Talk on the role and future of urban cemeteries with Pavel Grabalov, full-time cemetery researcher

In this episode, I engage in a talk with Pavel Grabalov, who has invested numerous hours in researching city cemeteries. Pavel recently defended his PhD thesis on urban cemeteries as public spaces at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, comparing cases from Oslo, Copenhagen, and Moscow.

Our recording takes place in the Mehringdamm cemetery amidst minus temperatures and darkness. We go into a deep academic analysis of cemeteries and their multi-dimensional role. How does one pursue a career as a full-time cemetery researcher? Why do contemporary Scandinavian cemeteries adopt a minimalist appearance? (Spoiler: It's for efficiency and cost-effectiveness rather than purely aesthetic reasons.) Where is the line drawn for the ethical use of the cemetery grounds, described by the unique Norwegian term sømmelig? And is there a chance that urban cemeteries will endure over the next 50 years?