Place analysis for Stavanger centre was produced as a part of the council plan: Stavanger senter 1994-2005 and is the first systematic analysis of the physical form of Stavanger. The analysis describes Stavanger’s growth and character and the forces that have formed the place. It focuses on the town’s identity and points out important qualities of the place today.

Project information
Place: Stavanger centre
Council / population: Stavanger / 109,710 (2002)
District: Rogaland
Work carried out by: Local council, department for town development
Consultants:  Hilde Haga and Rune Grov, architects MNAL
Archeological museum, Stavanger
Stavanger Architects association.
Work period: 1993-4
Sources: Place analysis, NIBR project report 2000:19

Particular areas of interest in Stavanger    

Starting point and aim
At the beginning of the 1990’s there were about 100 existing plans for the centre of Stavanger, but no development plan for of the area as a whole. To get away from the bit-by-bit method of evaluating each new project, the politicians wanted a plan that could be used for the whole area. The need for this local development framework became particularly obvious when a through road was moved out of the centre of the town in 1989. The council then started work on an overall plan for the centre of Stavanger with a place analysis as an important foundation for the plan.

Plan and analysis area within the black line, medieval area within the red line.

 

Aims of the work
The aims of the place analysis form a foundation for the aims of the development plan.
Aim of the council development plan Aim of the place analysis
The plan aims to secure the identity of Stavanger centre and prepare the way for development of an attractive town area with many differing functions. A common pool of information to assist understanding of the physical form of the place.

Stavanger centre will continue to be the region’s most important center relative to trade, culture and other services. A common system to formulate architectural principles for the town’s form.
Stavanger centre will be a place that all inhabitants can actively use, identify with and be proud of. A reference for evaluation of projects.

Ecological and environmental considerations will be an essential part of the foundation for planning and further development of the central area of Stavanger. A basis for discussion relative to projects proposed.

Foundation material for impact analyses, seen relative to other environmental and community-economic effects.

Target groups
Target groups for the analysis are defined broadly. The place analysis is not intended just to be a tool for council planners but also a useful resource for the community’s inhabitants: “an independent document that can be used by professionals, politicians, developers, schoolchildren, anyone who wants to know more about Stavanger’s physical development through almost 1000 years”.

Use of resources
The Council’s town development section directed both the analysis project and preparation of the local development plan. The budget was NKR.350000,- (1994), inclusive printing. Outside consultants did part of the place analysis. Four or five years work was used of the council’s own resources on the preparation of the plan and analysis. It has been difficult to isolate the analysis’ part of these costs, the place analysis was a smaller fraction of the whole.

Process and organization
Work on the analysis was adjusted to the needs of the town development plan. 70 individuals played an important role in 12 theme groups involved in the planning process. These theme groups were made up of representatives from the plan project’s reference group, trade unions, higher educational institutions, business and cultural organizations, council employees, planners and other professionals from the town council. No politician wished to take part.

Work in these theme groups created good contact between participants internally and externally. The resulting data and analysis material became a common basis for future discussions about centre development.

Themes treated by the groups:
1.    Place analysis (program work)
2.    Architecture in the town centre, pre 1945
3.    Architecture from 1945 to 1993
4.    Place design
5.    Street-use plan / transport / parking, in the town centre
6.    Open space in the town centre / green axes / public investment
7.    The Harbour, its uses and potentials
8.    Trade, commerce and services in the town centre
9.    Dwellings and housing areas in the town centre
10.    Ecology in the town centre
11a.  The place of culture in the town centre
11b.  The centre as a meeting place
12.    Community feeling and security in the town centre

The work of groups 1-4 has been closely related to the place analysis, the others to preparation of the plan.

Place analysis - content and method
The content of the place analysis is divided into four: Landscape and town morphology, Historical development, Area analysis, Buildings.
Landscape and town morphology

This capital concentrates on ‘place qualities’ that Stavanger has to offer. The work of this theme group resulted in a selection of 14 important ‘place qualities’ that are registered in the central area of Stavanger. Identification of these qualities can be said to be one of the most important success factor of the place analysis.

Place quality here means: those elements of identity, character and value that are particular to Stavanger, resources that should be taken care of and if necessary, reinforced.

Place qualities emphasized in the analysis

1. The town’s “heart”
The cathedral and its immediate environment, Bishop’s Chapel, Kongsgården School, Kongsgata, the Town Park and Breiavatnet. 

2. Natural elements which gave the town its name
Valbjerget: stafr (stave or staff)
Vågen: angr (the fiord) 

3. The town’s “face towards the sea”
The row of seafront houses with nearby harbour space. Even though many of the original seafront houses have been demolished or burnt down and replaced with buildings from later periods, this row is still a prominent and characteristic feature of the town. 

4. Water in the town
Contact with the sea and boats of all kinds along the waterline, views out to the fjord and the shipping lane. 

5. Main landscape spaces
Breiavatnet, Vågen, Østre Havn (Eastern harbour) 

6. Housing
Built-up areas of blocks on a flat belt around the town centre: Storhaug, Eiganes and Våland, a very characteristic feature of central Stavanger. 

7. Small scale Stavanger
The characteristic small scale of properties and town structure has a potential intimacy and closeness. 

8. Medieval street-net and structure
Narrow streets where Skagenløpet and Kirkegata (Church street) can be traced back to the middle ages. Characteristic shopping area with streets resembling ‘corridors’. 

9. Stavanger Torg (The Square)
Meeting place and market place from the town’s earliest history. Outdoor market place, presentation of products of the region, future festival place. 

10. “City”. Central ‘Island’
A close network of shops, offices and cafés / restaurants. 

11. The town’s “brain”
The cultural centre at Sølvberget, with library and adjacent outdoor space: Arneageren. 

12. Centrally situated collective transport terminals
These terminals help to vitalize the whole central zone. 

13. Three focus points at the periphery
Bjergsted, Badedammen (the bathing pond) and ‘Akropolis’ (the old Stavanger Hospital) 

14. Nature and green areas
Parks and fragments of open space, groups of trees, terraces in the terrain, old stone walls. 

 

Historical development
This chapter describes archeological finds from 10,000 BC to 1537 AD, development of the town centre from 1125 to 1994, followed by a historical description of the town which focuses on conditions and events with relevance to the town’s development. Each period is given a characteristic title. Events and initiatives that have influenced the growth and development of the place are also described, for example fires, town plans, important building projects, changes in infrastructure etc. These descriptions give an insight in the life and character of the town.

Periods

• Ca. 1350 The Medieval town
• 1680-1800  Stagnation
• 1815-1940 A town takes shape
• 1800  The old town
• 1815-1860  The Herring town and the Empire town
• 1860-1890 Modernization and stagnation
• 1890-1920 The Hermetic town
• 1914-1920 Prosperity and ambitions
• 1920-40 Stagnation and change
• 1940-74 The modern town
• 1974-94 The Oil age

Area analysis
The area analysis shows which areas can be treated as a whole.

These areas are relatively stable, their common characteristics being: structure of built up areas, similar types of buildings. Guidelines can more easily be developed for new development within these homogeneous areas.

Complex areas are found in a belt around the centre where there is a mixture of functions and few common characteristics. These areas are under vigorous transformation.

Homogeneous areas: 
Click on the maps to enlarge 

Complex areas:
Click on the map for larger version

Building types
This chapter shows a selection of buildings of different periods and architectural styles through 750 years, from the Cathedral to the Oil museum. The informatory manner of this material gives the reader a point of departure from which to ask questions and make up their own mind about architecture and town development.

Architectural styles

• Romanesque / Gothic
• Baroque / Empire
• Rococo
• Classical / Empire
• Classical
• Historicism
• Swiss style
• Art Nouveau
• Neo Classicism
• Functionalism
• Modernism
• New Brutalism
• Late Functionalism
• Structuralism
• Late Modernism
• Post Modernism
• 1990-

Method
The content and method of the analysis are chosen to suit the nature of the task, the place, the process around the analysis, available resources and sources of information. Because of the analysis’ function relative to the local development plan, it was important that the analysis should provide values. The place analysis therefore has a clearly advisory character.

Two different methodical approaches are used. These overlap and compliment each other providing understanding and knowledge of the place.

The need for objective, descriptive material is provided by historical descriptions and the area analyses. The area analyses use the ‘Realistic town analysis’ method as a starting point. Evaluation of the town’s important qualities and values is done using the Danish SAVE method as starting point, a method whose explicit function is to find valuable characteristics in an analysis area.

Dissemination, follow-up and use
The use and benefit of the place analysis has been obvious in several areas, both as an easily accessible source of knowledge for individuals and as a tool for those working with town development in Stavanger.

• Parts of the analysis are directly incorporated in the local council plan
• The analysis is accepted as a common basis for design of the central town area
• Politicians use the analysis directly when making evaluations
• Administration and developers use the analysis when evaluating projects
• The analysis forms a basis for discussions on building and planning processes
• The general level of knowledge about town history, architectural history and quality of place has been raised considerably
• Place analysis has been used in the training of politicians

1000-årsstedet (the Millennium Place), Blå Promenade (Blue Promenade) along Vågen and the Harbour, Torget (The Square) and the inner part of Vågen are examples where the plan and analysis have been used and followed up. In connection with development of 1000-årsstedet in 2002, an exhibition was organized where material from the place analysis was used to show Stavanger’s history.