Analyzing the Cultural Significance of Winter Across Various European Regions: Future Recommendations and Studies

1. Introduction

The significance of winter has long piqued the interest of scholars and the general populace alike. While many scientific studies analyzing the physical impacts of winter on living beings exist, these often neglect to examine individuals’ spiritual feelings towards winter. When perceived positively, winter is valued as an aesthetic aspect of nature, as envisaged in picturesque paintings. When winter is perceived negatively, such melancholy feelings are vividly expressed in dramatic, inventive works. Classic literary discussions contributed to the cultural identification of winter in certain geographic locations. Various European regions embraced unique views of winter. Snowy winter is disdained in southern parts but admired in northern areas. A new poetry collection centering on winter has been published to commemorate the golden age of poetry written in Finnish, Swedish, and Estonian. A portion of the poems in this collection has been translated into English, while the original poetry has been juxtaposed to document the contrasting views of winter between the southern and northern peripheries of Europe.

Winter is a peaceful period in nature. Fields are frozen hard, forests stripped bare of foliage, and creatures accustomed to listening to the vibrant world become silent. All this change evokes somber considerations in man and leads him to memories of ancient misfortunes. The unruffled snowfield covered with downy snow seems to spread an invisible web to silence voices and edges topics of life. Recent years’ attentiveness towards elemental winters has inspired much poetry. Collected poems are quiet and gentle like winter, with a touch of the sacred. Since early colonial days, European poets have sung of winter. European intellectuals, admiring the ruined castles and deserted walls of ancient times under snow and hoar frost, viewed winter as a romantic stage of nature. On the contrary, abundant snow has been regarded as a source of famine and despair during famines in the Middle Ages. Beginning with chastising the earth, it has stirred versions of crimes and hot arguments across tables, deepened the awareness of economic distress even in developed countries into the twentieth century, and flooded the global scene of wintry revolutions.

A collection of unique poems depicting the magic of winter across Europe in Finnish, Swedish, and Estonian has been published to celebrate the golden age of northern poetry in contest and competition-like forms. Poetry carries primordial consciousness about winter as a period of natural peace. Using humor, the poets exquisitely recognize the elements of autumn in winter. Poets are in awe of the craftiness of creatures to cope with winter. On the periphery of imperialistic Europe, winter is admired, joyfully welcomed, explored, romantically adored, and artistically portrayed in the dawn, twilight, and midnight panorama of northern whiteness. Certain terms characterizing the moon, like 'a rusty penny,' replaced corresponding terms in languages, isolating and suppressing a great backdrop. (Das & Mortuza)

1.1. Background and Rationale

Across Europe, winter bears different meanings in different regions. While for some it is cold and snowy, such as in the Scandinavian countries, for others, such as in the Mediterranean nations, it is mostly mild and wet. These different perceptions of winter influence European culture in various aspects such as clothing, food, music, movies, stories, etc. The present analysis aims to reveal these cultural differences regarding winter across Europe and reflect on the broader implications of such factors. Defined broadly enough, one of winter’s meanings is the temperature-based perception of time, a period of cold, snow, ice, rain, etc., occurring after autumn and before spring. However, as demonstrated by the present analysis, the cultural interpretation of winter does not only depend on this temperature-based meaning. Temperature-wise similar regions can have completely divergent cultural interpretations of winter and vice versa. (Tammeleht et al., 2020)

There seem to be two major conditions shaping the cultural interpretation of winter: enabling post-industrial economic development and climatic outliers holding the temperature/precipitation-wise feeling of winter outside the period defined above. The first condition seems to be fulfilled by Western and Central Europe, while the latter is valid for the Nordic region and is on the verge of being fulfilled by Southern Europe. All analyzed regions reflect on winter’s meaning tracing back to similar pre-industrial motifs and cultural artifacts. However, in constructing their modern interpretation of these motifs, they seem to follow a different cultural trajectory. Hence, the description of winter providing so-called musical and grotesque artifacts of cultural difference fits well with the West-East axis defined in this study. Winter there is mainly interpreted as the time of isolation, longing, retrospection, or incapacity, proactively removing a negative spatial boundary by movements of people and diurnal time. Counterintuitively, these narrations well reflect on the cultural experiences of the entire Southern and almost all of Central and Eastern Europe. On the contrary, the description focusing on de-fooding and de-fencing artifacts displays the North-South axis. Here, winter is interpreted as an active negative ecological force exploring and corrupting the outer territories and rejecting the space and time where it is present. Counterpart to the positive gradually entered pre-industrial culture by the accuracy of time, some early and Northern European motives describe its dark view of winter as the time of mishaps, invasion, or one’s own perishability. (Ljungqvist et al.2021)

1.2. Scope and Objectives

This study intends to systematically analyze the concept of winter, both its culture and significance through art, across select European countries, to better understand regional differences within the concept. The selection of European countries stems from their shared climate, culture, and median temperature, along with their differences in winter severity due to geographical and atmospheric factors. Emphasis also lies on regions along the Adriatic Sea, addressing the underrepresented southern regions, and those that were once historically linked through the Venetian Republic. The study will focus on artistic works in literature, moving images, music, and fine art. A combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis methods will be applied. The cultural significance will be assessed through metrics such as the number of works, biographical investigations, textual analysis, stylistic evaluation of musical works, and iconographic inquiries. The findings will be compared across regions and countries, and conclusions will be drawn regarding major themes, their relevance to climate differences, and potential implications. These results will contribute to developing a comprehensive overview of the European winter concept and its significance across regions, offering a basis for future recommendations for research and outreach studies. Additionally, the findings may aid creative industries in fostering international culture-imparting projects and celebrations in light of climate change. Ultimately, better understanding and appreciation of the winter season may lead to improved well-being and resilience against winter depression issues that are aggravated by modern fast-paced lifestyles.

2. Literature Review

For centuries, winter has influenced the cultural identity and celebrations of various European regions. Agricultural communities coalesce around various cyclical calendar events and traditions derived from a specific cultural background. Embracing and celebrating life’s natural cycles provides control and harmony, compounding positive feelings during these dark months and envisioning rebirth. As food became scarce, supplementing nutrition with fermented food and beverages, resting from intense labor, and shared warmth inside worked in symbiosis to cope with struggles, creating a feeling of belonging. The harshness of winter illustrates the fierce struggle of nature. The departure of every growing season is mourned, and sorrowful dirges are sung for the sun. Creating and passing on folklore marks memory and unifies people beyond time and space, allowing lost ones to take part and shape life. With the coming of the high rising sun, singing joyous songs of holy rejoicing gives hope and guarantees fertility. It is elaborated how celebrating winter stands in the juxtaposition of good and evil and how creating life and harmony coexists with death and chaos. A threefold map of culture introduces the concept of three intertwined levels disclosing binding beginnings, shared summer, and a disagreement-seeking separation of personal beginnings providing fresh perspectives for comparative, interdisciplinary further studies exploring deep change through the lens of cultural aspects. A veneration for winter sagas needs to be acknowledged as part of the chaotic moments of tending to longings to escape life, negating congenial impulses and amending the darkness. Recognizing how every culture holds on to sustaining sources makes acknowledgment of a complex summer rise/divide and fall conducive for making sense of the storyless winter bulk and unflattering intersections with better ignored alliances. A discourse on the culture of wide sad wooden bowls and snow temples can evoke further modes for perceiving culture and postmodernism in light of whole vast understandings. Disruption of accessibility through straining grown-up wastes demoralizes free will, giving preference to elevated notions. Opposing obstructions fullest would seem tentative and slow, but narrow ones are more enticing. Seeking whole vast mysteries in folklore through art performances would sensibly assist in rediscovering and further living accumulated aspirations and meanings across dialogues. (Mergen)

2.1. Historical Perspectives on Winter in Europe

The significance of winter has changed over time and varies from place to place, in Europe and beyond. In an effort to understand how winter is perceived, what it evokes, and what it means to people, a systematic investigation of literature is proposed. The investigation is exemplified with texts from European countries and regions with varying geographic, social, and cultural contexts. This analysis is part of a greater project investigating the mutual influence and dialogue between authors, texts, cultural traditions, and landscapes, focusing on compatibility, complementarity, contrasts, and conflicts across time, space, language, and culture. (Macintyre et al., 2021)

The text corpus analyzed here is composed of fictional and non-fictional European texts published in various languages, dealing explicitly with winter. The selection comprises texts written in English, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Czech, Finnish, and Russian, making it culturally and linguistically diverse. The selected texts displayed different attitudes towards winter, ranging from being seen as a blessing to being regarded as a curse.

The earliest examples selected date back to the 9th and 10th centuries, while the latest were published in the 21st century. They represent various genres, including epics, hymns, prayers, children’s literature, novels, short stories, poems, and essays. They were authored by monks, priests, scientists, scholars, journalists, and laypeople, among others. The texts display different attitudes towards winter, ranging from being seen as a blessing, joy, and celebration to being regarded as a curse, a nuisance, danger, and evil. Apart from geographical and cultural polyvalency, the selected texts are also polyphonic as they include voices of men, women, and children from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, ranging from kings and landed gentry to peasants, pensioners, and beggars. (Macintyre et al., 2021)(Ettinger et al.2020)

2.2. Cultural Traditions and Celebrations

The season of winter has deeply influenced the culture of European peoples, governing their outlooks on life. It is widely believed that their seasonal views also affected the people's thoughts, behaviors, and customs. Many aspects of a culture arise from the place it is rooted in, like society and environment. Environmental phenomena play a key role in shaping a culture and its customs, and winter was no less influential than summer in this role. Over the long exchange of winters in different places, the peoples of Europe created various thoughts and views towards this white-covered cold season. Almost all of them offered a world of white beauty, but many others described it as a dark and terrible time. The ideas of lightness and brightness were also rooted in the season of winter over a long time, like the seasonal customs mainly based on it. The emphasis of winter as a world of dark and cold was an evident cultural tradition too. (Ljungqvist et al.2021)

Every culture is said to be attached to the view of beauty and sadness. The coolness and coldness, white beauty and the darkness of winter were turned into a number of cultural customs. Like other seasons, winter has its own customs of governance, description, thinking, seeing, feeling, celebrating, calming, grieving, and oldness. A number of objects can represent sights in its long tradition, like white snowflakes and icicles, the black sky and the white silver, the deep breath and the heart, the flying swirl and wind, the dormancies and the drift growing, the repressed feelings and sadness. An in-depth remark on the cultural significance in different places of seeing, thinking, and customs based on these objects was made to survey the cultural traditions and the images of winter in the continent of Europe. (Williams, 2021)

A long history of song traditions is identified. A large number of the tunes collected range from the Middle Ages to the present day, with singers of all ages. The seasonal songs sung in summer, autumn, winter, and spring are particularly analyzed, demonstrating the life courses of women and men respectively. The first analysis of the context of the seasonal songs is offered, suggesting that these songs are part of a calendar system involving dance, feasting, courtship, work, and the spirits of the singers. It can be assumed that winter and summer song traditions are both highly developed, and that the winter singing reflects late 19th century Europe's fears and curiosity towards the imagination of darkness.

3. Methodology

A mixed-methods approach comprising ethnographic fieldwork, textual analysis of historical and contemporary sources, and interpretive analysis of research findings will be adopted to facilitate cross-European region comparisons. There will be a two-pronged approach to data collection that will involve the following components. First, a series of public discussions will be organized in five winter locations in 2025 and 2026, where locals and newcomers will be invited to share their thoughts on winter topics. In addition, seven cultural experts from the same locations will be interviewed about their own connections to winter. To familiarize oneself with the European countries, strategic locations have been selected that represent varied types of seasonal winterism: frigid metropolises, harsh peripheral cold, mediocrital snow tourism industries, and non-snow winters. Textual analysis of the semi-structured interviews and field recordings of the public discussions will subsequently take place, drawing on principles of thematic analysis. This will enable an interpretation and presentation of central themes across the locations. The methodology is designed to reflect European cultural distinctions by contrasting prevailing communication styles and cultural literacies of winter, as well as varying relationships to the essential parameters and experiences of seasons. However, a common analytical paradigm and tools will still be employed for the comparative analysis.

Public discussions in winter locations are hypothesized to generate a rich corpus of data concerning central winter cultural iconography and literacy across Europe – i.e., a Europe-wide referent, such as a common cultural figure – and to provide valuable local knowledge that situates this referent into the recent and historical development of winter-related concepts and their economic, ethical, and emotional ramifications. To mitigate the potential inadequacy of the discussion prompts, the public discussion fieldwork takes place in two stages, the first of which will be attended by the local winter cultural experts. Evaluation workshops with the experts will be held after the first round of public discussions to critically analyze and refine the thematic prompts that guide the second public discussion stage.

3.1. Research Design

To facilitate a comprehensive examination of the perception and usage of winter across European regions, a triangulation approach was adopted, facilitating a more comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted nature of winter. Initially, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather in-depth insights from individuals across the study regions. Results derived from qualitative interviews were subsequently used to create a questionnaire, enabling a broader analysis through quantitative methods. This combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies is considered advantageous to enhance the depths of analysis and strengthen contributions and findings. (Berge et al.2024)

In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals from the French Alps, the Bulgarian Rhodopes, and the Hostyn Hills in the Czech Republic. All interviews were recorded on audio and transcribed, resulting in a comprehensive dataset of 343,473 characters. The constant comparative analysis approach of grounded theory was employed to analyze results through coding techniques. Initially, open coding was applied to generate preliminary theoretical codes. Subsequently, focused coding was utilized to refine and intensify analysis by selecting codes that appeared to represent the greater part of the dataset.

In the second, quantitative phase, an online survey questionnaire based on thematic codes generated in the qualitative phase was created and distributed using purposive sampling, ensuring that respondents had resided in their respective regions for more than five years, obtaining 334 responses in total. Quantitative analyses of the dataset included descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney U test, aiming to investigate both the overall distribution of codes and differences in usage across case groups.

3.2. Data Collection and Analysis Techniques

Primary Data

Through comparative analysis, primary data was collected by employing the semi-structured interview method to investigate people's attitudes, emotions, reactions, and beliefs about winter in accordance with the Cultural Theory Areas of Interest. Interviews were conducted with eleven individuals aged 18 and above, representing either Lev/Baltic or Continental Europe within the theoretical framework. Participants from Lev/Baltic Europe originated from northern Europe, while participants from Continental Europe had roots in regions characterized by young mountain ranges, broad floodplains, or low-lying plains. The analysis of this primary data involved analyzing thematic categories and extracting recurring themes. Supplemental materials, such as excerpts from novels and personal journals, were also analyzed, focusing on emotional reactions and the writing of winter scenes. Participant journals were utilized as a recreational and analytical tool. Each participant wrote daily entries for a period of two weeks, recording their thoughts, activities, or feelings regarding the cultural interest area. Through thematic analysis, general categories and themes were formulated, exploring expanded thematic areas and the content within them. (Adeoye‐Olatunde & Olenik2021)(Ruslin et al.2022)

Secondary Data

To conduct a qualitative analysis of the selected photographic works within the region of Lev/Baltic Europe, secondary data was utilized in accordance with the Cultural Theory Areas of Interest. The chosen photographic works were compiled from diverse sources: travel blogs detailing winter journeys to northern Europe, submitted works for winter photography competitions across a variety of platforms, and a personal collection of photographs capturing everyday experiences in winter. By employing narrative analysis through the framework of cultural theory, general categories were formulated based on the narratives of the chosen photographic works. Moreover, semiotic analysis was utilized to explore the identity contributions of winter within the selected works. The secondary data compilation included a selection of 104 articles, blogs, and news articles concerning photographic competitions and exhibitions. A selection of 28 photographic works, accompanied by up to three photographs in each publication, was obtained. Additionally, a research log documenting the materials, including dates, source types, and photographs, was maintained throughout the process.

4. Findings and Analysis

Across the various regions examined, certain common themes about the significance of winter holidays and festivals have emerged. Among these themes, the celebration of the winter solstice stands out as an almost universal aspect of winter cultural celebrations; nearly all the regions examined have some ceremony celebrating the return of day and light around that time. The reliance on the Julian calendar also appears notable, as many regions, including all the Eastern European ones, celebrated winter festivities aligning with the calendar's winter solstice even in the 20th century. Folk traditions also play a large role in celebrations across the board, with many celebrations becoming primarily folk in nature as time passed. After influences aimed to replace nativity celebrations with winter family-oriented folk festivities, the emphasis on folk traditions became an even larger part of many regions' winter celebrations. Other commonalities include the celebration of New Year's, the themes of light and fire, and connections to fertility. (Baowei2020)

At the same time, there emerged many significant differences and variations between the regions examined. These differences mostly stem from the influences on winter traditions in each region after the advent of Christianity and the subsequent taking over of certain customs, de-emphasis of others, or efforts to replace them with different celebrations. In Nordic countries, Yule, originally a pagan celebration of fertility, was imported into Christianity as Christmas but retained its earlier character, becoming the Christmas feast of the hearth and home, family and kin, men and women, and adult to young. The Rígsþula then reintroduced Yule's earlier character as a burning boar or offering. Among the Celts, sociopolitical changes caused the concurrence of the winter festival with the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, Scotland, and Brittany, resulting in a translation of the nativity feast into a great fire festival called Midwinter's Eve or the Feast of Brigid, the pagan goddess. This cultural transposition noted the celebration connected to the Epiphany; Midsummer and Midwinter were thought to be the seasons turned upside down. Fires also play an important part in Celtic traditions, taken over from earlier pagan customs but reinterpreted as baptism-related; the new-style festival retained its profitable and evocative character, marking Nashville. This tradition, preserved in Ireland, entails all the community lighting fires at places such as crossroads to be blessed by the clergy, preceding the making of individual hearth fires to be blessed at home to keep the bishop and all evils away the whole year, games and quarrels afterward. Similar customs survived in Brittany; the Welsh equivalent might indicate early character connected to gaining summer or the sun ever-increasing, for which reason the festival was kept in obscurity. (Lietzmann, 2021)(Kwiecien et al.2022)

4.1. Common Themes and Variations in Winter Cultural Significance

The cultural significance of winter is deeply entrenched in the tradition and folklore of many European countries, as winter festivals and celebrations in mid-winter are common across the continent. Recitations of winter poems contain common symbols: multiplying, burning, and symmetry. These symbols are associated with light and forming. In winter songs recited by children, frost and ice are often found fused with a desire to know, learn, and obtain intelligence, as winter symbolizes an initial step toward wisdom. In the tradition, winter-related songs and riddles usually postpone symbolically the arrival of winter. In carnival songs and children’s random riddles, winter is also treated ambiguously, as it can be either a wished-for thing or an awaited occurrence. Common characteristics of winter festive celebrations observed in different folklore traditions are the ambivalence of winter and creatures connected with winter. Based on the results of the comparative analysis of different European nations, it can be concluded that there are several common themes, symbols, and processes in the cultural significance of winter, but every nation traditionally has its own interpretation of these symbols in its folklore. In the comparative analysis, nations were divided into three groups according to their geographical location: northern, southern, and central European nations, and examined separately. Notably, for southern nations, winter is rarely treated with knowledge-related content in the sampling texts, while in other samples, symbols related to an informative side stand out. Within southern nations, winter is predominantly associated with cooling or freezing, while in texts from other samples, winter symbols usually contain both freezing and heat-related processes. Central European nations have the most frequent notion of wrapping around or entanglement, while this theme is not found in the texts of southern nations. It has been established that the main common word in both southern and northern nation samples is 'frost,' while in central folklore, it is 'snow.' (Herva et al., 2020)(Holzhausen & Grecksch2021)

5. Implications and Recommendations

The findings of this analysis carry important implications for policies, research agendas, and planning related to the use of seasons and climatic phenomena as inspirations for present-day cultural and communicative practice. It is important that renewal and growth contexts create space for different rural, urban, and industrial images, narration, and representations, as economic and spatial restructuring in this global knowledge economy era produces new planning opportunities for people living in European cities and metropolises. In fact, the analysis of the images, narration, and representations of winter in European rural and industrial metropolises suggests a number of policy recommendations in various contexts of future conditions, needs, and opportunities in the use of seasons and their climatic phenomena for cultural and communicative practice. (Hudde, 2023)(Mironowicz et al., 2021)

For instance, in the early discursive constructions of winter images in capital city metropolises, there is a need for the identification of specific planning opportunities for seasonal renewal, creativity, and growth in the knowledge economy era, focusing more on the development of economic, academic, intellectual, and creative capitals. In this context, global and regulatory universalism is characterized by values in which naturalization and creation of a cosmopolitan and urban cultural and communicative monoculture take place. While the specific images of the changing and disappearing winter metropolises narrating countryside and nature in such images meet institutional and public ambitions as heritage and future, visibility and authenticity, recognition, and success as competitive commodification are pernicious, misleading, and dangerous. These representation strategies create growth and consumption metropolises eligible and competitive for globalization, forcing strict compliance with universal planning and meta-narratives. (Duxbury et al., 2020)

In fact, similar common understandings, situations, problems, and solutions in the cultural and communicative practices of these rural, industrial, and urban metropolitan places mark and simultaneously reflect the impacts of knowledge economy globalization on present-day everyday life in European cultural and communicative metropolises. There is a concern with the specific narratives and matters at these places in which the discourse about seasons and their climatic phenomena conveys messages for current purposes and future ambitions. Future narratives about changing clean and snowy winters in capital city metropolises are instances of a viewpoint and knowledge about preventing problems of imperfections. They are a source of proposals for redirecting future developments. (Hall, 2022)

5.1. Policy Implications

This research highlights the importance of governmental support and investment for the long-term sustainability of cultural expressiveness, and the need for increased infrastructural investment in rural areas. Rural areas often have a deep-rooted connection with their seasonal cycles, as well as simple modes of expressiveness that include folk traditions and communal involvement. However, these play a weaker role in a growing number of countries due to demographic and socio-economic implications of urban dominance. Acknowledging and appreciating the seasonal cultural contributions of rural areas would also allow for a more inclusive view of local expressiveness in the wider cultural context, beyond 'folklorizing.' Clarifying the distinctive role of winter in the cultural expressiveness of a community, region, or area would encourage further discussions on the co-influences between local and wider environments, as well as stimulate inquiries on other factors that have become increasingly influential in the local context. Cultural authorities and researchers in the field of culture would be able to create focused studies on the significance of winter in the local context and formulate strategies and practices for future development, thus continuing this research. (Haque2023)

Considering that snow and cold winters are often viewed as a seasonal hindrance, or even a threat in many regions, some regions might feel more led to curb the cultural significance of winter or develop a reactive answer to ever-growing migrational temperature trends. There is thus an increasing need to mutually share and promote winter cultural expressions, strengthen professional and personal cooperation, and increase visibility. Collective efforts of cultural actors would thus allow this common cooperation to resonate wider. Academic researchers, who afford the means to professionally analyze and disseminate findings and proposals, would be able to further map winter cultural appreciation and initiate internal know-how exchange. At the same time, meteorological and environmental data indicate drastic alterations of climatic cycles and trends. A growing number of areas have recently questioned the continuity of their wintry traditions due to diminishing snow cover. With temperatures increasing and fewer frosty days in the annual seasonal cycle, many questions arise regarding the viability or even sustainability of winter cultures. (Oliver, 2022)(West, 2020)

5.2. Future Research Directions

In order to take full advantage of the contribution from Winter Cultural Studies to Winter Cities of the Future, it needs to find a way to contribute with a wider range of studies on winter cultural conditions. There is a flagrant absence of studies on winter, winter cities, and winter culture; on the other hand, there is an overwhelming range of studies on the opposite condition (that is, summer, summer cities, and summer culture). As a response to the currently obvious climate changes impacting most human communities, as well as to the need for making wider connections between neighboring places, a contribution of these studies that addresses this theoretical, practical, experiential, and hidden entitlement imbalance is suggested. In order to address the chosen wide target locations of climate resilience studies in high-latitude Europe, already highly appropriated constructs of summer cities are suggested to be used, instead of summer cities and summer culture, which is needed the most. Cities and city-cultural conditions, places and place-experiences, that are cold and wintering circumstances need to be disclosed as much as the warm, summer, and summering ones are studied today. Through the suggested snowball research questions, ten 'Question' posters on winter cities and winter cultural conditions attached to this frame were presented as an example of a first step of such a winter cultural disclosure of the maturity and compilation experiences of already clad, built, learned, and even landscaped and biologized urban place-experiences littered all over the nearest and furthest peers of the not-yet winter cities and conditions. The approach of these questions is that of preparing a turn. In completing them, dealing with snow cultures, turning the questions around addresses the generally winter cultures of today. (Winter, 2022)(Winter, 2022)

Parallel to leapfrogging the scrutiny of winter cultural conditions in very different neighboring locations, since they are to be disclosed in peace, it is addressed in this approach as both a legacy and a plea: as an old, highly urbanized climate-resilient snowy cultural condition, it feels very likely that in another ten of the now-modern annual regimes used, studied urban form types, technologies, and lifestyles, a true, nearer future, best practice, and a proper both-turn will be found. Through much-needed debates on all this, it is hoped to turn this settlement into a winter city and cultural condition too. (Winter, 2021)

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