Boaz Peters
Urbanism
Confronting the Norwegian Paradox
Decomposing socio-territorial conflicts through modern and indigenous world views on time and space in Finnmark, Norway
This graduation project describes the development of the oil and gas industry in Arctic Norway. The sudden increase in wealth is causing friction between indigenous Sámi and non-indigenous world views, sustained within the culturally vulnerable county of Finnmark. Conflicts arise due to increasing urbanisation, impeding Sámi – reindeer – movement.
I explore new ways of integrating indigenous knowledge into the decision-making processes in North Norway as opposed to the current linear planning processes that support oil extraction. Through an understanding of different temporalities within urban planning and indigenous herding knowledge, the argument of the thesis unfolds over an in-depth spatio-temporal and on-site analysis. The triangulation of spatial modelling, research by design, cinematographic strategies and the integration of indigenous knowledge into the planning process could help in confronting the uncertainties in the oil industry as well as (co-)creating awareness and action, and allowing space for Sámi agency.