Land
The Land
The land is a more concrete name for the territory. The land is the ground under our feet but is also our landscape, the basis of our productive activities and the basis of our culture. The land is today the planet, the extension of urbanization. Although we all inhabit the land, we tend to be disconnected and at a distance from it.
At LandLab we are interested in being close to the land and the territory. We are interested in the conditions and dispositions of the land, and in the different relationships people develop with it.
We believe that we have to be close to concrete situations and understand their relationship(s) to the land and to the ground in order to intervene intelligently and respectfully within them.
The Periphery
The periphery has always been understood as the outward bounds and areas of something as opposed to its center or core. It is also the area that lies beyond the strict limits of something.
Planetary urbanization and globalization are progressively bringing about an inversion of the traditional conditions that attracted many to the cities: while today’s international centers and urban cores become more and more homogenous, stiff and exclusive, peripheral and ex-central locations become more and more interesting places with a lot of potential for alternative development(s) and opportunities.
The periphery is becoming a territorial laboratory. The hinterland must be explored. And this exploration and investigation cannot be carried out or set at a distance. It requires from us to be here, to live here, and to develop our interest(s) for the local conditions of the places we live in.
At LandLab we are interested in the hinterland. We are interested in the rural, the semi-rural and dispersed habitat or settlements. Glesbygden och Landsbygden. We are interested and we care for the local and regional conditions of the places we live in. We would like to contribute to the development and conservation of these areas in Västerbotten and Norrland. We live here, in Umeå and Bygdeå, we are part of Västerbotten, and part of Norrland.