New Artica Writings Essay by Lars Erikstad and Dagmar Hagen, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA)

The former airstrip was situated on the margin of a glacier moraine with moraine ridges in the inner part and marine clays in the outer parts. The distribution of sediment is forever destroyed, and the landscape is reshaped to blend into the larger area. (Photo Store Norske)

The next essay for Artica Writings 2022: Restoration of Svea and Lunckefjell area: Perspectives on Landscape, Processes and Appearance by Lars Erikstad and Dagmar Hagen, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) is now available to read here.

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. In 2018 the Norwegian Parliament decided to cease the coal-mining activity in Svea, and to restore the area into a state as natural as possible, except for cultural heritage objects and areas older than 1946, protected by law. The restoration of the Svea coal-mine and related infrastructure is regulated by the Svalbard environmental act (Anon 2022), and particularly § 64 sets the goal and the perspectives for the project.

This essay is part of the wider programme of events in collaborate with LPO Arkitekter and UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Academy of Arts, landscape architecture programme. The programme entitled Return to Nature? The Transformation of a Post-Coal Mining Landscape invited leading experts from the Nordics in architecture, ecology, archaeology, history and the arts to discuss the Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani environmental project and related issues.

To find out more about this project, future essay commissions and the recorded live public symposium see here.