaintaining coherence and activity in the neighbourhood. li is, however, seen as a problem that sections of this street today are left partly empty. The upper and lower parts of the street appear disconnected due to a wide motor road which renders accessibility difficult. In the strategic plan from 2007 special attention is paid to this street and to various sections which need upgrading. The approach we can recognize in this document is an underlying wish and intention to integrate new elements as infihl and thereby to maintain and strengthen the old structural elements in the townscape. The attention to how various elements along the street are supposed to communicate is also emphasized in the municipal plan through the focus on vitalizing the street with respect to the whole time span rather than giving priority to only a few selected elements. This indicates an attitude towards what Tollbugata as opportunity space can offer and how to find a place for each thing in today’s city as stressed by Chemetoff (2009) and maintain the combination of nimbus and dissonance indicated in the strategy for the use of cultural heritage. The fragment of Tollbugata which consists of an unbroken line of listed buildings from the seventeenth and eighteenth century has to relate to clear restrictions concerning conservation of such buildings specified in the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Act. They belong to the group ‘designated heritage’ (Tweed & Sutherland, 2007), where the planners are obliged to consider special measures to make sure these areas to be included and safeguarded when new plans are being developed for the area. Renewal efforts in a mixed area like Strømsø can have unforeseen consequences, because considerable parts of the townscape consist of ‘old buildings’, that is fragments of buildings from seventeenth century up until the 1960s. Parts of these elements and structures possess a character which contributes to giving the neighbourhood a ‘sense of place’ which has to be acknowledged and recognized fully if the qualities of the area are to be ensured and preferably strengthened through development plans. This approach ineludes giving the qualities of what is a!ready Mere a determining role for preservation and development of the urban landscape. A problem which too often anses in planning processes in Norwegian medium-sized towns is that the planners tend to soften their grip of the
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strategic planning processes the minute the plans leave ‘the drawing board’. At this stage, much of the discussions and negotiations involve developers, and their agenda is not always in accordance with what is considered desirable by local NGOs and cultural heritage managers (Swensen, Larsen, Molaug, & Sognnaes, 2009). The importance of recognizing a city space as an opportunity to bridge the past and the future lies in perceiving city space as something not too restricted, not too organized and not too adjusted. In this discussion, the concept ‘opportunity space’ has been seen to represent an approach that opens up for processes that both adopt physical diversity and make social inclusion possible. The opportunity space discussed as an approach to identify these values is, however, a vulnerable position, easily wiped out when grasped by planners carried away in the attempt to create diversity or a distinct character, whether it is about a total renewal or a restoration project. Places tend to become uniform and personal initiatives and individual expressions by the inhabitants risk being weeded out. It seems easier to argue for, and realize, a zone with a distinct character than a zone where multitude and change is the norm. This leads to the paradoxical conclusion that opportunity space probably has to be protected by some kind of restricilons to survive.
CONCLUSION The study has revealed the multiple affiliations people who are living, working and using the neighbourhood have to the area. While from some outsider’s point of view it can appear like a rugged area in need of being tidied up, some people consider this an aspect which gives it a particular urban quality and charm. It reprcsents variety, both by offering space for small shops, workshops and affordable housing and providing easy access to central public institutions and recreational areas. The fact that the main streets in the area, like Tollbugata, are filled with activities of different types, of which small food stores with owners of Turkish or Pakistani descent and cafés and pubs play an important part, add to make this area special. It provides places of encounter and is a neighbourhood which opens up for glimpses into different worlds and makes diversity visible. The appropriation of public space is chosen as an example of how qualities pointed out or taken into use by a variety of users might be a gateway to how a broader and more inolusive approach to cultural heritage can be gained. Public space represents physically defined structures (streets,
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squares, parks), but even more importantly a social space offering possibilities of encounter and activity otherwise not displayed in the city. Valued as properties to safeguard and take care of, these qualities might be perceived as heritage values and significant constituents inherent in public space. This makes public space the keeper of values that are seen as basic urban qualities and also sought in any urban renewal projeet at stake and by that legitimize the heritage claim indicated for these spaces.
NOTES 1. A city to live in (En by å leve i, Idékonkurranse om utvikling av Strømsø sentrum i Dranmien, September 2009). Aims, strategies and lools for Strømsø district (Mål strategier og virkemidler for Strømsø bydel, januar 2009). City — and housing exhibition Oslo — Drammen 2009—20 18 (By — og boligutstilling Oslo Drammen 2009—2018, prosjektbeskrivelse, November 2008). Future Built (Pro grambeskrivelse, November 2009). Jury report ‘A city to live in’ (April 2010). Look to Strømsø (Ist prize winner ofcompetition), Norconsult/Alliance Architects. 2. Municipal sector plan for Drammen central area (2006) (Sentrumsplanen, Drammen kommune 2006) 3. On further work for preservation of cultural heritage in central Drammen (Oppfølging av kulturminnearbeidet i Drammen sentrum, Insam 2007). 4. The numbers refer to a list where nationality, gender and presentation themes are stated.
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Cattell, V., Dines, N., Gesler, W., & Curtis, 8. (2008). Mingling, observing, and lingering: Everyday publie spaces and their implication for weIl-being and social relations. Healrh & Place, 14, 544—561. Chemetoft, A. (2009). Vis/is: Town aud ren/tor)’ A,’ch/lecrure in dia!ogue. Basel: Birkhåuser Verlag AG.
Dept. of Culture, Media and Sports and Dept. of Transport, Local Goveniment and Ihe Regions (2001). TItt historic environmene: Å force for om future. Retrieved from http://www.tourisminsights.info/ONL1NEPUB/DCMs/DCMS’/o2OPDFS)HISTORIC
%2OENV%2OFORCE%20-%201.pdf Drammen kommune. (2006). Municipol seelor plan for Dra,mnen central area (Sentrurnsplanen, Drammen kommune 2006). Edensor, T. (2005). Indusirial ru/ris: Spaces. aesghegics aud mareriality. Oxford: Berg. Engel, B. (2006), Public space in the blue eities in Russia. Progress in Planning, 66, 147—239. English Heritage (2005). Characre,’isarian, conservarion bulletin 47. Retrieved from http: www.engIish-heritage.org.ukfpublications/conservation~buI letin-47 Garcia-Ramon, M., Ortiz, Å., & Prats, M. (2004), Urban planning, gender and the use ofpublic space in a peripheral neighbourhood of Barcelona. Cities, 21(3), 215—223. Hajer, M., & Reijndorp, A. (2001). In search cl’ new public damatn. Analysis aud siralegy. Rotterdam: NM Publishers. Insam. (2007). Oppfolging av kulrur,ninnea,’beidet i Drammen sentrum. IJnpublished report, Drammen. Lichtenstein, C., & Schregenberger. T. (2001). Asfound: The discoverp of lite ordinary. Baden: Lars MOller Publishers. Low, 8., Taplin, D., & Seheld, 5. (2005). Rerhinking inban parks. Pubiic space aud cidtural dti’ersily. Austin, TX: The University of Texas Press. Lynch, K. (1960). The image of I/le city. Cambridge: MIT Press. Nyselh, T., & Sognnaes, .1, (2009). Godt fungeren de bevaringsoinråder, NIKU rapport 34. Oslo: NIKU.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This chapter presents results from the research project City centre
development with cultural heritage as a resource in a multicultural aud fragmented environment. The project is part of a five-year programme financed by the Norwegian Research Council titled Processes of change in urban environmenrs: cultural heritage, urban development aud regionalism. We are most grateful to the participating actors in Strømsø giving essential material and input to our study.
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Pendlebury, .1. (2009). Conservanon in I/le age of consensus. London: Routledge. Pendlebury, .1., Townshend, T., & Gilroy, R. (2004). The conservation of English cultural built heritage: A force for social inclusion. International Journal of Heritage Sludies, 100), Il 31. Smithson, A., & Smithson, P. (1990). The as found” and the “found”. In: D. Robbins (Ed.), Titt inclependent group: Postwar Britain aud i/le aestherics of plenty (pp. 201—205). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Smithson, A., & Smithson, P. (2005). The charged void: Urbanism. New York, NY: Monacelli Press. Swensen, G., Larsen, K., Molaug, P., & Sognnaes, J. (2009). Kull urarv og stedsiderniret. Byers kuhurmi/jo i krvsss/lden “tel/om bevaring og utvikling. NIKU Tema 31. Oslo: NIKU. Thompson, P. (2003). Doing visual research with children andyoungpeople. London: Routledge. Tweed, C., & Sutherland, M. (2007). Built cultural heritage and sustainable urban development. Landscape aud Urban Planning, 83, 62—69.
