DARK FINALE conference

Sjøgata 1, 9008 Tromsø 

We gather at the Sámi nomadic library Girjegumpi before the DARK conference (happening at Havneterminalen).
Coffee and drinks can be purchased at the bar, while lunch is served to those who have pre-ordered. Lunch can be ordered here 

Girjegumpi is a mobile Sámi library and meeting space inspired by traditional movable structures. It serves as an arena for knowledge sharing, conversations, and reflection—bringing literature, culture, and public dialogue to new places. The space invites participants to meet across disciplines and perspectives—an ideal starting point for DARK.

Here you can pre‑order a wrap to enjoy at Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum on 29 April between 10:00 and 12:00. HERE

Just choose your favourite filling, and we’ll have your lunch ready when you arrive.

Samuel Arnesens gate 5, 9008 Tromsø

Light snacks, coffee and mingling.

Kjersti Monsen, Director of NODA

Design can be applied on almost anything; a service, an organisation, a product, a building – processes to innovate and improve our society. The keys to the success of design based methods is recognising who needs to be involved – and including a wide representation of people in the process, while illustrating along the way to keep people on the same page.

Over the past 12 years NODA has worked on a large variety of projects addressing the development of Northern Norway, pushing it towards a more user-centric and appealing place to live and work.

Service design, geopolitics and emergency preparedness in the Arctic can be combined as practical levers for both climate mitigation and climate adaptation. Used together, they turn the Arctic from a passive “risk hotspot” into a laboratory for low-carbon logistics, resilient communities and peaceful cooperation. It directly supports global climate goals while protecting people and ecosystems on the frontline of change.

15 min + 5 min Q&A

Lessons from Islands on the Helgelands Coast

Tourism can create value, but it can also create resistance. Based on experiences from Rødøy and Træna, this talk looks at how involving local communities, not just at the beginning but throughout the process, can turn frustration into ownership. The question is: How tourism can contribute to sustainability, not only by protecting nature, but by helping create places where people actually want to live.

20 min + 5 min Q&A

Integrating a holistic understanding of the landscape—its historical, cultural, and ecological layers—the project initiated the reclamation and development of a riverside brownfield, former petrol station, in central Gällivare through a participatory place‑making process where residents were invited to join workshops focused on culture, creativity, and nature.

The background is the Green transition, which involves one of Northern Sweden’s largest industrial and social transformations.

The long‑term vision is for Älvrummet to become a place where local cultural history, stories, nature, and creative expression are valued and shared.

The project has been led by ArkDes in collaboration with Boverket and the funding agencies Vinnova, the Swedish Energy Agency, and Formas, together with the municipalities of Boden, Gällivare, Kiruna, Luleå, Skellefteå, and Umeå.

Mari Bergset, Landscape architect og Eva Breitschopf, ecologist, representing team «När horisonter möts», including Martin Allik from Mareld, designer/artist Ramona Salo, Beata Willman from Lo:Le landskap, ecologist Kari Anne Bråthen and social scientist Heiti Ernits from Rise as the core team, together with architects, local builders, artists and collaborators/process facilitators co-creating as a transdisciplinary working group.

20 min + 5 min Q&A

Presentation of the competition winners and honorable mentions. 120 Hours is an annual international competition for architect students arranged by architect students at AHO. This year the jury of seven worked their way through 529 entries from 88 countries.

Kjeld Nash is an architect from Tromsø. Nash has been leading the Kittiwake projects in Tromsø since September 2022 and was also one of the jury members of the 120 Hours competition.

5 min

Regional and global shifts are placing unprecedented demands on the Arctic’s built environment. At SPINN, we believe that the longevity of public architecture is defined by its capacity to adapt. This presentation examines adaptability as a primary driver for resilience and sustainability in Northern Norway. Using our school projects as a lens, we illustrate how designing for change—mandated by law and guided by moral imperative—creates robust, future-proofed environments that minimize waste and maximize social value.

Mads is an experienced architect and strategic advisor at SPINN Arkitekter, specializing in bridging the gap between high-level urban planning and detailed building realization. He leverages his education in property economics, law, and design leadership to navigate the intricacies of public tenders and complex stakeholder environments.

15 min + 5 min Q&A

How has a software developer managed to implement a design process that makes long traffic queues go away?

Today’s “first come, first served” principle does not scale in the north. We pull back the curtain on our design thinking process reimagining ferry queues, and leave you with a kick-ass strategy to turn your bold ideas into reality.

Abel is a software developer turned UX designer to create great user experiences at Troms County. He has a passion for innovation, collaboration, and design systems, bridging the gap between design and development to bring his creations to life.

20 min + 5 min Q&A

Most school systems are still built around the logic of teaching, not learning. At the same time, we are preparing young people for a world that no longer exists.

We live in a time where machines, platforms, and artificial intelligence are not only transforming work, they are reshaping how we think, focus, and exist as humans. Yet education still largely focuses on what to know, rather than how to think.

The real competitive advantage is no longer knowledge, but the ability to understand, apply, question, and make meaningful decisions in uncertainty.

This talk makes a clear argument: the next evolution of education, School 3.0, cannot be built on content, but on humanity.

What does it mean to develop humans in an age where attention is constantly captured?

How do we design a system that truly prepares young people for independent life, not just the next exam?

And why might design thinking be one of the most powerful tools for enabling this shift?

The session challenges participants to see education as a designed system, one that can be redesigned. Not only for students, but for society as a whole.

Ultimately, this is not about school.

It’s about the kind of humanity we want to build.

20 min + 5 min Q&A

This short presentation shows how you can collaborate with other young people across Northern Norway, Northern Finland and Northern Sweden. You will learn about funding opportunities from the Norwegian Barents Secretariat, including project and travel support to help you develop your ideas and networks, and make an impact in your local community. It also highlights how the secretariat can support you with guidance, whether you need help to develop a project idea from scratch, build networks or write an application. If you have an idea you want to explore, you are encouraged to reach out and start a conversation.

More info about the programme (in norwegian) HERE

For both concepts, the core is to make assumptions explicit, then make informed choices through dialogue.Risk assessment is about systematically uncovering what might go wrong or right, and what consequences it would have. Value realization is deliberately turning potential benefits into actual, measured outcomes – which is always the goal of any development process!

Tor Åge will guide you through the process of creating a tool for recruiting new residents to Andøy municipality – “AndøyMatch”. The project brought together several companies and the municipality, who co-created the solution.

Tor Åge Larsen Vorren mainly works with service design and business development, focusing on insights, user needs, and the interaction between people, services, and systems. He has a long career as a developer of visual identities, strategies, and campaigns. Tor Åge is based in Tromsø, serves on the board of Grafill Tromsø and the advisory board of NODA, and works as a senior advisor at Kupa AS.

20 min + 5 min Q&A

Today, an alarming number of young people experience outsiderness. Our current solutions to this is delivering specialized services to help youth fit back into the mainstream. What if we flip the coin, and rather ask how youth can help the mainstream to be less exclusive? This talk is about Re:Structure, an ongoing research project that involves youth as co-designers of municipal services.

Audun works as a senior researcher at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO), and as a community psychologist in Bærum Municipalities. He studies how people can be involved in designing the systems that influences their lives, and co-leads the Re:Structure project as well as the research group on Public Designing at AHO.

20 min + 5 min Q&A

The final talk of the day explores how thoughtful, human‑centred design can transform the way young patients and their families experience healthcare. Drawing on her work as a clinician embedded within a design team, Aly will share what it means to act as the bridge between clinical realities and creative practice — translating the emotional, sensory, and practical needs of children into environments that feel safer, calmer, and more supportive. This lecture offers an inside look at a collaborative process where empathy becomes a design tool, and where clinicians and designers work side by side to reimagine what care can feel like for children and their families.

Dr. Alyson Walker, Anaesthesiologist studying PHD in design in Glasgow. Is a part of the Made for health team

20 min + 5 min Q&A

THE END

Finger food and mingling

The bar is open!

Life happens