Commoning the Heritage: Norrahammar

How can historic environments be developed into vibrant living environments with space for multiple functions? What role can artistic and exploratory processes play in the early stages of urban development? These questions are at the centre of the practice-based research project Commoning the Heritage: Norrahammar, a collaboration between ArkDes and the Municipality of Jönköping.

In the future, development and management must become two words describing the same process. To enable transition, we need to make use of all existing resources – materials, buildings, experiences and local initiatives – and carefully build on what is already there. Cultural environments carry both history and identity and play an important role as communities develop and grow. They anchor us in the past and form a heritage that new additions relate to and eventually become part of.

In Commoning the Heritage: Norrahammar, a creative team explored how inherited environments can become a living part of the future, with a particular focus on how tomorrow’s workplaces and production environments might take shape as the Norrahammar area in Jönköping Municipality develops and becomes denser. The project aimed to provide the Municipality of Jönköping with tools and knowledge on how historically valuable environments can be managed and developed, as well as insight into the role artistic practices and exploratory design processes can play in the early stages of urban development. The project also aimed to share its findings and experiences with other municipalities facing similar conditions and opportunities.

The project is part of ArkDes’ research focus Transformation and builds on knowledge developed through the practice-based research project Commoning the Heritage1, a collaboration between ArkDes, the Municipality of Robertsfors and the Swedish National Heritage Board. To strengthen learning and the dissemination of both existing and new knowledge, the Municipality of Robertsfors participates as a partner municipality and the Swedish National Heritage Board as a collaborating authority.

The industrial site in Norrahammar

From the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, Norrahammar developed around the Norrahammar ironworks. The factory produced, among other things, boilers and cast-iron stoves. From the 1980s to the early 1990s, the site was gradually decommissioned. In 2019, the Municipality of Jönköping acquired the area, and today several organisations and businesses operate there, including Tabergsådalen kulturhus, the Norrahammar Industrial and Local Heritage Museum, sports associations, vehicle dealers, beauty salons and small-scale production facilities. The municipality sees potential for denser development in the area, including housing and commercial activities, more workplaces, increased greenery and development rooted in the cultural heritage values connected to the Taberg River.

In spring 2025, ArkDes and the Municipality of Jönköping launched an open call for interdisciplinary teams. Team TEJA was selected to explore, through artistic processes, how the Norrahammar industrial site could evolve into a vibrant living environment with space for a diversity of functions. The assignment focused particularly on how future workplaces and production environments could be designed.

Strategic proposals for the gradual development of the area

TEJA’s work is summarised in a report containing an in-depth inventory of the site’s different layers. The report also presents possible directions and strategies for the management and development of the area. Based on the idea that a place is never complete but continuously shaped by the people who live and work there, the proposal is built around four main strategies for how Norrahammar can gradually be managed and developed:

• Economic governance through a self-sustaining company model
• A culture of transformation based on interior urbanism
• The landscape as archive and ecological infrastructure
• Social development through the revival of popular movements

The report serves as a basis for continued dialogue about the future of the site. The project also has the potential to contribute to increased cross-sector collaboration across Sweden and to highlight how artistic practices and exploratory design processes can be integrated into urban development.