We have been invited by Galleri ROM to participate in a conversation about the importance of language for diverse architecture and place development. Together with other five Norwegian-based actors from different nationalities, with different life backgrounds and knowledge of art, architecture and urban planning, we have created six new words. The dictionary takes the form of a postcard (one per word) which is sent to important actors the group believes play a role in the development of both professional language and strengthened representation. The dictionary is the framework for a public discussion event.

The project Samgrunnelse is based on the fact that language changes and defines our way of thinking, and that our way of thinking changes and defines architects and planners’ practices and projects. These are professionals who will plan places and design buildings for everyone. In our work, consideration must be given to diverse social and cultural backgrounds (gender, functional ability, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality and age, social class / belonging) through reflection and actual project development.

What if one could invent new words, within the disciplines, where architects and planners can include and work with representation and diversity in a meaningful way?

Supramilieu (norsk: supramiljø)

1. A supramilieu is a local place that has been constructed from the displacement, accumulation, or extension of different cultures, peoples, and genders. A local construction that is not defined by the already there.
2. Attached to and simultaneously beyond different roots or backgrounds of a place.
3. Not reducing cultural and social reality to any formats or places but favouring simultaneous or successive enrootings.
4. Physical mediation in fluctuation between the local (the already there) and results of globalisation (migration, immigration, climate).
5. In the context of climate change, it defines a paradigm where new regional or local climates evolve durably.