{"id":30270,"date":"2025-05-09T18:35:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T16:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arkdes.se\/?post_type=project&p=30270"},"modified":"2025-12-02T10:10:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T09:10:20","slug":"power-of-places","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/arkdes.se\/en\/projects\/power-of-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Power of Places"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n \n

How can we make use of what already exists when developing new places? Power of Places aimed to develop methods and prototypes for how materials, resources, knowledge and experience could be utilised in societal development.<\/p>\n

In the future, development and management will describe the same thing. To enable transformation, we need to draw on all the resources we have – materials, knowledge, experience and collective drive – and carefully build on what is already there. Architecture, design and art offer tools for understanding places, shaping them and inviting more people to take part. They show how new ways of working can lead to meaningful meeting places and new uses.<\/p>\n

Power of Places explored approaches and methods for making use of, sensitively developing and strengthening the local in processes of societal development. If we do not produce something new, but instead take care of the materials, opportunities and people already present in a place, what kinds of development and aesthetics does that make possible?<\/p>\n

In spring 2023, ArkDes and the City of Malmö launched an open call in which two interdisciplinary teams were selected to survey a site each, explore methods and develop full-scale prototypes. Team Layered was selected to work in Nyhamnen and the team Konstkollektiv för rumsliga praktiker (KoRP) in Rosengård. During summer and autumn 2023, the teams mapped the existing resources of each site and tested approaches for careful development and management.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Photo: Olle Enqvist. 2025.<\/i>\n The urban forest by the Ferry Terminal, Nyhamnen.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n \n

Nyhamnen<\/p>\n

Team Layered’s survey of the Ferry Terminal became the starting point for a multi-year reactivation of the area. By drawing on the site’s history and existing structures, the team translated their findings into prototypes. Step by step, the prototypes opened and transformed the Ferry Terminal, from a closed and fenced-off area into a new green living room for the people of Malmö.<\/p>\n

In spring 2024, the first prototypes were implemented: the car ramp became an amphitheatre, fencing was rewoven into pergolas, and concrete barriers were given new life as furniture. Together with local craftspeople, artists and the public, a first shift in how the site was used took place. The inauguration of the amphitheatre in summer 2024 marked the beginning of reclaiming the Ferry Terminal as a public meeting place.<\/p>\n

In 2025, another of Team Layered’s proposed prototypes was realised: an urban forest ↗<\/a> with 240 trees planted on top of asphalt. The urban forest functions as an open test area for climate-resilient vegetation, with different soil mixtures used to understand what enables the trees to grow best. The prototype will continue to be developed for at least five years.<\/p>\n

Through this practice-based research process, the City of Malmö is gradually opening the area to the public while testing new uses. Team Layered’s survey and prototypes are summarised in a management and development plan that provides the City of Malmö with strategies for how the site may continue to develop over the next three to five years. Read the report further down the page.<\/p>\n

“An important lesson for us has been working with prototypes, and especially understanding how prototypes can serve as a way of communicating and opening conversations with a broader group – not only those who usually take part in technical discussions about urban development.”,<\/em> Daniel Feldman, Team Layered<\/p>\n

The City of Malmö is taking the work from Power of Places forward.<\/p>\n

In autumn 2025, Nyhamnen was designated a national transformation lab within the innovation initiative Shift Sweden ↗<\/a>. In this context, the Ferry Terminal serves as a physical meeting place and testbed for continuing to explore the proposition that “in the future, management and development are the same thing”.<\/p>\n

“Power of Places began with prototypes and tests, but still behind fences as the site was enclosed. In the next step, we have built a forest, opened the area and begun to care for it as a public place in the city – which is also what it is meant to become permanently in the long term.”,<\/em> Kristoffer Nilsson, Strategist, City of Malmö<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Photo: ArkDes. 2024<\/i>\n Malm\u00f6V\u00c4V weaves patterns with ropes and fences. Nyhamnen, Malm\u00f6.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Foto: Malm\u00f6 stad. 2024.<\/i>\n Dismantled fences have been transformed into woven pergolas.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Photo: Olle Enqvist. 2024. <\/i>\n The amphitheater in Nyhamnen.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Photo: Olle Enqvist. 2025.<\/i>\n The urban forest by the Ferry Terminal, Nyhamnen.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Photo: Malm\u00f6 stad. 2025.<\/i>\n The Urban forest, Nyhamnen.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Photo: Malm\u00f6 stad. 2025.<\/i>\n Malm\u00f6 Summer scene by the Ferry terminal, Nyhamnen.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Photo: Malm\u00f6 stad. 2025.<\/i>\n The Urban forest in Nyhamnen.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \"After<\/picture>\n \n <\/div>\n
\n \"Before<\/picture>\n \n
\n
\n \n \n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n
The Ferry terminal in Nyhamnen, before and with the urban forest. Photo: Olle Enqvist. 2023, 2025.<\/i>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n Photo: Bj\u00f6rn Olin. 2023.<\/i>\n Roseng\u00e5rd, Malm\u00f6.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n \n

Rosengård<\/p>\n

With sensitivity to processes already carried out in Rosengård, Team KoRP refined an inventory method—a “hearing aid”—to listen to the voices that have already shared their stories about the place through various forums. With fresh eyes, KoRP delved into material that has emerged from and about Rosengård. Municipal and state documents, previous research, media portrayals, music, art, and poetry were studied alongside the built environment.<\/p>\n

KoRP’s method highlighted Rosengård’s architectural heritage, revealing its different layers and cultural legacy. The inventory also raised questions about how ownership structures impact the maintenance , care, and development of existing buildings and architecture.. The team’s work provides valuable insight for the City of Malmö in future urban development processes.<\/p>\n

Team KoRP chose to conclude their project early, and a physical prototype was not developed.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

\n
\n
\n \n

Team<\/h2>\n \n

Nyhamnen \u2013 Team Layered: Daniel Feldman, architect, Anna Sokoloff, art advisor and curator, Sumayya Vally, architect, and Maria Jos\u00e9 Arjona, performance artist.<\/p>\n

Roseng\u00e5rd \u2013 Team Art Collective for Spatial Practices (KoRP): The team is represented by Malm\u00f6-based artist Hanni Kamaly. With the project ‘Close Your Eyes’.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

Experts<\/h2>\n \n

Em\u00edlio Brand\u00e3o, architect SAR\/MSA, Lecturer in Design Activism at Chalmers University of Technology<\/p>\n

Maria Lisogorskaya, founding director, Assemble<\/p>\n

Mariano Tellechea, architect SAR\/MSA, Esencial<\/p>\n

Joanna Zawieja, architect, writer and curator. Head of urban development, Public Art Agency Sweden<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

Financier<\/h2>\n \n

ArkDes, City of Malm\u00f6 \u2197<\/a> and The Society for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage and Green Parks in Malm\u00f6 \u2197<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

Samarbetsparter<\/h2>\n \n

City of Malm\u00f6 \u2197<\/a><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

Project timeline<\/h2>\n \n

01.03.2023 \u2013 16.06.2024<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\n \n Knowledge hub\n <\/a>\n \n
\n

\n .pdf(20mb)\n <\/p>\n \n \n\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n\n \n \n Report: Power of Places Nyhamnen 2024\n <\/h2>\n <\/a>\n \n \n

\n
\n