By Thomas Juel Clemmensen, Professor, cand.arch. ph.d.

In 2019 I was responsible for a master's course in landscape architecture at the Academy of Arts in Tromsø. In this course dealing with landscape transformation, we worked with alternatives to the proposed mining reclamation or “clean-up” project at Svea, launched by the Norwegian Government in 2018.

By Cecilie Gro Vindal Ødegaard

In 2017, when the then-Minister of Trade and Industry Monica Mæland announced the decisions about Svea, she stressed that continued operations could no longer be justified due to low coal prices. The activities related to the clean-up and “returning to nature” would also give society time to adapt to the “changeover” – that is, the transition from coal mining to other energy sources and economic activities.

By Lars Erikstad and Dagmar Hagen, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA)

Svea is situated in the inner Van Mijenfjorden in the Svalbard archipelago, 78 degrees north in the Norwegian High Arctic. Svea has been a coal-mining settlement since 1917. Heavy infrastructure was developed mainly during industrial periods since 1970, including mines and supporting plans, heavy roads, an airstrip, harbour, coal storage areas, and residential areas.

By Ingvild Sæbu Vatn and Lilli Wickström, architects at LPO Arkitekter’s office in Longyearbyen

Four million tonnes of high-quality coal would roll over the red stacker annually during the Svea North mine’s peak production years. Throughout its 100-year history, Svea has had several ups and downs, and when the new Lunckefjell mine was ready to start production in 2015, the coal operation was put on pause.