Participation workshop Hiorthhamn (PwH)

We are facing a looming danger of losing the Cable car station in Hiorthhamn (Taubanestasjonen i Hiorthhamn) due to coastal erosion and decay. Why should it concern us? What can be done? And is there even a desire to save it? A participatory workshop will be organized to bring together the kay stakeholders for discussing the challenges and explore potential strategies to preserve the Cable Car Station in Hiorthhamn. We aim to bring together the managers (Svalbard Museum), central (The Governor of Svalbard and The Directorate for Cultural Heritage and local authorities (Longyearbyen Community Council), researchers and (SINTEF, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU), UNIS, University of Vienna) and local people in Longyearbyen to discuss the challenges and explore potential strategies to preserve the station. We will invite Svalbard Museum to talk about the ongoing challenges associated with the cable car station, i.e. coastal erosion and decay, and about previously implemented measures. Furthermore, we would like to invite The Directorate for Cultural Heritage to share its perspectives on the Cable car station and the importance of preserving it, as well as challenges related to various measures; and NIKU - to present previously done research. Researchers from SINTEF and University of Vienna will present possible protective measures, including non-antiquarian methods, and value-based dilemmas associated with these. After these short presentations, we will give local people the opportunity to share their perspectives on the problem and discuss different solutions, through the "world café" interactive method. Workshop will be concluded with discussion in plenum. Based on this participation workshop, we aim to create a platform to bring together different stakeholders, share knowledge and experiences, and together prepare locally rooted strategies to preserve the Cable car station in Hiorthhamn for the present and future generations.