Karin Genevieve Helms

• Helms, Karin; Mussault, Violaine Forsberg & Sjödahl, Elisabeth Ulrika (2025). Participative actions and co-adaptive solutions in large-scale cultural landscapes under hazard threat: rockfall and flood hazards areas in Norwegian valley. I Fetzer, Ellen (Red.), Regenerative Landscapes: Designing the Transition. Cuvillier Verlag. ISSN 9783689523084. s. 310–317. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Five Norwegian research institutes (NGI, AHO, NIKU, NTNU, and NORCE), representing diverse academic disciplines such as risk management, landscape architecture, design, heritage, ecology, and earth systems science, have collaborated in multidisciplinary teams. Using system-oriented design processes, these teams work alongside local communities to mitigate hazard risks. The NATURACT research aims to develop landscape-based transition plans utilising Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) to adapt to and mitigate climate-induced hazards. At the midpoint of this research, preliminary findings suggest the approach serves as a model for Regenerative Landscape Design. This integrative process provides a framework for sustainable, long-term hazard mitigation planning, grounded in landscape-based perspectives that facilitate spatial connectivity, soil understanding, and crosssectoral collaboration.

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• Helms, Karin (2025). CONFERENCE- 20-year anniversary of the International Master's in Landscape Architecture AHO - THE COMMONS. doi: https:/www.aho.no/english/about/events/commons-systems-and-form.html. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  The commons I understood or frequented the first time a “Common” while I was a kid of 5 or 6 years- I was raised in northern Copenhagen in a suburban housing distríct built in the mid 50- some think that looked like the idea of the American dream – a house , a big garden , a garage with its car and all around other houses and gardens – the newly planted headgerows between the plots still let the children navigate from one garden to the other. This was one urban planning typology that I grew up in. The big change was in June-July, when I was sent to my French grandparents' house in the centre of France – a 15th-century village surrounded by grazing and bosquets. The local economy was based on the raising of cattle and sheep. My grandfather was a butcher in Paris, and all the animals came from his original village, Saint-Saulge. The big house located in the inner village had a garden with a tall wall around it – an enclosure. (It is said that Gardens –the etymology in all languages- are seen as the ideal area. The garden aspires to be an image of the world; etymologically, it is an enclosure, a place reserved by humankind where nature is arranged to serve them. The French word for Paradise, Paradis, and the Italian word “Paradiso” come from late Latin Paradisus – meaning “Park,” a term derived from the Greek “paradeisos,” “garden” itself, as we all know, which comes from Old Persian “pairidaeza”, meaning “Enclosed place.” Old Norse Hagi , Haghi Norse for enclose – derivation in old Swedish Haghi “enclorure” gave the wording Hage in Norwegian , Have in Danish –– derivation “Haven” in English. Garten Gart or gardo – fense , in old high german or gaert in low german dutch Russian город, gorot But this is not the point – It seems I was not fascinated by the enclosed garden- my fascination was a small white door in the wall that brought you to an open space : having more uses depending on the weeks of the summer, or the year. Sheep were grazing start of the summer, until they were sold – the owner had no land to offer to his sheep – he has lost his farm- the Common or Municipal field hosted also a sedentary Roma family community – they were cultivating aromatic plants and selling them – The Common hosted all along the summer different animals or activities – sheep and the beff cows during a week end – a selling moment – then end of my summer – which was the celebration of the start of the French summer – 1st of August were grazing the donky poney horses, from the small traveling circus … The Common was always full of life. A living area hosting those without soil or temporary people or animals. Commons There is a large literature about the evolution of the sense of the Common, - The term “commons” was first (re) used by Garet. Hardin, an ecologist, in 1968, in a celebrated Article ”Tragedy of freedom in a commons”, in Hardin’s conception, commons are nobody’s property – that is, resources which have no defined owner, and can generate overuse of resources- … -The Elinor Ostrom Nobel prize, sense of commons should be a “bounded and exclusive property, even if the boundaries encompass an entire community rather than a single individual”. Common = resources + rules Community Altermondialist actions - Understanding Knowledge as a Commons, Common Pool Resource Take care and manage our Commons- what is then the role of the Landscape Architects? ( PPT presentation with images from Commons- Park and Park systems for the contemporary city – Edge landscape and methods to structure the spaces)

• Helms, Karin & Quintanilla, Miguel Hernandez (2025). Landscape-based actions to mitigate hazards in the Norwegian extreme landscapes. IFLA2025. 1(1), s. 282–282. doi: https:/f-f-p.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/A-Abstract-book_v3.pdf. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Abstract text Text: Five Norwegian research institutes (NGI, AHO, NIKU, NTNU, and NORCE) from various academic disciplines and expertise – including risk management, landscape architecture, design, heritage, ecology, and earth systems science – joined efforts to develop new working methods for multidisciplinary teams involving locals to mitigate hazard events. The research project, NATURACT, seeks to develop landscape-based transition plans utilising Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for adapting and mitigating the hazards provoked by climate change effects with the help of Systems Oriented Design (SOD). A skill-based methodology to understand, interact with, and design complex systems (Dudandi, 2020) to approach the complexity of climate change impacts and solutions with and for the communities. The five-year project (2012-2026), funded by the Norwegian Research Institute, is advanced. At this stage, we have some intermediate conclusions and visions on how to act with the communities on long-term proposals to avoid putting locals at risk, but also preserve the cultural landscape and the morethan- human specificities of the different fragile landscapes we researched on. The chosen sites are common in Norway- the transferability of the working methods can be operated for other valleys. The sites we worked on are an inner fjord mountain valley, a marshland plateau, and a rare rich farming land. All under threat from floods provoked by extreme precipitation patterns during unusual periods of the year due to climate change effects. The increased rainfall provokes different types of landslides, such as quick clay collapse, debris flow, rock avalanches, and rock falls. In Norwegian laws, NBS is the only answer to hazard management – no grey solution is authorised any longer (traditional concrete and engineering solutions). Nevertheless, there exist challenges to apply NBS due to the fact that grey solutions are still allowed for emergency situations. This requires multidisciplinary work to propose anticipatory actions. In the project, the role of the landscape architect is to enable iterative processes between different fields and the communities to map and draw actions that can mitigate the natural and rapid dynamics of the landscape through actions that we can name Guiding Landscapes. We aim to bridge the gap by interlinking the use of key topical methods from two main fields: geoscience – which encompasses hydrology, applied geology, and geomorphology – and cultural history – which includes heritage, urban morphology, traditional practices, and oral histories and interviews – to enable NBS, or better ‘Landscapebased Actions’ – a term preferred by the research project – done for and with the communities. The physical and cultural context are therefore the starting answers to the landscape-based actions to mitigate the hazards and the communities are involved as active agents in decision and management. The overall goal is to understand the impact, feedback, synergies, and trade-offs of NBS and recommend their upscaling to optimise climate adaptation and mitigation strategies for these territories through community engagement actions and iterative processes.

• Callejas, Luis; Helms, Karin & Müller, Sabine (2025). AHO Jubilee exhibition Commons, Systems and Form. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Helms, Karin; Sjödahl, Elisabeth Ulrika & Mussault, Violaine Forsberg (2024). Participative actions and co-adaptive solutions in large-scale cultural landscapes under hazard threat. Case studies: rock fall and flood hazards areas in Norwegian territories. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Sjödahl, Elisabeth Ulrika; Helms, Karin & Mussault, Violaine Forsberg (2024). Past, Present and Future Visions on Hazardous Landscapes . Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Helms, Karin & Sjödahl, Elisabeth Ulrika (2024). Participative actions and co-adaptive solutions in large-scale cultural landscapes under hazard threat. Case studies: rock fall and flood hazards areas. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Sjödahl, Elisabeth Ulrika; Helms, Karin; Mussault, Violaine Forsberg & Oen, Amy M P (2023). Nature-based solutions in large-scale climate adaptation and mitigation projects. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Helms, Karin; Crawford, Abel Ben Aleck & Sjödahl, Elisabeth Ulrika (2023). NATURACT, a multi-disciplinary research project examining anticipatory projects through nature-based solutions in risk landscapes. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Helms, Karin & Architecte-urbaniste, Petra Marguc (2022). Une Science du projet. Retour sur expérience d´une formation à la recherche par le projet en réseau européen. CULTURE ET RECHERCHE. La recherche culturelle et l Europe. n 142, s. 84–88. doi: https:/www.culture.gouv.fr/thematiques/enseignement-superieur-et-recherche/la-revue-culture-et-recherche/La-recherche-culturelle-et-l-Europe. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv Vis sammendrag

  Pendant quatre ans s’est tenue une formation à la recherche pour des disciplines créatives1 au sein d’un réseau européen, dénommée ADAPT-r (Architecture, Design and Art Practice Training-research)2 et financée par l’Union européenne. Il s’agit d’un programme partenarial de six universités européennes et de l’antenne du Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology située à Barcelone3.

• Folde, Marja Skotheim; Sjødahl, Elisabeth Ulrika; Oen, Amy M P; Eriksson, Ingelöv; Helms, Karin & Tann, Loretta von der (2022). Planlegging under jorden. Plan Tidsskrift for samfunnsplanlegging, regional- og byutvikling. s. 28–35. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv
• Sjödahl, Elisabeth Ulrika; Eriksson, Jenny Ingelöv; Tann, Loretta von der; Helms, Karin; Folde, Marja Skotheim & Oen, Amy M P (2022). Planlegging under jorden. Plan - tidsskrift for samfunnsplanlegging, regional- og byutvikling. ISSN 0805-083X. 54, s. 28–35. Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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