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Nordregio is inviting applications for a senior position as Head of GIS Department. Working at Nordregio means an opportunity to become part of a truly international research environment with a focus on sustainable regional development in the Nordic region and beyond. It offers significant career development potential in terms of enhancing your competences through applied and policy relevant research, achieving an international network of contacts, as well as getting extensive experience in team and project management. You will also get rich opportunities to collaborate with regional and municipal stakeholders in the Nordic countries. Nordregio is currently seeking a new Head of GIS Department with: Expertise in GIS, geo-data, quantitative analysis, and applied research in the field of regional development. Experience in leading a team and managing projects as well as a successful track record in grant applications. Knowledge in geographies and socio-economic trends in the Nordic Region and beyond. A drive for working in teams and in an international applied research environment. Eagerness to present and disseminate results to different stakeholder groups, both orally and in written format. Competences and qualifications As Head of GIS Department, you both lead and manage the GIS-team by planning and organising tasks and activities, communicate with each team member and contribute to their development. You are also a project manager with responsibilities to attract, initiate and lead externally funded research and innovation projects. The geographic scope of your field of interest includes a European and international perspective and expert knowledge in at least one of the Nordic countries. We appreciate abilities in external networking and in communication with stakeholders. Internally we appreciate analytical and creative skills, complemented by abilities to both cooperate and work on your own. For this position, you have at least 6 years of relevant work experience and an extensive network…

During the first year of the FUME project, the partners have been collecting statistical data on a very detailed level, exploring the main drivers and scenarios for migration, as well as preparing to the case studies in the countries, from which people are moving to Europe. As the first year of the FUME project comes to an end, the project is on track and the first results are being finalised. The FUME team has collected large amounts of data from various sources to inform our migration modelling and worked with national statistics offices and other authorities to gain access to confidential data that can further refine the models. The initial round of deliverables has been uploaded and the first academic articles have been submitted. Finally, we have established a productive network with our sister projects QuantMig and HumMingBird. Like everyone’s life, the project has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. After meeting in person once for the kick-off conference in January, the colleagues at the FUME consortium institutions have mostly been working from home since March and all project meetings had to be held virtually. Moreover, the pandemic has also impacted our planned case studies in countries of origin; however, we are now well underway to start the interviews there with the help of local partners. Besides those country of origin studies, we have a number of activities coming up in the new year: The destination case studies in Amsterdam, Rome, Cracow and Copenhagen will be pushed forward with the local partners; we will conduct a Delphi survey to inform the scenario building; model development will continue and the first results can be expected over the course of the year; and last but not least, we are optimistic that we will be able to meet again face to face…

Russia is a land of enormous natural resources as well as unique culture and complex governmental and taxation structures. When it comes to transforming traditional industry towards greener and recyclable processes, all those factors are intertwined. Nordregio studied the transition at the Republic of Karelia, Murmansk and Arkhangelsk oblast and how the transition to a bioeconomy in Northwest Russia has begun. On the other hand, some clear obstacles need to be overcome, like lack of knowhow and support mechanisms as well as the absence of a sustainability-based mindset before it can fully take off. Nordregio’s new publications Transition to a bioeconomy in Northwest Russia: regional cases of the Republic of Karelia and Murmansk oblast report and a Policy Brief called Transition to a bioeconomy in Northwest Russia – current potential and challenges describe the State-of-art transition process in Russia. Earlier study Bioeconomy in Northwest Russian region; Forest- and waste-based bioeconomy in the Arkhangelsk contributed to the outcome. All regions in question contain a vast amount of renewable biological resources from the sea, forest and land, but these are currently managed and exploited in a rather traditional way. Despite traditions, there are clear signs of change. For example, the use of recycled material is increasing, aquaculture is experiencing growth in Karelia, new blue bioproducts are researched in Murmansk, construction of wooden houses is gaining popularity in Karelia, and Arkhangelsk is a forerunner on environmentally-friendly practices in the forest industry in Russia using wood waste for bioenergy. Incentives from governmental bodies and somewhat independent regional level are supporting the increased processing of raw material but at the same time lack of knowledge and insights to bioeconomy in Northwest Russia prevents exploiting its full potential. Renewing traditional industries The traditional forestry and fishery industries play an important role in the regional economies. One…

Urban gardening is much more than just growing food and plants, it is about social engagement. The City of Aarhus has become well known for their ‘Taste Aarhus’ programme, a key driver behind more than 300 bottom-up urban agriculture initiatives and the most successful urban farming area in the Nordic Region. Taste Arhus is one of the five cases the SiEUGreen (Sino-European innovative green and smart cities) project investigated in the Nordic Region and in China. – After studying different cases, Taste Aarhus stood out as a clear example of how social empowerment can create good, scale-up and change the city. Taste Aarhus uses urban gardening as a tool to bring people together, use under-utilised spaces around the city and engage people in the practice of growing their food. It also has an educational element, explains Senior Research Fellow Luciane Aguiar Borges, Nordregio. – Taste Aarhus has changed the city. Thanks to education, guidance and the network we have been building, we now see people using parks and public green spaces in a whole new way. It wasn’t like that five years ago, explains Pernille Thormann Villesen, the project manager for Taste Arhus (Smag på Aarhus). Urban gardening is not just a bottom-up movement. The local authority also plays an active role and uses urban agriculture as a mean of promoting healthier eating habits, encouraging physical exercise and social interaction. In the future, there will be a higher demand for urban agriculture. Population growth will put pressure on urban spaces, so there will be less land available for Urban agriculture and it creates longer physical distances from nature. – At the same time as Aarhus will need to be more densely populated, the quality of urban green spaces will also need to be higher. We need to rethink the strategy…

Local communities and regional authorities are faced with continuous uncertainty. Emerging technologies, economic crises, political changes and environmental disasters can cause shocks and crises challenging the long-term economic development and wellbeing at the local level. A new report from Nordregio focuses on how to become more agile and adaptable in the face of such challenges. “Resilience” comes from the Latin term “resilire”, to leap back or to rebound, or in a regional development context: to cope with change and continue to develop. Regions and local communities that face sudden economic downturn or other types of major shocks, whether they come from within or from outside, can either “bounce back” or “bounce forward”; they can try to recover their former strength or use the opportunity to adapt towards new development paths. Through a series of cases studies, the report “Regional Economic and Social Resilience: an exploratory in-depth study in the Nordic countries” describes examples of both reactions. It looks at what risks Nordic regions are particularly vulnerable to, as well as what the role of regional authorities is and how regions can best prepare for change. Key findings emphasize the importance of being agile and adapt to changing conditions rather than guarding yourself against them; they also point at the role of people and social networks as crucial factors to successful adaptation. – Solid and efficient institutions, and financial means are important preconditions for regions to be prepared against unwanted developments and to prevent major shocks. However, this study has shown that trust amongst regional actors, social cohesion and human capital are essential to respond to inevitable threats, says Nordregio Research Fellow Alberto Giacometti, the main author behind the report. The report also notes a move from the “planning optimism” of the past towards an increased focus on preparing for the…

The Jordanian population is constantly growing due to the crises in its neighboring countries, and the pressure of the refugee influx is certainly felt in the capital Amman. Rapid urbanization also creates urban growth in Jordan. During Amman’s relatively short history as the capital of Jordan, slightly over 100 years, it has gone through unprecedented growth from 5000 inhabitants to current estimate of 4 million people. The uncontrolled growth has set several challenges for city planners. Nordic city planning might provide new ideas for sustainable solutions and tools how to manage the urban sprawl. Amman has grown relatively faster than other cities of AsiaCities are a complex mixture of spatial development and people with diverse social, economic and cultural backgrounds. City planning has the challenging task of balancing between these factors and institutional frameworks, laws, resources, the environment and social influences. At present, one of the major obstacles facing the public sector and planning in many developing countries is its ability to improve quality of life, provide services, and raise living standards under severe challenges of rapid urban growth. The Embassy of Sweden organized a seminar and a workshop in Jordan on sustainable city solutions to urban development challenges through knowledge exchange between Nordic and Jordanian urban planners 16-17 January. Even though Jordan suffers from an acute lack of natural resources, particularly water and energy, it has successfully accommodated several waves of refugees from Palestine, Iraq and Syria. In 1921, Amman became the capital of the new state of Transjordan with about 5,000 inhabitants. The growth spur started at the same time, quadrupling in the next decade. During 1961-1979 the city grew from 215,000 inhabitants to 777,800 due to population growth, the second Palestinian refugee migration, and the Civil War in Lebanon, with the city extending over an area of 101…