Småstadens Forum Futurum

Sammanfattning: The most important resource is no longer the river, forest or mine - it is information, creativity and knowledge. Larger urban areas has transformed in to bigger cities with global perspectives, cities where we ́ve never before seen as much segregation and class differences. The smaller cities that once transformed Sweden from a poor peripheral nation to a country in the financial and social forefront, has been deprived of the possibility of being part of the knowledge economy. However, in this hierarchical transformation of the society the digitalization is forming a new type of center - an autonomous bomb goes off - and we all become our own center. This project explores the possibilities for a more decentralized society development, when the big cities is unable to deliver the perfect life setting for all. Smaller cities of the periphery is often beautifully situated and offers life qualities and spaces that many are longing for. Though, the last decades have been tough and left a lot of the smaller cities with a scattered and rough context – and a common lack of spaces to meet in. Therefore this project ended up becoming, what I imagine to be a new kind of symbolic building for meetings - that with its form, function and programme should express the new future of the periphery. The ambition is to introduce spaces which could act as a generator of a new time where the small towns get to be part of the knowledge economy, a time where people get to choose their own location of center through the tecnology of today. A future concept allowing the whole of Sweden to become more vibrant, connected to essential functions and filled with life - no matter the amount of people or the physical location of the place.