Grete Swensen
Biographic Data
| ID | 277230 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Grete Swensen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Grete |
| FAMILY NAME | Swensen |
| SIGNATURE | SWENSEN G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 32 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 21 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Urban Heritage in Spatial Planning
Municipal planners face an inherent dilemma: On one hand, they are tasked with promoting urban densification; on the other, they must protect the distinctive character of cities, including cultural historic elements and significant landscape features. Our primary question is as follows: How do cultural heritage authorities influence the success or failure of densification projects in historic urban centres? Planning processes concerning densifica…
How municipal planning authorities' ways of acting influence plan feasibility
Implementing transformative resilience in urban regeneration
Large regeneration and transformation projects generally include a longer timespan as an aspect that makes way for more uncertainty and unexpected changes. We introduce transformative resilience as a place-based approach that can help planners and practitioners adapt to changes and challenges in urban regeneration and can be used proactively to bring certain pliability into planning, implementing and decision-making processes. This allows for int…
The Impact of Images on the Adaptive Reuse of Post-Industrial Sites
The adaptive reuse of industrial heritage has the potential to create distinctive cityscapes. Based on a comparative study of the regeneration of two former brownfield sites in Norway, we analyse the role industrial heritage plays in the initial planning phases. By using branding and brandscaping as a point of departure, we ask how textual and visual presentations are integrated in the early planning documents as a way to signalise the role assig…
Resilience Thinking in Museums
Resilience thinking refers to the need to be prepared for the unexpected and unknown. Museums have learned to adjust to societal changes, not least because of the recent global pandemic, which has necessitated the introduction of new ways of activating a diverse public. We discuss how resilience thinking can function as a promoter of the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage by including local heritage knowledge in the ongoing regeneration of for…
Strengthening Subjective Links to Nature
In the search for the psychology of heritage places, the tangible and intangible qualities of heritage are closely intertwined. This article sheds light on the sentiments, insights and attitudes that historic environments can evoke in people, by using the characteristics of old summer mountain farming landscapes as a platform to further discuss how the psychology of these heritage places can be linked to the present-day era of public environmenta…
Visionscapes
With the occurrence of urban densification, understanding the necessity of encouraging and promoting climate- and environment-friendly urban areas has gained ground with urban planners. Ensuring adequate and easily accessible green public spaces is essential for creating healthy environments. In this current study, we look closely at how heritage combined with urban gardening can function as a means to enhance areas that require regeneration. We …
Tensions between Urban Heritage Policy and Compact City Planning – A Practice Review
The ‘compact city’ is generally considered to represent a sustainable urban form. However, transformation of urban sites as consequence of compact city planning potentially conflicts with heritage interests. A reading of a selection of scientific articles in land-use and heritage journals, supplemented with thematic plans, indicates that there is a need to bridge the gap between urban heritage policy and planning for the compact city. When challe…
The ‘garden city’ in the green infrastructure of the future
Contemporary urban development takes place mainly in already built areas. The article’s objective is to examine how towns on the outskirts of large cities can use and revitalise green areas and the urban heritage of garden cities to contribute to filling the societal demand for building sustainable cities. Lillestrøm, a former garden city on the outskirts of Oslo, Norway’s capital, is used as the starting point to discuss how learning from the pa…
Illusionary equality? Museum politics, practice and immigrant heritage
Increased migration has prompted discussions regarding most of the prime functions of museums as societal institutions. When the population and potential users of museums become more heterogeneous and diverse, the idea of a shared common national history becomes contested. Immigrant cultures have an important function in history writing and in heritage production. Many museum officials are currently concerned about developing new means to enable …
Urban cemeteries’ potential as sites for cultural encounters
Population increase has drawn attention to the need in cities for easily accessible and attractive public spaces that will promote interaction regardless of gender, age, ethnicity and religious belief. This paper focuses on the role urban cemeteries play in a culturally and religiously diverse society. Norway is described as an increasingly secularised society. Immigration and transmigration, on the other hand, have brought a revived interest in …
Museums as narrators
In today’s tourism industry, merely offering tourists a variety of cultural events is not enough. Fully understanding their desire for an experience is the key. The attraction value increases if tourists can become personally involved and be affected by the narratives involved in place-making. This article examines the connections and cooperation among museums in a region where an important heritage trail is operating. When the old Telemark Canal…
Churchyards and cemeteries throughout the centuries — praxis and legislation
Cemeteries belong to spaces where a clear-cut division between public and private property is debatable. In Norway today such sites are formally considered public spaces — free to access all year round and open for all citizens independent of economic status and social belonging. In a longer time perspective both accessibility and property rights related to cemeteries have changed fundamentally. This article examines the laws and regulations whic…
Objects as identity markers - Ways of mediating the past in a South Sámi and Norse borderland
Museums have several means of communicating with their audiences. The problems discussed here concern how local museums interact with their audience when the past they want to portray is multiple, complex and sometimes disputed. It is based on an analysis of three exhibitions in local museums situated in a region where archaeological findings indicate that the South Sámi have been present since the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. It highlights…
The Topographies of Affect Prisons Perceived as Soundscapes
Based on a critical reading of three prison protocols from 1860 to 1930, this article examines the affective quality of prisons as social spaces. Guided by concepts such as affect and embodiment, it looks closer at the ways anger, rage, and frustration were bodily expressed. In a place where silence ruled, anger and frustration were channelled through the use of material devices and bodily practices (involving breaking material devices into piece…
Managing historic resources in active farming landscapes
Purpose – To counteract processes of landscape deterioration, marginalisation and loss of cultural heritage due to rural restructuring of farming in late-modern Norwegian society, an agricultural landscape scheme started up in 2009. The purpose of this paper is to examine the way this recently introduced strategy of directing particular resources to a group of selected agricultural landscapes contributes in instigating integrated landscape manage…
From Bastions of Justice to Sites of Adventure
A continuous discussion of which perspectives to include and which to exclude characterises the definition of cultural heritage. After Norway’s new Prison Act had been introduced in 1857, the foremost architects in the country were engaged when the decision was made to build a series of regional prisons. Today some of these former bastions of justice need to be accorded new functions. The discussion here is based on an examination of two former p…
Urban planning and industrial heritage – a Norwegian case study
Purpose The purpose of this papter is to examine the role heritage considerations have played in the transformation of industrial areas in three Norwegian cities, Oslo, Drammen and Larvik. The location, scale and rough appearance of industrial sites stemming from the industrial era makes these places locations for new cultural and other recreational activities made possible through architectonic interventions
Capturing the Intangible and Tangible Aspects of Heritage
In discussions on how to handle local heritage values, local values or insider-ness are often seen as synonymous with intangible aspects of heritage. At the same time, expert knowledge is usually associated with material objects, whereby experts have had the power to define what to preserve. In this study of three Norwegian towns, complementary and interdisciplinary methods have been used to address the relationship between personal and official …
The Mall Method
Criticism has been directed at traditional approaches to cultural heritage management, as reflected in legislation and policy, for ignoring elements integral to community perceptions of cultural heritage. Although discussions on the right to define are lively, there has been less focus directed towards the significance which personal affiliations and memory play in the processes of forming people's conceptions of important cultural heritage asset…
Assessing environmental vulnerability in EIA—The content and context of the vulnerability concept in an alternative approach to standard EIA procedure
Assessing environmental vulnerability in EIA—The content and context of the vulnerability concept in an alternative approach to standard EIA procedure
Capturing the Intangible and Tangible Aspects of Heritage
In discussions on how to handle local heritage values, local values or insider-ness are often seen as synonymous with intangible aspects of heritage. At the same time, expert knowledge is usually associated with material objects, whereby experts have had the power to define what to preserve. In this study of three Norwegian towns, complementary and interdisciplinary methods have been used to address the relationship between personal and official …
The ‘garden city’ in the green infrastructure of the future
Contemporary urban development takes place mainly in already built areas. The article’s objective is to examine how towns on the outskirts of large cities can use and revitalise green areas and the urban heritage of garden cities to contribute to filling the societal demand for building sustainable cities. Lillestrøm, a former garden city on the outskirts of Oslo, Norway’s capital, is used as the starting point to discuss how learning from the pa…
Illusionary equality? Museum politics, practice and immigrant heritage
Increased migration has prompted discussions regarding most of the prime functions of museums as societal institutions. When the population and potential users of museums become more heterogeneous and diverse, the idea of a shared common national history becomes contested. Immigrant cultures have an important function in history writing and in heritage production. Many museum officials are currently concerned about developing new means to enable …
Museums as narrators
In today’s tourism industry, merely offering tourists a variety of cultural events is not enough. Fully understanding their desire for an experience is the key. The attraction value increases if tourists can become personally involved and be affected by the narratives involved in place-making. This article examines the connections and cooperation among museums in a region where an important heritage trail is operating. When the old Telemark Canal…
The Mall Method
Criticism has been directed at traditional approaches to cultural heritage management, as reflected in legislation and policy, for ignoring elements integral to community perceptions of cultural heritage. Although discussions on the right to define are lively, there has been less focus directed towards the significance which personal affiliations and memory play in the processes of forming people's conceptions of important cultural heritage asset…
Objects as identity markers - Ways of mediating the past in a South Sámi and Norse borderland
Museums have several means of communicating with their audiences. The problems discussed here concern how local museums interact with their audience when the past they want to portray is multiple, complex and sometimes disputed. It is based on an analysis of three exhibitions in local museums situated in a region where archaeological findings indicate that the South Sámi have been present since the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. It highlights…
Assessing environmental vulnerability in EIA—The content and context of the vulnerability concept in an alternative approach to standard EIA procedure
The Mall Method
Criticism has been directed at traditional approaches to cultural heritage management, as reflected in legislation and policy, for ignoring elements integral to community perceptions of cultural heritage. Although discussions on the right to define are lively, there has been less focus directed towards the significance which personal affiliations and memory play in the processes of forming people's conceptions of important cultural heritage asset…
Urban planning and industrial heritage – a Norwegian case study
Purpose The purpose of this papter is to examine the role heritage considerations have played in the transformation of industrial areas in three Norwegian cities, Oslo, Drammen and Larvik. The location, scale and rough appearance of industrial sites stemming from the industrial era makes these places locations for new cultural and other recreational activities made possible through architectonic interventions
Capturing the Intangible and Tangible Aspects of Heritage
In discussions on how to handle local heritage values, local values or insider-ness are often seen as synonymous with intangible aspects of heritage. At the same time, expert knowledge is usually associated with material objects, whereby experts have had the power to define what to preserve. In this study of three Norwegian towns, complementary and interdisciplinary methods have been used to address the relationship between personal and official …
Managing historic resources in active farming landscapes
Purpose – To counteract processes of landscape deterioration, marginalisation and loss of cultural heritage due to rural restructuring of farming in late-modern Norwegian society, an agricultural landscape scheme started up in 2009. The purpose of this paper is to examine the way this recently introduced strategy of directing particular resources to a group of selected agricultural landscapes contributes in instigating integrated landscape manage…
From Bastions of Justice to Sites of Adventure
A continuous discussion of which perspectives to include and which to exclude characterises the definition of cultural heritage. After Norway’s new Prison Act had been introduced in 1857, the foremost architects in the country were engaged when the decision was made to build a series of regional prisons. Today some of these former bastions of justice need to be accorded new functions. The discussion here is based on an examination of two former p…
The Topographies of Affect Prisons Perceived as Soundscapes
Based on a critical reading of three prison protocols from 1860 to 1930, this article examines the affective quality of prisons as social spaces. Guided by concepts such as affect and embodiment, it looks closer at the ways anger, rage, and frustration were bodily expressed. In a place where silence ruled, anger and frustration were channelled through the use of material devices and bodily practices (involving breaking material devices into piece…
Objects as identity markers - Ways of mediating the past in a South Sámi and Norse borderland
Museums have several means of communicating with their audiences. The problems discussed here concern how local museums interact with their audience when the past they want to portray is multiple, complex and sometimes disputed. It is based on an analysis of three exhibitions in local museums situated in a region where archaeological findings indicate that the South Sámi have been present since the Late Neolithic and the Bronze Age. It highlights…
Churchyards and cemeteries throughout the centuries — praxis and legislation
Cemeteries belong to spaces where a clear-cut division between public and private property is debatable. In Norway today such sites are formally considered public spaces — free to access all year round and open for all citizens independent of economic status and social belonging. In a longer time perspective both accessibility and property rights related to cemeteries have changed fundamentally. This article examines the laws and regulations whic…
Urban cemeteries’ potential as sites for cultural encounters
Population increase has drawn attention to the need in cities for easily accessible and attractive public spaces that will promote interaction regardless of gender, age, ethnicity and religious belief. This paper focuses on the role urban cemeteries play in a culturally and religiously diverse society. Norway is described as an increasingly secularised society. Immigration and transmigration, on the other hand, have brought a revived interest in …
Museums as narrators
In today’s tourism industry, merely offering tourists a variety of cultural events is not enough. Fully understanding their desire for an experience is the key. The attraction value increases if tourists can become personally involved and be affected by the narratives involved in place-making. This article examines the connections and cooperation among museums in a region where an important heritage trail is operating. When the old Telemark Canal…
Tensions between Urban Heritage Policy and Compact City Planning – A Practice Review
The ‘compact city’ is generally considered to represent a sustainable urban form. However, transformation of urban sites as consequence of compact city planning potentially conflicts with heritage interests. A reading of a selection of scientific articles in land-use and heritage journals, supplemented with thematic plans, indicates that there is a need to bridge the gap between urban heritage policy and planning for the compact city. When challe…
The ‘garden city’ in the green infrastructure of the future
Contemporary urban development takes place mainly in already built areas. The article’s objective is to examine how towns on the outskirts of large cities can use and revitalise green areas and the urban heritage of garden cities to contribute to filling the societal demand for building sustainable cities. Lillestrøm, a former garden city on the outskirts of Oslo, Norway’s capital, is used as the starting point to discuss how learning from the pa…
Illusionary equality? Museum politics, practice and immigrant heritage
Increased migration has prompted discussions regarding most of the prime functions of museums as societal institutions. When the population and potential users of museums become more heterogeneous and diverse, the idea of a shared common national history becomes contested. Immigrant cultures have an important function in history writing and in heritage production. Many museum officials are currently concerned about developing new means to enable …
Strengthening Subjective Links to Nature
In the search for the psychology of heritage places, the tangible and intangible qualities of heritage are closely intertwined. This article sheds light on the sentiments, insights and attitudes that historic environments can evoke in people, by using the characteristics of old summer mountain farming landscapes as a platform to further discuss how the psychology of these heritage places can be linked to the present-day era of public environmenta…
Visionscapes
With the occurrence of urban densification, understanding the necessity of encouraging and promoting climate- and environment-friendly urban areas has gained ground with urban planners. Ensuring adequate and easily accessible green public spaces is essential for creating healthy environments. In this current study, we look closely at how heritage combined with urban gardening can function as a means to enhance areas that require regeneration. We …
Resilience Thinking in Museums
Resilience thinking refers to the need to be prepared for the unexpected and unknown. Museums have learned to adjust to societal changes, not least because of the recent global pandemic, which has necessitated the introduction of new ways of activating a diverse public. We discuss how resilience thinking can function as a promoter of the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage by including local heritage knowledge in the ongoing regeneration of for…
The Impact of Images on the Adaptive Reuse of Post-Industrial Sites
The adaptive reuse of industrial heritage has the potential to create distinctive cityscapes. Based on a comparative study of the regeneration of two former brownfield sites in Norway, we analyse the role industrial heritage plays in the initial planning phases. By using branding and brandscaping as a point of departure, we ask how textual and visual presentations are integrated in the early planning documents as a way to signalise the role assig…
Implementing transformative resilience in urban regeneration
Large regeneration and transformation projects generally include a longer timespan as an aspect that makes way for more uncertainty and unexpected changes. We introduce transformative resilience as a place-based approach that can help planners and practitioners adapt to changes and challenges in urban regeneration and can be used proactively to bring certain pliability into planning, implementing and decision-making processes. This allows for int…
Urban Heritage in Spatial Planning
Municipal planners face an inherent dilemma: On one hand, they are tasked with promoting urban densification; on the other, they must protect the distinctive character of cities, including cultural historic elements and significant landscape features. Our primary question is as follows: How do cultural heritage authorities influence the success or failure of densification projects in historic urban centres? Planning processes concerning densifica…
How municipal planning authorities' ways of acting influence plan feasibility
Political science (16 works) · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation (14 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Archaeology (11 works) · Geography (10 works) · Cultural heritage (9 works) · Environmental planning (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Art (7 works) · Urban planning (7 works)