Workshops in Norway: Cool Planning for Cool Planners
Two YPP workshops were offered this year during the 54th ISOCARP World Planning Congress, one in Bodø (27 September – 1 October) and the other in Kristiansand (24-29 September), Norway. The Workshops of the 54th ISOCARP Congress have been structured following the unique vision of “Cool Planning”. The 2018 YPP Workshops also manifested an innovative and creative approach to our more than 25 years old programme by introducing new modes of methodology such as “Urban Lounges” and “Pecha Kucha Nights”, through which the workshop results were shared with the public, while the YPPs had a chance to share their individual creative spirit. Here are the products of intense urban laboratories towards a challenging path of inspiring the Cool and New Bodø and Kristiansand: Be cool, work hard, and have fun!
Cool and Connected: Planning Bodø Through Urban Flows
As defined in the agenda of the 54th ISOCARP World Planning Congress, the future of civilisation now more than ever depends on the way we plan and manage our cities and towns. While this agenda calls for aggregate efforts to rethink sustainability, mitigation, resilience and adaptation, how we perceive urban form and urban flows appears as the major strategic fields of action in navigating the challenges of our urban future. Thus, the Young Planning Professionals’ Workshop in Bodø searched for innovative and smart solutions to navigate planning through diverse forms of urban flows. The three case study areas of the workshop offered the potential to rethink urban flows based on connections and mobilities for a cooler and more connected Bodø.
The first case study “Future Bodø. Den Arktiske Ånd”, while focusing on the New Airport, responded the ways in which it is possible to connect the existing built environment with the new, to make a livable city without barriers, to commute in an accessible, climate-friendly way between the existing and expanding city and to respond to the harsh northern climate. The second case study, “Blue. Green. Bodø”, focusing on the green belt along the Bodø River, presented proposals on how to preserve the trail in the future, how to link the trail with surrounding areas and how can this area function on different levels as a green, urban and sustainable addition to the town as a whole. The third case study, “Bølgen: A Wave of Change”, on the other hand, responded the future of the waterfront industrial site through design strategies which best enhances the city centre while exploring ways to connect this extension to the existing city core taking into account the ambitions of a zero-emission neighbourhood.
Through the great hospitality and commitment of Ida Pinnerod (Mayor of Bodø), Rakel Hunstad (Chair of the Local Organizing Committee), Annelise Bolland (Head of the Urban Planning Office), Hundholmen Byutvikling, and the great guidance of Marianne Siiri, Mats Marthinussen (Urban Planning Office), and particularly Kristoffer Larsen Saivag as the Chair of the Bodø Young Planning Professionals’ Programme, ISOCARP Experts John Echlin and Rolf Schuett contributed extensively to share their valuable expertise and knowledge with incredible enthusiasm, commitment and energy. Bodø Team as the driving force for co-creation consisted of the world itself with 21 highly qualified young planning professionals from 17 countries and as an amalgam of diverse sectors. The four days of the intensive workshop were spent on site visits, seminars on Bodø and on-site seminars on case study areas, coordinator lectures on post-industrial urban waterfronts and airport city design, and elaborations on the diverse debates cool planning. The workshop results were successfully presented during the 54th ISOCARP World Planning Congress Plenary Session through three main questions: How to connect the new with the old? How to connect the sea with the mountains? How to connect the waterfront with the city? The team was also invited for a special presentation to the EXCO of Hundholmen. The workshop results were also publicised through the YPP Exhibition during the Congress.
For detailed information on the workshop and its results, please check out our Facebook page, https://web.facebook.com/groups/isocarpyppbodo/ and https://web.facebook.com/CoolPlannersBodo/
Cool Planning in New Kristiansand
ISOCARP Kristiansand YPP Workshop was jointly undertaken by Kristiansand, Songdalen and Søgne Kommunes between the dates, September 24 and 29, 2018, with the great contribution of Harald Furre (Mayor of Kristiansand), Johnny Greibesland (Mayor of Songdalen) and Astrid Hilde (Mayor of Søgne), Vest-Agder County, Camilla Dunsæd (Future Head of New Kristiansand), Thor Skjevrak (Songdalen Kommune), Vibeke Wold Sunde (Søgne Kommune), Ragna Marie Henden (Communication Department), Elin Børrud (Norwegian University of Life Science), and particularly with the incredible commitment, success and hospitality of Knut Felberg (Head of Urban Development Department) and Christina Rasmussen (Urban Development Department and Project Coordinator). While ISOCARP Experts Zeynep Enlil and Martin Dubbeling contributed extensively to share their valuable expertise and knowledge in the expense of their time and effort, the workshop was a product of 18 highly qualified YPPs from 14 countries consisting of the world in itself.
The workshop addressed a very timely and complex urban challenge as Kristiansand is in the process of amalgamating with two neighbouring municipalities of Søgne and Songdalen. The new municipality ‘New Kristiansand’ will be operational from 01.01.2020. Exploring the different characteristics and identities of the three centres as a basis for developing a polycentric city is important, besides reducing the mental distance between these centres through new ways of transport and communication. The guiding strategic principles included major focus on environmental, economic and social sustainability, climate change and adaptation. Responding to these fundamentals, the workshop results were structured under 5 main themes: “Regional Sustainability” – Which land use and what kind of landscape concept should be examined, developed or altered in order to ensure sustainable development (social, ecological and economical) of the three municipal centers, as to address climate challenges (SDGs), “Regional Dynamics” – What possibilities and risks for regional development and synergies can follow the merging of the municipalities – urban structure, business, culture, mobility, and so on – now and 50 years on, “Sustainable Mobility and Connectivity” – How can existing or new transport structures and mobility patterns be developed to assure complementary synergies between the centres Tangvall, Nodeland and Kvadraturen? How can transport structures and mobility patterns be renewed through innovative and sustainable solutions?, “Identity” – Which local character should be strengthened (and how) to sustain inhabitants’ own place identity, while profiling the centres in a regional context?, “Place-making” – How can strategic interventions/projects in defined urban spaces and on defined building lots contribute to higher quality of places?
The five days of the workshop were spent on intensive work, site visits, seminars on Kristiansand and on-site seminars on case study areas, open lectures on regional planning and good places and vibrant communities by ISOCARP coordinators and invited local scholars from NMBU and UIA, and elaborations on the diverse debates of cool planning. The workshop also introduced new modes of methodology such as “Urban Lounges” and “Pecha Kucha Nights”, through which the workshop results were shared with the public, while the YPPs had a chance to share their individual creative spirit. The workshop was finalised with a Certificate Ceremony and Exhibition Launch, which were followed by the departure for Bodø. The workshop results were once again presented during the 54th ISOCARP World Planning Congress Plenary Session. The workshop results were also re-publicised through the YPP Exhibition.
For detailed information on the workshop and its results, please check out the website, https://www.coolplanning.no, and our Facebook page, https://web.facebook.com/groups/isocarpyppkristiansand/
New Volumn of the ISOCARP BUZZ ©YPP on ISOCARP Young Professionals Workshop of Bodø is now available!
ISOCARP BUZZ ©YPP Year 2018 Volume 28: COOL AND CONNECTED: Planning Bodø through Urban Flows
ISOCARP Young Planning Professionals’ Workshop Publication on the occasion of the 54th ISOCARP World Planning Congress “Cool Planning”, Bodo 2018 Please follow the link to reach Workshop Publication!
