Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
beneficial in summer months. Incidentally this feature was one of the key features
recommended by Le Corbusier in his much reviled, but misunderstood recommen-
dations for high rise housing blocks of the 1920s. Unfortunately, most of the envi-
ronmental and community features he recommended were ignored in the rush to
develop post World War II high-rise public housing structures that rapidly degener-
ated, in large part because of the failure to incorporate his security and community
ideas and adequate maintenance (Davies and Herbert
1993
). It is also worth noting
that Swedish municipalities since 1971 have been required to create an energy plan
for their area that shows how energy is supplied, distributed and used, an approach
designed to inform the public and to publicize the development of innovative solu-
tions to make the settlements more sustainable.
A fourth approach to help adaptation to winter can be seen in the way that north-
ern settlements are deliberately
using bold colours and extending lighting systems
to reduce the drabness of the universal whites and greys of winter. Nuuk in Green-
land has become a pioneer in the addition of vibrant colours and striking designs to
as many buildings as possible. More powerful lighting, especially if coloured and in
different designs, also provides an additional positive effect to counteract the dark-
ness, particularly in city centres, at major markets and during festivals—all with
the intent of bring more people outdoors. In Hammerfest an illuminated winter ski-
track has helped to create more outdoor sports activity, with a design that reduces
the effect of the high local winds blowing snow off the track. Even minor individual
decisions by businesses can help, such as the tradition of having small oil lamps
outside restaurants in cities such as Copenhagen, which provide a psychological
welcome on the streets in the cold months of winter. Another unique approach to the
addition of light has recently been developed in the small town of Rjuken, a small
town of 3,400 inhabitants, 175 km N.W of Oslo. The town was built in the early
twentieth century around Sam Eyde's innovative saltpetre (fertilizer) and hydrogen
factories using hydro-electric power from plants on a major waterfall that later led
to a heavy water facility. Today the town is better known for its location near a
national park and for its walking and rock climbing facilities. But its location in a
narrow east-west trending valley surrounded by high mountains reaching 1,500 m
means that the sun does not show above the mountains from 28 September to 12
March, ensuring than the winter gloom in the valley bottom is of much longer dura-
tion than other towns in similar latitudes. Recognition of this problem led the local
industrialist to construct a cable car, called Krossobanen, to a location 500 m up the
valley sides so that inhabitants could ascend to a look-out and coffee shop that was
bathed in sunlight in the early winter. Recently a new approach inspired by a local
artist, Martin Anderson, led to the construction of four solar mirrors 450 m up the
mountain. These 17 m
2
panels are computer-controlled to track the sun and reflect it
back down to the town square, creating a 600 m
2
pool of bright sunlight with around
80 % of the original intensity, as well as generating solar power to operate the mir-
rors (Henley
2013
). The project called Solspeil, is a German engineered project
that cost 5 million kroner ($ 814,000), but most was covered by various grants and
government subsidy leaving only a fifth to be paid for by the municipality, which
is less than 1/650 of its annual budget. There is little doubt that the scheme has
