Open call: Commoning the Heritage: Norrahammar

ArkDes and the Municipality of Jönköping invite a transdisciplinary team to explore how the inherited environment can become a living part of the future—and more specifically, what tomorrow’s workplaces and production environments might look like as Norrahammar’s old industrial area is developed and densified.

In the future, development and management will be two words describing the same thing. To create transformation, we need to make the most of all the resources we have—material, knowledge, experience, and motivations—and carefully build on what already exists. Cultural environments provide a historical anchor, serving as a legacy that the new elements relate to and eventually become a part of.

Commoning the Heritage: Norrahammar aims to explore how the inherited environment can become a living part of the future, and more specifically, what tomorrow’s workplaces and production environments might look as the Norrahammar area in the municipality of Jönköping is developed and densified.

Norrahammar grew around the Norrahammar industrial ironworks from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. The ironwork produced, among other things, boilers and cast iron stoves. Between the 1980s and early 1990s, the industrial operations were gradually phased out. Today, several actors operate in the area: Tabergsådalen’s cultural center, Norrahammar’s industrial and local history museum, sports associations, vehicle dealerships, beauty salons, and small-scale production businesses. The municipality has identified the area’s potential for denser development, including housing, workplaces, more green spaces, and a focus on the cultural and historical value of the Tabergsån river area.

The call aims to provide the Municipality of Jönköping with tools and knowledge about how culturally and historically valuable environments can be managed and developed, and the role that artistic practices and exploratory design processes can play in the early stages of urban development. The goal is also to share the project’s results with other municipalities facing similar conditions and opportunities.

Commoning the Heritage: Norrahammar is a practice-based research project in collaboration between ArkDes and the Municipality of Jönköping. The call is part of ArkDes’ research focus Transformation and builds upon knowledge from the practice-based research project Commoning the Heritage1, a collaboration between ArkDes, Robertsfors Municipality, and the Swedish National Heritage Board.

The call is open to transdisciplinary teams consisting of at least one architect or designer and one artist. Each team must include a minimum of three and a maximum of five members.

Closed for application.