Urban conservation and urban morphology in Kiruna, Sweden

This paper investigates the interaction between urban conservation and urban morphology. This relationship was studied using the three basic components of urban morphology – resolution, form and time – in the context of the urban transformation of Kiruna. Kiruna is a mining town in northern Sweden where, as a result of the subsidence caused by mining, a new town centre is being built on a new site and extensive parts of the existing settlement are being demolished. The empirical data comprises conservation plans adopted by the authorities and residents’ perceptions of the town identified through an urban living lab study. The mapping of stakeholders’ perceptions of urban environments that are important to Kiruna’s character enabled identification of characteristic features of the town’s urban form and selection of the most significant areas for in-depth analysis. The study shows that traditional containment relationships between form elements, which are internationally recognized as desirable, did not prevail in the case of Kiruna. Therefore, contemporary urban planning and design ideas need to be adapted to the local context rather than only based on the overall understanding of urban form.