Urban Cultures: Case Kommersen

How dense a city should be and what form of density is desired is a hot topic for discussion nowadays. A dense city with mixed functions offers people the ability to move around within a limited area, everything is close by. Allowing them to meet and interact with each other while they live their everyday lives. The role of culture is an important aspect for the development of dense and sustainable cities.

What is cultural densification?

The project Urban Cultures: Case Kommersen objective has been to find new ways to realize the vision of the sustainable city. The starting point has been that urban culture and cultural densification can be seen as a prerequisite for achieving the vision of the sustainable city. By trying to define and use a new term: cultural densification the project contributes to the wider debate within the field of urban development. The main question has been: What is cultural densification?

The magic of a local flea market - Kommersen
 

To answer the question what cultural densification could be the project has studied Kommersen, a flea market located in Gothenburg, Sweden which opened in the year 2000. Kommersen as a phenomenon is close to the ideal of an exciting and sustainable urban life as described in the City Planning Authority´s program. Flea markets in general often have an important role to play in shaping new sustainable cultures. Kommersen is an example of a meeting place where different cultures are complexly stored. It is a place for commerce and economic exchange which supports the local economy. It provides access to cheap goods and the reuse of products supports environmentally conscious actions. Likewise, it acts as an anchor in the city by being a reminder of the history and its timber industry heritage. It is also a cultural attraction with graffiti covering the outside walls.

Method – a cinnamon bun for your thoughts

The project has studied archive material and action plans, interviewed and performed participatory observations, photographed and filmed the area, collected data, conducted a hearing and arranged an urban sitting in Kommersen. The project members also manned a table at Kommersen offering finds and cinnamon buns gathering ideas from visitors using the concept - a cinnamon bun for your thoughts.
 

Results

• Movie: Kommersen: The Magic of a Local Flea Market
• Movie: No Saturday without Kommersen (Only avaliable in Swedish)
• Movie workshop with TV-Väst and a group a movie interested 20 year olds: When I think of Kommersen Article: Sustainable cultural densification in a neglected urban space: the magic of a local flea market
• Report (Only avaliable in Swedish)
• 5 fact sheets (Only avaliable in Swedish)

Kommersen 2.0

How to preserve and expand a flea markets values? These are questions are being considered by the Urban Cultures: Case Kommersen project in the new project Kommersen 2.0 - A cultural impact assessment. Kommersen is a flea market in Gothenburg, Sweden. See some of the results below in the files section and read more