The Knowledge Network recently received a grant of 4,500,000 kr. from the Settlement Research Fund to carry out the project. Can the story of Flatey on Skjálfandi and Skála on Langanes be useful to the fragile settlements of the modern age? – Past, present and future of fragile settlements.
The project is a mixed qualitative and quantitative case study which analyses the development of the settlements in Flatey on Skjálfandi and on Skálar on Langanes, based on historical sources, demographic data and the accounts of those connected to the settlements, alongside a comparison with the development of a fragile settlement.
The intention is to explore whether lessons can be learnt from the history of Flatey and Skáli, both of which are settlements where habitation ceased in the last century. In the case of Flatey, the government tried to reverse the trend with harbour improvements, whereas in the case of Skála, harbour works were financed by private individuals. Neither was successful in the long term, whatever may explain that, but that is partly the subject of the project, for example, to investigate whether the initiative was launched too late or whether other factors were at play.
The intention is then to compare the development of the settlements and the rescue measures with fragile settlements in the modern era, and the actions that have been taken in the effort to turn the settlement trend in that area towards a more positive path, with regard to population development, the timing of interventions and more, with the aim of exploring whether there is anything to be learnt from the history of Flateyri and Skálanes, and what the main lessons are that could be useful to prevent a similar fate for other communities that have now, for example, participated in the Icelandic Rural Development Agency's 'Vulnerable Communities' project.
Helena Eydís Ingólfsdóttir, project manager at the Knowledge Network, accepted the grant at the annual meeting of the Byggðastofnun, which took place in Kirkjubæjarklaustur on 28th May.
Kjartan Ólafsson, chairman of the board of the Building Research Fund, here presents the grant to Helena Eydís Ingólfsdóttir, a representative of the Knowledge Network.
Kjartan Ólafsson, chairman of the board of the Regional Research Fund, Hanna Dóra Björnsdóttir, a specialist at the Icelandic Regional Development Fund, together with representatives of this year's grant recipients.