{"id":30534,"date":"2025-05-13T16:16:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T14:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arkdes.se\/?post_type=project&p=30534"},"modified":"2026-03-23T18:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T17:58:24","slug":"kiruna-svappavaara","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/arkdes.se\/en\/projects\/visions-in-the-north-step-2\/kiruna-svappavaara\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiruna: Svappavaara"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Conditions: <\/strong>45 kilometres south of Kiruna lies Svappavaara, a village with many roots. Dating back to the 17th century, the realisation of Ralph Erskine’s ideas for housing in an arctic climate in the 1970s and extensive cold-setting of housing in the 1990s, today 390 people live in a rural mining environment. Svappavaara is close to a large workplace, has a supermarket, school, sports hall, youth centre and nature, and is within commuting distance of Kiruna. Kiruna is Sweden’s largest municipality and many people dream of life outside the city centre. At the same time, several houses are deserted here.<\/p>\n

Challenge:<\/strong> Is Svappavaara a potential resource for Kiruna municipality to grow beyond the city centre? A monument to untapped opportunities? The team will focus on the question: how can we in early stages, through the processes and power of design, strengthen living and housing environments in rural areas? This is to strengthen Svappavaara as an attractive living environment based on existing local needs and challenges, as well as future plans and ambitions.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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    \n Photo: Kiruna kommun. 2024.<\/i>\n Svappavaara, Kiruna.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n
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    Survey, analysis and initial proposals<\/p>\n

    Team Berätta mig vidare<\/em> approached Svappavaara through presence, dialogue and storytelling. Their method was based on informal encounters and attentiveness: being on site, listening, facilitating conversations, drawing out stories, building relationships and engaging with everyday life in the area. By following the stories of local residents, connecting them to their own experiences and passing them on to others, the team built a relationship with the community and gained new perspectives on what could be key to the area’s sustainable development, beyond what can be described in maps or discussed in meeting rooms.<\/p>\n

    Following a thorough analytical process, the team identified the school as a key factor for the area’s future. The first phase of the work was summarised in a report presenting a development and management plan, including a design process for creating spaces for learning in “Skolskogen”, the forest area adjacent to Svappavaara school. The report is available further down the page.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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    \n Photo: Team Ber\u00e4tta mig vidare. 2025.<\/i>\n "Skolskogen", Svappavaara.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
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    \n Image: Team Ber\u00e4tta mig vidare. 2025. AI generated.<\/i>\n Still from a film of the fictive character \u201cDjurm\u00e4nniskan\u201d, used as a tool to spark the students\u2019 imagination.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
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    \n A "djurm\u00e4nniska" called "Bl\u00e5bis", made by one of the kids.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
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    \n Photo: Tomas Johansson \/ Great Story. 2025.<\/i>\n Designprocess with the students, up in the trees.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
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    \n Photo: Team Ber\u00e4tta mig vidare. 2025.<\/i>\n Fireplace in "Skolskogen", Svappavaara.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
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    \n Photo: Team Ber\u00e4tta mig vidare. 2025.<\/i>\n "Skolskogen", Svappavaara.\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n
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    \n Photo: Team Ber\u00e4tta mig vidare. 2025.<\/i>\n Observation tower in "Skolskogen".\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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    Prototype: Stories and spaces for learning<\/p>\n

    The team received continued funding to further develop their ideas during 2025 and implement them as a prototype for how Kiruna Municipality could work with careful urban development beyond the town centre in the future. They presented a design process aimed at creating new outdoor learning environments in collaboration with teachers, students and the local community. The process is based on “Djurmänniskan”, a fictional character used as a tool for students to generate ideas for the design of the school forest.<\/p>\n

    The team emphasised the need to slow down the early stages of planning processes, the importance of being present on site, and of listening to the people who live there in order to develop environments that are used and valued over time, by the school and by the wider community of Svappavaara.<\/p>\n

    The team’s full work, including the development and management plan for the municipality’s continued efforts, is presented in the final report Space for learning, Svappavaara, Kiruna – Development and Management Plan<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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    \n \n Knowledge hub\n <\/a>\n \n
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    \n .pdf(29mb)\n <\/p>\n \n \n\n\n <\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n\n \n \n Report 1: Visions in the North \u2013\u00a0Kiruna\n <\/h2>\n <\/a>\n \n \n

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