Summer-autumn 2022: Built Heritage and Modern Times
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.
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.
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.
Ewa Effiom dives into the significance of conservation in the debates surrounding contemporary architecture, beauty and functionality.
What is surprising and innovative about Fahle Park Gallery Street compared to earlier reconstructions of industrial architecture?
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.
The Urban Forum held on June 14th–15th was looking for the subtle balance between the activities of visitors and locals as well as the old and the innovative new.
In the course of the programme ‘Great Public Spaces’ dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, the historic street was reconstructed as a contemporary pedestrian-friendly main street. The light monochrome hues of the design create a museum-like exposition complemented with seats, planting, lamps and signage engraved in the pavement and providing information on particular buildings, architectural and landscape objects as well as the town in general.
Norway is a country characterised by high voluntary activity, 78% of its 5.4 million inhabitants are members of at least one voluntary organisation, 48% are members of two or more. Volunteering is and has been an important aspect of Norwegian society, and in recognition of that, 2022 has been designated as the Year of Volunteering.1 During this year NGOs and smaller volunteering associations together with local, regional, and national governments have collaborated in highlighting the value of volunteering in Norway.
There are several unique historical architectural layers in Tallinn with the short period of wooden apartment buildings constructed in 1870–1920 standing out as one of the most distinctive spans. The most captivating of the standardised projects of the time is the Lender building named after the engineer and mayor of Tallinn.1 It is an adjustable pattern-building: mostly a two-storey wooden apartment complex with a generous degree of flexibility in layout and volume thus allowing the construction of bespoke houses.
