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Dr. Grete Swensen

Senior researcher
NIKU
Participates in 2 items
Grete Swensen has her PhD in ethnology and works as senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research, NIKU. Her field of interests comprise studies related to how cultural heritage and cultural environments can be incorporated in today’s physical planning, including how to integrate cultural heritage as a vital component in a sustainable urban development. She places special emphasis on interdisciplinary co-operation and use of qualitative research methods. She has been project coordinator of four strategic research programs in NIKU since 2000, and is today the coordinator of the institute’s strategic research program:  Urban Heritage – history, character and potential in urban development (CITY-SIS). She has in addition been the project leader of a series of interdisciplinary research projects funded by the Norwegian Research Council; the three most recent are “Cultural Heritage and Urban Place Identity”, “Local Heritage Values and Cultural Heritage Plans in Urban Fringe Areas” and the ongoing project “Green urban Spaces - the role of the cemetery in multicultural and interreligious urban contexts”. She has also held special assignments as external expert in research evaluation and as referee for several international scientific journals. Recent publication: Guttormsen, T.S. & G. Swensen eds. (2016). Heritage, Democracy and the Public. Nordic approaches. London, Ashgate

Sessions in which Dr. Grete Swensen participates

Monday 6 June, 2016

Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
9:00 - 15:00 | 6 hours
Heritage as an Agent of Change (Epistemologies, Ontologies, Teaching)Urban HeritageArchitecture and Urbanism
Heritage as an agent of changeEpistemologiesOntologiesTeaching

Cities are growingly being faced by social, economic, cultural and environmental challenges imposing health and social risks. Rapid urbanization, population growth, climate change are only some of the major global challenges that a 21st century city needs to respond to. The current challenging global environment has led to the development of new approaches to the concept of "sustainable city" a city that caters for current and future generation. For instance, the idea of smart city (a city th...

Sessions in which Dr. Grete Swensen attends

Saturday 4 June, 2016

Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
9:00 - 10:00 | 1 hour
Public event
Simultaneous translation - Traduction simultanée

What if we changed our views on heritage? And if heritage has already changed? While, on the global scene, states maintain their leading role in the mobilization of social and territorial histories, on the local scale, regions, neighbourhoods and parishes have changed. Citizens and communities too: they latch on to heritage to express an unprecedented range of belongings that no law seems to be able to take measures to contain, often to the discontent of...

18:30 - 20:00 | 1 hour 30 minutes
Public event
Simultaneous translation - Traduction simultanée

Most of what we experience as heritage emerges into conscious recognition through a complex mixture of political and ideological filters, including nationalism.  In these processes, through a variety of devices (museums, scholarly research, consumer reproduction, etc.), dualistic classifications articulate a powerful hierarchy of value and significance.  In particular, the tangible-intangible pair, given legitimacy by such international bodies as UNESCO, reproduces a selective ordering of cul...

Sunday 5 June, 2016

Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
7:00 - 9:00 | 2 hours
Public event

Canal: Walking the Post-Industrial Lachine Canal (COHDS, 2013 - bilingual) is an audio-walk and booklet that takes listeners from the Atwater Market to the Saint Gabriel Lock, exploring the post-industrial transformation of a once heavily industrialized area. The Lachine Canal area has undergone dramatic changes, as mills and factories were closed and then demolished or converted into high-end condominiums. The adjoining working-class neighbourhoods ...