KULTURARVET SOM HÅLLER ANDAN En undersökning om kommunal kulturmiljöplanering och antikvarisk kompetens

Abstract

This paper bases its work on a report made by the Swedish National Heritage Board called, Kulturvärden försvinner i byggprocessen, in which it is pointed out that the management of cultural environment in Sweden’s municipalities is inadequate. Through a case study of four smaller municipalities, this paper means to investigate how the cultural heritage is identified and managed along with what a curator’s expertise can contribute to in a municipality’s work on cultural environments and its community planning process. In connection to the subject of cultural environment a discussion about historical theories takes place, including topics of semiotics, power and social memory imbedded in the function and meaning of cultural heritage in society. The paper also deals with the legal conditions related to the management of cultural environments. The study mostly relies upon material gathered through a series of interviews with representatives of each of the examined municipalities, of whom all are somewhat a part of the internal management of cultural environment. The interviews concerned the municipality’s current work on cultural environments, their accessible resources, and discussions about possible collaborations on the work of cultural environments along with how the cultural heritage is prioritized. Each municipality’s rate of investment in the matter is highly dependable on what sort of assets of expertise they have. Of the four examined cases, two lack this asset and the other two have some or complete access to relevant expertise. Those with this access show a greater investment and continuity in matters related to community planning and cultural heritage. At the end of the paper the general meaning of cultural heritage and its contribution to the creating of social identities is discussed, along with the importance of a transparent and fair management of cultural heritage. The results from the case study is compared to the results of a nationally conducted survey, evidently showing the conformity of the two along with the benefits of having access to a relevant sort of expertise for a more active work in cultural environment. The paper is then concluded by confronting the municipalities’ direct means of identification and management of cultural heritage, by introducing concepts describing various methods of identification of cultural values, and once again demonstrating the benefits of relevant expertise. Additionally, a couple of methods for smaller municipalities to cooperate are being suggested