Spiritual Places in the Urban Contemporary Landscape ”Designing Places for Memory and Meaning in Contemporary Urban Landscapes”

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Landscape Architecture Sabina Jallow, Landscape Architect [email protected] ECLAS ALNARP 2008

Outside the department store where foreign minister Anna Lindh was attacked, Stockholm, 9th of sept 2005, Photo by Fredrik Persson/Pressens Bild

The Allotment garden at Sankt Knut Square, Malmö, Sweden 2003-2004, produced by Christel Lundberg, constructed by Sabina Jallow, photo by Åke Hedström

From the movie “The Da Vinci Code”, professor Robert langdon at the Louvre Museum

Searching for spiritual places in the urban contemporary landscapes…

Lady in Pink, Vancover, Canada, 2008, photo by Suzanne Roth

…to find out where people find their spiritual places in secularized and globalized contexts.

- A spiritual place as a place that promotes possibilities to leave the mental rails behind and instead reflect on how what has happened is present in the here and now.

- What if spiritual places was secularized ? - What if spiritual places becomes due to contingency and the relations of private design actions?

-What will happen if spiritual places, memorial sites, etc. are not connected to special religious movements or to particular religions? -What would these kinds of places mean in the contemporary urban landscapes? -Which roll do landscape architects play while these places are coming into existence? -Which obligations due to the interest of the common, are in the duty of city planners?

- The urban contemporary landscape is the urban landscape where someone lives today. - Citizens may perform their contemporary actions in an ancient place, but they are still producing our contemporary landscapes.

Fresh flowers at the old cemetery at La Defence, Paris, France

The Kitchen garden at Versailles, France

Designing Places for Memory and Meaning in Contemporary Urban Landscapes Founded by the Swedish Council Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS)

Urban sociological philosophic Cultural sociological History of religions

Sociological studies of attitudes and values among the users

Year 1 Defining concepts Choosing the cases Developing methods Establishing reference groups

Workshops based on the results from the group of experts

Year 2 Sketching techniques, visualizations seminars and workshops with experts and the reference groups interviews

The designing process, describing concepts, visualizing and communicating

Year 3 Analysis and synthesis Design approach vs. results Final revision and finish Final rapport, articles

5 collaborators – 5 approaches Perspectives of amateurs Perspectives of landscape architecture and design

Perspectives of cultural sociology

Carola Wingren Sabina Jallow

Ann-Britt Sörensen

The research project: Designing places for Memory and Meaning in Contemporary Urban Landscapes Anna Pettersson

Mats Lieberg

Perspectives of craft and industrial design

Perspectives of urban sociology

Perspectives of professionals

Gothenburg nightclub fire

- Backaplan as a spontaneous memorial site - Cuddly toys, candles, compost and trees - The City of Gothenburg reacting

Civil servants from the city of Gothenburg

PLACE

Relatives and friends of the victims

The spontaneous memorial site The blue bench

Persons meeting and professional helping Professional help to recover and process impressions from the emergency work

The memorial hall Private mourning The ceremonies

The monument

-Shall these activities appear everywhere? -Shall a design act forming a physical context clarify, encourage and direct spontaneous activities?

Street installation by Mark Jenkins, Wiliamsburgh, NY, USA

In the Garden of the Bruno Liljefors Studio called “Wig-Wam, Järna, Sweden

- Could this be Spiritual Places in the Urban Contemporary Landscape?

Observatorium (Observatory),2002, sculpture by Gunilla Bandolin, Stockholm, Sweden

Here you can dream, play, dance, pick-nick, discuss, meet, be alone…

Rucksakhaus (Backpack House),2004-2006, sculpture by Stefan Eberstadt, Leipzig and Cologne, Germany

A parasiteing room, enriching the possibilities of existing space…

Ponte degli Alpini/Ponte Vecchio, 1569, bridge by Andrea Palladio, Bassano del Grappa, Italy

A bridge is always bridging a gap, wile walking on it you are in the gap…

Fresh Flower, 2008, discussion space by Tonkin Liu, London, UK

A moving discussion scene, vagabonding the discussions around the city…

Wall-Holla, 2006, playground equipment by CRAVE, Holland

A vertical playground and a nice place to sit for a while…

Los Angeles Business Council Annual Architectural Awards Ceremony 2008, building, LA, USA

Movie screen shoving time-images, snapshots from a past, coexisting in the present…

Old City Cemetery, 1820, public cemetery and park, Malmö, Sweden

The cemetery was outside the city center when it was built two hundred years ago, to day it serves as a city park…

Maman, 1999, bronze cast by Louise Bourgeois, Tokyo, Japan

Some of the Mothers are traveling around the world, telling a story…

Parabol (satellite dish), 2002, public art work by Ulrik Samuelsson, Stockholm, Sweden

Suddenly the business street is a fairytale scape, a gate to escape…

Home Delivery –Fabricating the Modern Dwelling, 2008, exhibition at MOMA, NY, USA

Occasional housing, temporary pavilions for chance acquaintance…

Oresund Terminal, 1999, bus station outside Malmö, Sweden

Using the time gap of waiting for the next bus to make a contemplative journey…

Phonoflyt 97, 1997, sculpture by Dag Birkeland and Mikael Pauli, Stockholm, Sweden

Is this where the ship sank?

The Glass Bubble, 2006, green house by Monika Gora, Malmö, Sweden

A next door exotic resort, one step away but in the climate of an other world…

Lost Spaces, Found Gardens, 2005-2006, photographs by Paul Raphaelson, NY, USA

Think about that!