The new project, Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, explores how Malmö residents, stakeholders, and organizations can forge new connections with the sea. The first step is to establish a Maritime Forum with local stakeholders.
Researchers at Malmö University are collaborating with Forum for Social Innovation Sweden the Marine Knowledge Center in Malmö on the project Bauhaus of the Seas Sails (BoSS) to strengthen the relationship between the city and the sea in Malmö and Öresund.
– Together with residents, stakeholders, organizations, and practitioners, we want to explore how we can move beyond simply viewing the ocean as a beautiful view or a resource to seeing it instead as a neighbor, whom we need to get to know and live with,” says Anna Seravalli, who, together with Anders Emilsson—both design researchers at the Department of Art, Culture, and Communication at Malmö University—is participating in the project.
Is a shift in perspective needed in how people view and manage the ocean?
As Malmö grows and changes as a city, people’s attitudes toward the sea—and how they treat and manage it—need to change as well.
– People need to become more aware of the ocean and understand its impact on us and how we, as humans, affect the ocean. “We humans need to make an effort to take care of the ocean, which plays a central role in regulating the climate, absorbing carbon dioxide, and providing us with oxygen and food,” says Michael Palmgren, Director of Operations at the Marine Knowledge Center in Malmö.
The South Shipyard Basin is currently being restored
In the Södra Varvsbassängen in Malmö, the seabed has been contaminated since Kockums conducted industrial operations north of the harbor basin for a long time. The harbor basin is virtually devoid of plant and animal life. In parallel with Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, work is now underway where the City of Malmö, in collaboration with the Marine Knowledge Center in Malmö , is restoring the water and life in the harbor basin. Since the harbor basin is currently nine meters deep, the City of Malmö is reducing the water depth and dredging the bottom to a depth of four meters. The seabed, covering approximately 52,000 square meters—equivalent to seven soccer fields—will be encapsulated. This is being done using crushed stone and clay moraine, with sea sand and larger stones laid on top.
Dredging offers several benefits
Dredging the Södra Varvsbassängen will provide several benefits. First, biodiversity beneath the surface will increase as the basin becomes shallower and sunlight can more easily reach the bottom. This creates better conditions for algae, mussels, fish, and eelgrass to thrive. Eelgrass is an important nursery and habitat for many of our marine fish species. But eelgrass is also incredibly effective at absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, stabilizing the sand, and making the water clearer. In the long run, water quality will improve.
Cultural participatory activities should foster relationships and strengthen the bond with the sea
Bauhaus of the Seas Sails strives to achieve a sustainable and inclusive transition by organizing cultural and participatory activities that foster new relationships and ways of living with the sea. The goal is to connect the city with the sea.
Bauhaus of the Seas Sails in Malmö will organize various activities to explore and create paths toward new futures based on the guiding principles of Bauhaus of the Seas Sails: sustainable, inclusive, beautiful, and locally rooted.
“We are currently setting up a Maritime Forum, a steering group comprising 12 stakeholders from all sectors in Malmö, which will help develop a plan for our work,” says Gloria-Karin López, project manager at Forum for Social Innovation Sweden, who is leading the Öresund Pilot project.
The next step is to recruit ocean ambassadors in collaboration with Havsforum. These ambassadors will develop and carry out cultural activities that promote new ways of thinking about and acting toward the ocean, in collaboration with various groups and stakeholders in Malmö.
Facts About the Bauhaus of the Seas Sails
Bauhaus of the Seas Sails is the sixth EU-funded Lighthouse project aimed at developing so-called Lighthouse Demonstrators as part of the EU’s New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative. The project involves Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Sweden, with a total of 18 partners, representing local authorities, universities, and civil society organizations.
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