Establishing Local Identity in Jørpeland sentrum through Public Space Place Making

Abstract

The competitiveness of a city or town is a key success factor for its economic prosperity and urban development in an increasingly globalized world. Possessing a competitive edge is pivotal, and leveraging it effectively is invaluable. Jørpeland has the distinct advantages of being nestled in a beautiful, natural setting and the nearest urban settlement to the world-class tourist attraction, Preikestolen. This study sought to provide that competitive edge to Jørpeland by capitalizing on those valuable opportunities through the establishment of local identity in their sentrum. In order to achieve this aim, this study laid out the goal of developing a set of design guidelines to be utilized in public space place making to establish local identity. The research encompassed the analysis of published peer-review articles pertaining to the topics of public space, place making, place identity, and tourism planning. Through a focused literature review of select works, five fundamental design principles were identified as the building blocks for supporting local identity in a public space. A collection of qualitative data from local stakeholders was conducted to refine the design guidelines into their final configuration. The testing of the design guidelines was performed on Jørpeland sentrum to evaluate its current conditions and recommendations for improvements were provided.