The research into the spatial aspects of welfare will be enhanced at KADK in the coming years. The Danish Council for Independent Research has just given a grant of DKK 5.4 million to fund the collective research project, ‘Spaces of Danish Welfare’.
The Danish Council for Independent Research funds “…promising projects with the potential to improve our lives and lifestyles, and projects that are rooted in research of high international quality.” Competition among applicants is tough. The Council has handled about 1,500 applications, and the success rate has been about 10%.
Spaces and welfare in Denmark
The project awarded this generous grant is entitled ‘Spaces of Danish Welfare’. The Associate Professor, Kirsten Marie Raahauge, will be responsible for the day-to-day management. ‘Spaces of Danish Welfare is about the impact, which spatial aspects have on key welfare tasks in Denmark. It will focus on care of the elderly, psychiatry, hospitals, school inclusion and urban areas with declining populations.
The aim is to investigate, analyse, discuss and bring to light the changes taking place in these areas, focusing on how spatial changes have an impact on each other, both dismantling and reinforcing welfare systems.
An interdisciplinary research project
The project is interdisciplinary, bringing perspectives from anthropology and architecture/urbanism together in order to ask qualified questions about the role, which spatial changes play in people’s everyday lives, and what implications this has for architecture and planning.
Associate Professor, Kirsten Marie Raahauge says:
“In the research group, we are all thrilled about, and grateful for the grant. We look forward to exploring the spatial aspects of welfare, which have long been underexposed, but which are of great relevance to society. It can also contribute to the synergy between architecture and anthropology, which is so obvious. The field of welfare is undergoing rapid transformation right now, so a research project on the concrete implications of welfare for everyday life is really needed. We are really looking forward to it!”
The project will be anchored in the Institute of Architecture and Design (IBD) and the Institute of Architecture, Town and Landscape (IBBL) in KADK’s Schools of Architecture and Design.
Photo: KADK/USC Studio: Ida Bjallerbæk Pedersen, Sofia Priisholm Petersen, Abbi Kusch.
