Road Salt Damage to Historical Milestones Indicates Adaptation of Winter Roads to Future Climate Change May Damage Arctic Cultural Heritage

There is no doubt that anthropogenic global warming is accelerating damage to cultural heritage. Adaptation measures are required to reduce the loss of sites, monuments and remains. However, little research has been directed towards understanding potential impacts of climate adaptation measures in other governmental sectors on cultural heritage. We provide a case study demonstrating that winter road salt, used to reduce ice related accidents, damages historical iron milestones. As the climate warms, road salt use will move north into areas where sites have been protected by contiguous winter snow cover. This will expose Artic/sub-Arctic cultural heritage, including Viking graves and Sami sites, to a new anthropogenic source of damage. Research and planning should therefore include the evaluation of secondary impacts when choosing climate adaptation strategies

Revisiting the “Reading Landscape Backwards” Approach: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Use of the Retrogressive Method

Landscape analysis outside higher education institutions is growing due to new international regulations and governmental policies. Here, the retrogressive method is revisited by examining its uses and advantages. The retrogressive method studies landscapes by starting in a younger time period and travelling back towards older periods. This article’s point of departure is that the method appears to have declined in use in favour of its opposite: the retrospective method. Besides exemplifying its use in some contemporary works, this study gives examples of the pros and cons and current uses of the retrogressive method from two critical Scandinavian debates, from contemporary works, and from three experienced scholars. The results show that the retrogressive approach is suitable for reconstructing landscapes when sources are scarce, including sources concerning more recent periods. Written sources in combination with physical remnants in today’s landscape may be used in tandem, particularly in terms of studying changes in the landscape by comparing two or more cross-sections in time. The retrogressive method is best used in the analysis phase of research and not in the presentation phase. The article’s endpoint is that the retrogressive method is highly relevant within contemporary landscape planning

Det antikvariska landskapet : ett paradigmskifte inom svensk landskapsförändring. En artikel ur Med landskapet i centrum, kulturgeografiska perspektiv på nutida och historiska landskap, Meddelande 119, Kulturgeografiska institutionen, Stockholms universitet 2003

Artikeln beskriver och analyserar hur landskapet behandlas inom den offentliga samhällsplaneringen, särskilt med fokus på natur- och kulturmiljöorganisationerna. Artikeln har växt fram ur en kritik mot att man idag inte beaktar landskap på ett adekvat sätt trots forskning inom denna disciplin, samt att man vid sektorsmyndigheterna sällan diskuterar konsekvenserna av sitt antikvariska betraktelsesätt. Författaren har valt att begränsa analysen till en del av landskapet och har valt bort städer och samhällen till förmån för landsbygden. Ibland kallas denna del av landskapet för odlingslandskapet eller kulturlandskapet. Bakgrunden till artikeln hämtas från praktiska erfarenheter vilka inhämtats under knappt 20 års arbete inom branschen vid olika myndigheter på olika nivåer samt inom forskarsamhället

Public participation and written submissions.: A transport infrastructure planning case study

Written submissions or comments as a response on an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) rank as one of the most common forms of public participation. Within public participation research there appears to be an international dearth of knowledge concerning such written submissions. The possible impact of such responses on an EIS is - with few exceptions - seldom put in focus. The aim in the present brief communication is to study one aspect of public participation within transport infrastructure planning, namely the role of written submissions sent to the applicant by individuals, Non-governmental organisations, companies and authorities. By comparing 34 written submissions with road planning documents (including EIS) the impact of the public views has been analysed in a south Swedish case study. At a time when the new Environmental Code only had been in force for less than one year, it does not appear as if the Road Administration's regional office accepted most of the written submissions just to show that the new regulation concerning participation had a direct impact on the planning. Sweden's long tradition of public access to official documents may explain why written submissions as one aspect of public participation worked well in the E18 highway planning process, because civil servants have long been taught to promptly furnish information and guidance, as well as to giving advice and other assistance to individuals in matters concerning an authority's activity. This study shows, then, that - if properly managed by the developer's street-level staff - the use of written submissions may improve the EIS from a stakeholder perspective and also make the stakeholders feel they are being taken seriously. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Landscape and Ödesbölen : The Province of Jämtland, Sweden, before, during and after the Medieval Agrarian Crisis.

This study examines landscape change in the Province of Jämtland during c. 1000–1750 AD. Settlement and arable cultivation are two of the most important sources in this study. They are therefore treated in depth, particularly farmsteads that were deserted during the late medieval agrarian crisis, so-called ödesbölen, and their fossil field-traces. The dissertation contains four major investigations. In the first investigation 610 possible ödesbölen were identified. The desertion was estimated at 50 per cent. The second investigation had its focus on the geographic location, and the conclusion was that the ödesbölen may have been deserted when the climate turned colder in the 14th century. The third investigation concerned medieval agriculture. Using historical maps and detailed mapping of fossil field traces it was established that the annually cultivated acreage decreased from the High Middle Ages until early modern times. This probably means that the agrarian crisis caused a change in the agrarian regime, from predominant arable farming to predominant stock-raising. The fourth investigation was whether the ownership or the use of the ödesbölen created obstacles to recolonization when the crisis subsided. This turned out not to be so in the case of ownership, but may have been so with regard to communal forest grazing. According to historical maps the ödesbölen in Jämtland were finally recolonized about 200 years later than for example in southern Sweden. The reasons probably were wars and a worse climate. The dissertation is capped off with both a model and a description of landscape change in Jämtland. Characteristic for the development of the landscape has been fluctuations in settlement. The ödesbölen are part of a pattern in which they are colonized, deserted, recolonized and again deserted in a cyclical course of events. The openness of the landscape is not part of this course of events

MKB-handböcker om kulturmiljön : en studie utgående från användarens erfarenheter

Handböckerna om kulturmiljövärdenas för arbetet med miljökonsekvensbeskrivningar (MKB) för vägar börjar bli föråldrade och bör bytas ut. De konsulter som beskriver konsekvenserna för kulturmiljön i MKB är akademiskt skolade landskapsarkitekter och saknar utbildning i flera av de klassiska kulturmiljöämnena. Det är två slutsatser av föreliggande undersökning om kulturmiljö och MKB. För att stärka kulturmiljövårdens intressen i MKB-arbetet föreslås: att Vägverket vid upphandlingen av MKB för vägprojekt ställer krav på kulturmiljöcertifiering avMKB-författaren, att kulturmiljövårdens organisationer tar fram bättre underlagsmaterial iform av regionalt anpassade beskrivningar av Sveriges kulturvärden och att det ges kurser och anordnas seminarier om kulturmiljöfrågor för konsulter Syftet med studien var att undersöka i vilken utsträckning och på vilket sätt två handböcker om kulturvärden och MKB används av MKB-konsulter. Detta undersöktes i enkäter och intervjuer bland konsulter inom VV-regionerna Sydöst, Mälardalen, Skåne och Väst. Enkäten besvarades av 29 av de 34 tillskrivna konsultföretagen. Arbetet avses utgöra ett hjälpmedel till Vägverkets arbete att nå de transportrelaterade miljömålen

Hur kommuniceras kulturmiljön? - En kartläggning av visualiseringstillämpningar i infrastrukturplaneringen

Projektets syfte är att utveckla den digitala metodiken kring visualisering av kulturmiljön i infrastrukturplaneringen. Det finns en allmän uppfattning om att planeringsunderlagen behöver bli tydligare och mer kommunikativa.Parallellt med detta uppdrag utfördes också en kartläggning av hur digital teknik används för visualisering generellt inom kulturmiljöområdet, både ur ett nationellt och internationellt perspektiv