The Living Souls of Vallikraavi

Vallikraavi street that winds below the slopes of Toome Hill in Tartu will get three new capacious apartment buildings this year, doubling the number and area of living spaces on this short street that has merely a couple dozen houses altogether. Systemic densification of old towns enhances the possibilities of urban life and helps to save energy through more economical mobility.

What is Heritage-Based Development and Why Are We Discussing It?

Kaija-Luisa Kurik gives an overview of the results of a 30-months-long partnership project between the Estonian National Heritage Board and the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage, titled ‘Historic Town Centres Revitalised Through Heritage-Based Local Development’, and tries to decipher the increasingly close connections between heritage preservation, urban studies, and sustainable development.

Norwegian Strategic Heritage Practices

Planning in Norway is strongly guided by strategic approaches and broad state-set goals directing the local level. This is also reflected in the management and development of local cultural heritage. Vignir Freyr Helgason, senior advisor at the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren) gives an overview of how strategies are developed and implemented in collaboration between the state, municipalities and communities.

Rethinking Preservation

Preservation has achieved cultural significance as a lens through which various urban experts have come to imagine what a socially and environmentally sound future might look like. As an approach, preservation has been applied to disparate phenomena ranging from historic neighbourhoods and natural environments to democracy and identity.