Unique investment in research on designed living environment

Friday, February 14, Formas announces the call “Designed living environment – architecture, form, design, art and cultural heritage in public spaces”. Formas, Public Arts Agency Sweden, Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, ArkDes and Swedish National Heritage Board are together announcing research grants to fund projects that can create new knowledge and a new understanding of how artistic and cultural heritage values can be strengthened in common public spaces.

“It’s great to get to announce a grant call together in a new constellation of stakeholders in order to fund relevant research within spatial planning. Collaboration is what we need to meet society’s challenges, and culture plays a key role in our understanding of society and its history, both present and future,” says Emma Gretzer, head department for spatial planning at Formas.

New collaboration with government agencies

This research grant call is a unique initiative. It is the first time this constellation of government agencies has collaborated around research. The results of the call have the potential to make a lasting impression on the places where people live and spend their time, as the projects will allow for academic as well as practical and artistic expertise. Since public architecture and design touches upon many subject areas and professions, collaboration among different experts is a must. Formas hopes that academic and art researchers, artists, antiquarians, architects, designers and other professions in the field will join together to create projects and apply for a grant. Public-sector stakeholders as well as the private sector, academia and civil society are important stakeholders in the field, and cross-sectoral perspectives might be needed to organise complex and sometimes conflicting interests into a whole.

Highlighting aesthetic perspectives

The purpose of the call is to fund research projects that create new knowledge and a new understanding of public architecture and design. The call aims to highlight the aesthetic perspectives and the role of public art in relation to architecture, form, design and cultural heritage in the design of sustainable living environments. This so-called designed living environment – through architecture, form, design, art and cultural heritage – must contribute to a sustainable, equal and less segregated society where everyone gets the chance to influence our shared environment.

Contact person for the call: Kristina Laurell, Senior Research Officer, kristina.laurell@formas.se

Information meeting about the call

On Tuesday, 24 March, the Public Arts Agency Sweden will host an information meeting about the call at ArkDes in Stockholm. The meeting will be broadcasted online.

The Formas Research Council is part of the Swedish Council for Sustainable Cities External link. and supports research on people’s living environments and spatial planning.