Every intervention in an Urban Centre, especially in its central area, must aim at its improvement and development within the Sustainable Planning framework.

“Sustainable planning” is to us that planning that sees the city:

• As part of a regional system.

• As an interface or “ecotone” system.

• As a green , both public and private, matrix

• Compact in its inhabitation, mixed in its uses, multi-focal in its activities.

• As a democratic fair habitat, without exclusion.

• As a culturally and naturally diverse environment.

• As a space which enhances social contact.

• As a cyclical flux system (low energetic consumption and high recycling level)

After analysing the site and the material which was available in the workshops, we saw the need to provide the central area with new life and to reconnect it with the rest of the city. In this way, its historical, social, economic and cultural values would be restored.

We also understood its significance within the regional and national context, where it is a main urban centre, providing the area with economic, cultural and educational resources.

In the proposal development, we paid particular attention to the geographical features of the city.

Firstly, its proximity to the Arctic Polar Circle, which means a very special solar regime and weather conditions unlike those of most other urban centres in the world. We considered these limitations to be a challenge which invited us to take innovative decisions.

Secondly, its special topography, inside a fjord, surrounded by sea and an important slope dividing the city into two separate parts; uptown the new residential area; downtown, the historical city and services. The relationship between city and sea developed only as regards its industrial aspect, turning “its back” towards the main landscape attractions.