KULTURMINNE

Increasing urbanisation challenges the sustainability and resilience of cit-ies world-wide. At the same time, often overlooked are the resources and opportunities in the ground beneath cities.

This is one of the reasons why a European network of specialists joined together with the aim of improving the understanding and use of under-ground space. The participants of COST Sub-Urban Action (2013-2017) display a cross-section of skills and knowledge of subsurface issues in 31 European countries and 26 cities. After sharing their experiences, the common pathways (and pitfalls) to good planning became more evident. A key recommendation from this Action was improving communication between urban subsurface experts and urban planners...

As a result of a lowered groundwater level and increased access of atmospheric oxygen, the organic archaeological deposits at Bryggen in Bergen, Norway, are in places strongly threatened to decompose. Besides degradation of the protected archaeological deposits, another negative outcome of this is that numerous of the wooden houses built on these cultural deposits settle at alarming rates. Major efforts were and are necessary to counteract this process and to save the World Heritage Site.