Cultural heritage and the Swedish plan- and construction law in practice – 32 legal cases regarding building permits in the Land and Environment Court of Appeal of Sweden

The Swedish plan- and construction law contains provisions concerning the cultural environment and its protection. These provisions are rather difficult to interpret as they refer to diffuse concepts such as caution and distortion. An opportunity to understand what is actually meant by these concepts is to study how they have been interpreted in court cases. In this study 32 legal cases have been examined. All legal cases refer to building permits that have been appealed to the Land and Environment Court of Appeal of Sweden. The study focuses on cases where the prohibition on distortion and/or the precautionary requirement have been applicable. It is concluded that the values that are perceived as worthy of protection according to the results from the studied cases are buildings built before the 20th century. The proportion of outcomes in favour of the cultural-historical value is highest in the case of one- and two-dwelling buildings. Changes to windows and balconies are the building permit measures that are most often appealed. The protection provisions in the detailed development plans can be considered a strong protection. However, it does not seem to have any major impact on the outcome whether the buildings are located within areas of national interest for the purposes of conservation of the cultural environment, or not. In this study, the concept of sustainability refers, on the one hand, to ensuring that culturally valuable buildings are protected and preserved for current and future generations, and on the other hand, to ensure that existing buildings are carefully cared for with the aim of reducing resource consumption. In order to achieve optimal results in such measures, antiquarian skills are often needed.Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen med huvudområdet kulturvård med inriktning mot bebyggelseantikvarisk verksamhet 2021, 180 hp Grundnivå 2021:1