Unlocking lost potentials : Reviving water in Falun as a living and interweaved spine

Abstract: The city of Falun has a rich history of mining with the open mine, Stora Stöten, centrally located in the city and nowadays a well-known world heritage tourist attraction. The mine is the main reason that Falun even exists. During its glory days, Falun was one of Sweden’s largest cities, at that time considered to be world-leading in mine engineering and Europe’s main supplier of copper.  A less flattering effect of the mining era was that the city became poisonous and almost unhabitable. Both waters from the mine and from piles of mining waste ended up in rivers and lakes around Falun. Over the years several successful actions have been taken to improve and restore the environment which has decreased the amount of heavy metals leaked into Faluån and lake Tisken. Though, the water is still polluted, and Tisken has in practice for a long period of time worked as a deposit with an increasing amount of poisonous sediments.  This has unfortunately made Falun central waterbodies disabled for human use and made humans no longer have a relationship to the water despite its central location, importance, and potential for the city.  This thesis project seeks to unlock the lost potential of water in Falun by reviving it as a living and interweaved spine in the city in a systematic and schematic approach. The project aims to address the polluted water and sediment challenges while promoting sustainable stormwater and flooding management. A connected green structure linked with a movement network for pedestrians and bicyclists promotes sustainable transport to the spine and existing nodes in the city. The different layers in the project enable new nodes with new potentials for Falun