Svava Riesto
Associate Professor
svri@ign.ku.dk
+45 3533 1768
Landscape Architecture and Urban History
29 November 2024 at 11:00-12:00, Auditorium Landscape, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C
Democracy and Landscape: Histories that matter to our Futures
Public lecture by Thaïsa Way, Director of Garden and Landscape Studies, Dumbarton Oaks/Harvard University
21 November 2024 at 14:00-16:30, Auditorium Landscape, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C
Critical storytelling as transformative practice
CIRCLE seminar with Lori A. Brown, FAIA and Isabelle Doucet
All welcome – but spaces are limited to 20 participants, so please sign up here: INTERSECT@ku.dk
7 November 2024 10:30-16:00
Research group exchange
Seminar, workshop and fieldwork together with visitors from TU Delfts landscape architecture research group
16 September 2024 at 17:00-18:00
Restoring Nature, Rebuilding Community: Reflections on 40 Years of Action Research
Public lecture by Anne Whinston Spirn, Professor of Landscape Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), organized by Copenhagen Landscape Lecture, University of Copenhagen
26 - 28 August 2024
Research Group writing retreat at Fuglsang Herregaard
19 June 2024 at 13:30-17:00
Women and Gender in Architecture
Landscape and Urban Design – Roundtable and Workshop
European Architecture History Network. Special Interest group meeting. Contact: Svava Riesto and Luca Csepely-Knorr
23 April 2024 at 15.00
Public lecture: Writing Architectural History from Below
– The Architectural Formation of Modern Iraq
Public lecture with Prof. Huma Gupta held at Copenhagen University’s Frederiksberg Campus, Rolighedsvej 23, meeting room “Von Langen”. Organized by the Research Group for Landscape Architecture and Urban History, University of Copenhagen.
Contact: Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner
29 February 2024 at 14:00-15.30
February CIRCLE
– Healing Community through Healing Land
CIRCLE seminar with Alexandra Burgos-Thorsen held at Copenhagen University’s Frederiksberg Campus, Rolighedsvej 23, meeting room “Bellahøj”. Organized by Intersect.
22 February 2024
Peace with the Earth
Anne Pind will be presenting her current research at the ‘Agenda Earth’ kickoff event in Valencia, Vesterbrogade 32, with the presentation ‘Peace with the Earth’. The event is hosted by Arkitektforeningen and Dreyers Fond.
14 December 2023 at 13:00-17:00
Diversifying Architectural Histories
Student workshop and public event co-organized by the Research Group of Landscape Architecture and Urban History with the Royal Danish Academy’s PACS programme. In the Women’s Building and the Monk’s cellar at the University of Copenhagen. Speakers. Barbara Penner, UCL, Meike Schalk, KTH, Henriette Steiner, UCPH, Anne Pind, UCPH. Chairs: Anne Pind and Svava Riesto. Workshops in collaboration with Beata Hemer.
Stories from Sofiegården: Alternative Forms of Living in Copenhagen as Cultural Heritage
This research project aims to nuance the understanding of spatial practices in Denmark’s post-war welfare state by studying Sofiegården, Copenhagen. This cluster of buildings was squatted 1965-69 and has made an imprint on the later constructions on this site. We activate the history of Sofiegården and relate it to contemporary discussions about housing justice, gender and class, and we explore the possibility of learning from the alternative forms of living on this site.
Read more at the project webpage
Contact: Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner
The project is a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen and the Museum of Copenhagen. The project is supported by the Augustinus Foundation.
Learning from Collaboration: Building Future Practice
This project investigates the forms of collaboration across design fields, gender, class and geography that enabled Denmark’s 1960–1975 building boom. The project will also contribute new knowledge to current discussions about cross-disciplinary collaboration and diversity in the building sector.
Read more at the project webpage.
Contact: Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner
The project is a collaboration between University of Copenhagen, Technical University of Denmark, Aalborg University, Aarhus School of Architecture, and Royal Danish Acadamy. Funded by Realdania.
Metaphorical Houses
Five homes for five women by seven women architects in conversation with: Barbara Hepworth, Agnes Martin, Madelon Vrijsendorp, Orlando/Virginia Wolf and Josephine Baker. The ongoing project is supported by the Dreyer Foundation and Statens Kunstfond.
The work contributes the 2024 publication ‘The Dream – Play – Challenge Project. Facing Up to the Crisis in Residential Living’
The collective ‘Metaphorical Houses’: Ida Flarup Mathilde Lesénécal, Maria Mengen, Anne Pind, Anne Romme and Tine Bernstorff Aagaard
Planning with youth project (2020-2024)
In collaboration with Södertörn University, KTH, and Wageningen University, this project aims to assess challenges with youth involvement in planning by testing new methods and developing an intergenerational framework for planning of blue-green infrastructure in public places. Financed by the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development FORMAS.
Read more about the Planning with youth project
Politics of maintenance, cultures of care: Ecofeminist movements in histories of architecture
This project explores four historic milieus in the Nordic countries between 1850 and 1940, at the intersection of feminism and environmentalism. The central inquiry is to comprehend how instances of ecofeminist spatial practices, in conjunction with care ethics, may have contributed to diversity in architectural approaches. The study places particular emphasis on maintenance and repair practices.
PhD Fellow Anne Pind. Supervisors: Niels Grønbæk Associate Professor at the Royal Danish Academy and Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner, both Associate Professors at University of Copenhagen
Street Theatre, Spontaneity and Participatory Design: Revitalising Public Spaces Through a Cultural Intermediary:
In Jinan, amid rapid urbanization and an aging population, elderly migrants, primarily from regions like Luxi Nan, rejuvenate traditional Yu opera through street performances. Born of urban isolation and a desire for social interaction, these events offer more than entertainment; they serve as therapeutic spaces rekindling cultural memories and social bonds. My PhD explores spatial dynamics and social relationships within these venues. By analyzing their spatial elements and topological structures, I aim to generate a spatial paradigm for urban design, particularly catering to inclusive recreational spaces for the elderly amidst aging populations' social needs.
PhD Fellow Xiaohui Zhang. Supervisors: Henriette Steiner, associate professor at University of Copenhagen and Natalie Körner, Assistant Professor at the Royal Danish Academy
Urban solutions to green transitions – at UCPH
The Urban Solutions to the Green Transition Living Lab in Nordhavn invites researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and local stakeholders to engage and help develop platforms for exchange, collaboration, and solutions to pressing challenges. Read more about our research agenda and upcoming pilot projects. The Living lab is supported by the
University of Copenhagen Green Solutions Centre.
Women in Danish Architecture: A new History of Gender and Pracice
By studying women who worked in landscape architecture, architecture and urban design in Denmark from the 1930s to 1980s, this project aims to contribute to a more complete understanding of Danish architecture history, and to do so in new, more engaging, and more inclusive ways. The aim is to write a history where architecture was not created by great individuals but through mutual and creative collaborations.
Read more at the webpage for Women in Danish Architecture
Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner (PIs), Jannie Rosenberg Bendsen, Mathilde Merolli, Frida Irving Søltoft, Liv Løvetand Rahbek, Mathilde Lundt Larsen
We are responsible and co-responsible for these annual courses at the University of Copenhagen:
- Master-level course Strategic Planning for Urban Nature
Contact: Natalie Gulsrud - Master-level course Theories and Methods in Landscape Architecture
Contact: Svava Riesto - Bachelor-level course Landskabsarkitekturens Historie, nutid og fremtid
Contact: Henriette Steiner and Svava Riesto
Further, we teach in various other courses and educational institutions in Denmark and in other countries, on bachelor, master, and PhD-level.
We also supervise Master and Bachelor-theses within our areas of expertise.
The research group Landscape Architecture and Urban History provides historical perspectives and methods that can help to advance more inclusive and just ways of constructing and living with buildings, cities and landscapes in the future. We offer knowledge and frameworks that can enable societies to learn from the past and to address heritage in ways that promote resilience and equity.
As a group, we strive to be an inclusive forum for mutual development, and we are always open for proposals for people interested in working with us.
Members of the Research Group
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search in Name | Search in Title | Search in Phone | |
| Anne Holten Pind | Visiting PhD Student | ||
| Henriette Steiner | Associate Professor | +4535331033 | |
| Liv Løvetand Rahbek | Graphic Designer. | +4535333328 | |
| Michala Hvidt Breengaard | Academic Research Staff | +4535324380 | |
| Natalie Marie Gulsrud | Associate Professor - Promotion Programme | +4521865524 | |
| Svava Riesto | Associate Professor | +4535331768 | |
| Xiaohui Zhang | Enrolled PhD Student |
Research group leader
Searching for forgotten architects
Film presenting the research methods used in the project Women in Danish Architecture.
Why green space matters for urban sustainability
Hear Natalie Gulsrud nuance the debate on green gentrification. We need just and caring approaches to the green transition and we should not leave anyone behind, including urban nature.