Umeå University's logo

Mining is a dynamic and fluid act that traverses a variety of scales, both in the spatial sense as well as the social and cultural sense. It is not simply an industry that requires the act of digging and excavating, but is rather a process and progression that has the capacity to create not only space, but also communities and the way in which they operate.

Interestingly, the aspect of mining communities and the way in which they respond and operate, affects the space around them; thus, there is an interplay between the physical and material space of the mine and the intangible and immaterial aspects of the space and the community. Therefore, ideas around agency within both physical objects and intangible space will be explored.

Additionally, mining is an industry that reflects capitalist and neoliberal globalised flows of production which means that they are essential within Capitalism and have strategic significance within planning and urban design on increasingly global scales. Therefore, mining landscapes have a distinct and unique urbanisation pattern that falls outside the discussion of mainstream urbanisation of dwelling discourse, which provides the foundations as to the importance of why spatial practitioners should explore these landscapes, and what insights they can provide in both architectural and anthropological aspects.

With these ideas and theories, two case studies will be explored. One (Kiruna in Sweden) which reveals how a community can be made legitimate through mining its spatial articulation, and another (Barnsley in the United Kingdom) which shows how a community is in a state of decline and how this can be exasperated through the town’s spatial articulation, due to the decline of the mining industry. In other words, this paper explores the intersection between the spatial logic and the socio-cultural articulation of mining landscapes, specifically in two case studies: Kiruna in Sweden and Barnsley in the United Kingdom.