Abstract
A central contemporary societal discussion in Denmark concerns settlements that have poor connectivity and are geographically distant to main towns and cities. These settlements are called “outskirts.” Historically significant villages in these outskirts are being transformed in order to counteract a general destitution of decrepit houses and public spaces. This research article explains the relationship between spatial alterations and the inherent historical structures these villages contain. The article analyses three student projects and examines how they relate to and gain from history in the development plans for a concrete exemplary case village in Denmark. The projects represent various ways in which the past is conceived and applied to the suggested concepts. The different approaches to history found in the student projects call for an open-minded position towards the assessment of historical structures worthy of preservation when operating in a generic context such as the Danish villages. Further, the students’ prioritisation of preservation of historical structures and phenomena alters from the analysis phase to the project development phase. This observation questions the traditional practice of developing plans based on a predefined analysis of heritage and suggests that heritage assessment be separated from project development.
Highlights
Within recent years “Udkantsdanmark”, which translates into Outskirt-Denmark, has become a key concept in the Danish public debate regarding societal development
Pictures showing the physical decay of houses and public spaces appear to be synonymous with societal problems and it seems evident that this perception of “ugliness” related to the physical decay is linked to the idea of outskirts
In order to qualify the emerging new heritage discourse, we found a village that is representative of the historical development of many Danish villages founded in the Middle Ages and used it as a case for experiments and discussions
Summary
Within recent years “Udkantsdanmark”, which translates into Outskirt-Denmark, has become a key concept in the Danish public debate regarding societal development. Pictures showing the physical decay of houses and public spaces appear to be synonymous with societal problems and it seems evident that this perception of “ugliness” related to the physical decay is linked to the idea of outskirts. This interpretation is supported by numerous political actions which aim to increase the quality of spatial conditions. Recent repeals of regulations in national planning acts assign greater responsibility to the municipal level [1] Such decentralisation has resulted in concern that regional competition for investments will counteract long-term and large-scale interests in planning policies [4]
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