HABITATINTL. Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 3-5, 1989. Maxwell Pergamon Macmillan pk. Printed in Great Britain.

Section 1

Introduction to the Colloquium’

These papers, presented in the UNIECE Research Colloquium on Planning, Housing and Construction Problems of Human Settlements in Harsh Living Conditions (Turku, Finland, 9-11 August 1988) are drawn from very different starting points, contexts and disciplines. Together with the summary papers, with their varied and perhaps conflicting views of the implications of the Colloquium proceedings, they reflect the intended diversity of the disciplinary, professional and cultural backgrounds of the participants and the diversity of the subject.

The basic paper of the Colloquium by Jussi Rautsi, to which many of the participants directly responded, provided an introduction to the topic. The following excerpt from it illustrates the logic to structure the material.

“There are, at the moment, discussions going on in several topics that can be connected to the theme of harsh living conditions.2 Just to mention a few: the ECE has launched a project on Effectiveness of Settlement Planning in Response to Changing Socio-Economic Trends. The peripheral settlement problematique and the question of the countryside are discussed in several areas. There is a growing interest towards, for instance, the Arctic regions.

New technology has opened entirely new applications, especially in construction and information networks. We are entering a new era of possibilities combining knowledge in different disciplines to improve living conditions in harsh circum- stances.

The subject of this Colloquium is how to improve life in permanent and temporary settlements located in harsh conditions. This question requires co- operation across disciplinary boundaries. The invitation is addressed to planners, researchers, scientists and administrators, being convinced that this subject is worthy of serious debate.

From the wide range of topics, we wish to propose some of the most significant ones:

1. clarification of the definition of ‘harsh living conditions’; 2. further knowledge on the problems of people living in geographically

remote and climatically extreme conditions; 3. developing methods and measures to improve the life of these people; 4. the need to create new patterns for services and dwellings; 5. the need to develop a new urbanism for harsh areas: the ECE countries

could lead the way in showing that modern technology and tradition can live harmoniously side by side. ”

‘The proceedings of the Colloquium have been edited by Jussi Rautsi with the assistance of Tom Davies and Norman Pressman. The organisers wish to thank Mr Karl Leonhardt from the ECE Secretariat, Geneva, for his decisive help and expertise during all the stages of the arrangements.

*Several ECE countries have areas where the living conditions and the climatic and topographic environment differ considerably from that of the majority of the populated areas. Such areas exist in the northern part of the ECE region as well as in the sparsely populated mountain regions of central and southern Europe and hot climate zones. Harshness in this context is understood as a characteristic of a living environment where the temperature. wind, amount of precipitation and degree of light differ excessively from the average. For instance, by cold or hot climates, isolation, difficult topographical formations, remoteness, difficulty of access, etc. can give rise to problems. The areas concerned are mostly peripheral, rural and sparsely populated. In addition to demanding physical conditions, these areas are often also characterized by weak development resources [see advance notice on the Research Colloquium on Planning, Housing and Construction Problems of Human Settlements in Harsh Living Conditions, ECE 823 (2-3)].

3

4 Tom Davies and Jussi Rautsi

Together the papers form, the editors hope, a rich analysis which will allow existing and incoming communities to understand their context when approaching planners and policy-makers operating in their area, and allow professionals, policy-makers and researchers to respond positively to the multi-variant possi- bilities available to them if they respect local definitions, however conflictual, of the problems faced and possibilities open to populations in areas of harsh conditions.

Olavi Syrjiinen’s opening remarks provided the Colloquium with a generous setting in which to operate. In particular, he asked the experts to review the relationships between the economy, personal reward and satisfactory responses to harsh living conditions. Juhani Hassi provides an analytical paper which draws our attention to the problem of developing appropriate health policies for survival of both indigenous and short-stay populations. It suggests that high standards of achievement could be applied much more widely within and outside Nordic environments. Although the paper is related to the concept of “health” it has widely applicable lessons for the broader question of survival. Thomas Malm- gren’s and Bosse Noborn’s papers, using the example of the establishment and maintenance of essential services, direct our attention to the importance of understanding the appropriate organisational form for the introduction of new strategies for survival. The shared responsibility of new facilities is demonstrated to be crucial for success. Stephen Hyatt’s in-depth anthropological paper makes very clear the need to allow the logic of local culture to take its rightful place in justifying patterns of behaviour which would otherwise be discriminated against. The necessity for incoming cultures to unlearn their prejudices is also well demonstrated. The implications for policy cannot be underemphasised. This is a paper central to our understanding of the justifications for planning and policy in such areas. Kyiisti Urponen’s paper, focusing on communities in the very north of Finland, draws our attention to the need to address social and cultural structures and processes in local and regional planning. He demonstrates the importance of plurality of social activities and cultures as a way of expressing conflicts in such societies in a creative and satisfying way and suggests links to built environment solutions. Nikita Maslennikov concentrates on new settlements constructed for purposes of large scale extraction of natural resources. He suggests a number of design solutions which attempt to relate to both climatic and societal harshness. Lauri Hautamiiki provides the readers with a typology of areas in Finland, and concentrates his analysis upon an area of north-east Finland. He demonstrates that fiscal stress, unemployment and ageing population characterise the area. He also draws our attention to the differences within these municipalities in the distribution of the effects of harsh conditions, and the need for planning, but especially self- help, to address these differences. Hautamiiki shows us that there has emerged a strong local self-help movement in small villages. The results of this village activity have been decisive in the struggle against decline. Olli Lehtovuori also addresses new settlements based on the demands of tourism and extraction of natural resources. He presents some planning problems for communities where develop- ment will attract incomers and “southern” alternative ways of life, Tom Davies draws our attention to the existence of harsh conditions in countries not usually seen as suffering from them. He relates “survival” to the history of changing patterns of investment and asks “what has survived?” He suggests that planning solutions must pay attention to cultural, social, fiscal and economic issues which can destroy attempts to plan and design for such areas and may even worsen rather than improve conditions. He also stresses the need for policies for those most disadvantaged by economic change. Pressman’s paper focuses on “northern urbanism” and “winter cities”. He discusses new design and settlement planning responses to harsh cold environments. He reviews international policy develop- ments and explores the search for a new design vocabulary based on linking

Introduction to the Colloquium 5

cultural aspirations with built form. Pressman’s second paper introduces an objective measure of severity for use in policy analysis. He then proposes a framework for research based on a synthesis of the fields of energy efficiency and ecology using the main headings of human needs, building design, urban and landscape design and applied climatology. He makes a call for integrative and cross-disciplinary work. He concludes by calling for an explicit recognition of the complexity of responses to winter induced discomfort. Anna-Maija Ylimaula connects planning and design questions with their cultural and psychological background.

Tom Davies and Jussi Rautsi