22 News
Nordregio Magazine
Each issue of the Nordregio Magazine provides perspectives on a specific theme related to regional development and planning in the Nordic countries. With Nordregio Magazine you are kept up to date with the interesting research results produced by Nordregio in a European and global perspective.
- 2022 January
- Nordregio magazine
- Arctic
- Baltic Sea Region
- Cross-border
- Europe
- Global
- Nordic Region
- Arctic issues
- Bioeconomy
- Covid-19
- Digitalisation
- Finance
- Gender equality
- Governance
- Green transition
- Integration
- Labour market
- Maritime spatial planning
- Migration
- Regional innovation
- Rural development
- Sustainable development
- Tourism
- Urban planning
The potential of industrial symbiosis as a key driver of green growth in Nordic regions
In 2014, the Nordic Working Group on Green Growth – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, nominated by the Nordic Council of Ministers, commissioned Nordregio to conduct a study on different approaches to developing industrial symbiosis and its implications for regional development in the Nordic countries. Industrial symbiosis can be viewed as one of the possible approaches to realizing a circular economy (CE) and achieving green growth. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the potential for growth in industrial symbiosis at the national, regional and local levels, and analyse policies related to industrial symbiosis in the Nordic countries. The empirical part of the study consists of an analysis of five cases of industrial symbiosis: the Kalundborg Symbiosis in the Zealand region, Denmark; the Kemi– Tornio region in Lapland, Finland; the Svartsengi Resource Park on the Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland; the Eyde Cluster in the Agder region, Norway; and the Händelö industrial symbiosis in Östergötland county, Sweden. This study shows that there are differences in approaches to industrial symbiosis in the Nordic countries. In Finland and Denmark, there is generally a strong top-down approach to industrial symbiosis, accompanied by a clear vision and comprehensive strategies for a CE/industrial symbiosis at the national and regional levels. Industrial symbiosis exchanges have been actively facilitated by municipal and regional actors and networks in combination with key private companies.
- 2015 December
- Report
- Nordic Region
- Green transition
- Regional innovation
Ansträngande partnerskap: näringslivet i nordisk stadsplanering
How urban planning contributes to economic growth and local development is a question high on the political agenda in the Nordic countries. This highlights, in turn, other key policy issues: how public planning can more efficiently contribute to private urban development, in particular the production of new housing, to accommodate rapid urbanisation and solve the housing crises. The various interactions between different public and private actors and their different rationales are at the heart of these problems, including the potential tensions between efficiency and legitimacy (see Nordregio News Issue 2 2015 Tensions in Nordic urban planning). Urban development and planning are collaborative processes between different actors. It can, as suggested by John Friedman, be seen as an intervention or a power struggle between state, capital and civil society. However, these collective actors are very heterogeneous. The state includes, for example, both politicians and a variety of civil servants (including planners) at different administrative levels and sectors. The private sector (i.e. capital) includes a diverse array of actors such as financiers, developers, architects, consultants and so on. The civil society (collectively organised private persons) is also an increasingly diverse collective, something that is often neglected or at least overseen when public-private relations and planning efficiency are discussed. In this working paper, public and private relations in urban planning are opened up and discussed with a focus on how public authorities and private developers collaborate in urban development projects in the Nordic countries. This paper provides different examples of the possibilities and challenges of different forms of collaborations and partnerships between public and private actors. Particular attention is given to the initial unregulated phase in the planning process, which has been shown as crucial for both efficiency and legitimacy (see Nordregio Report 2013:1 A Review of the Norwegian planning system – Scandinavian…
- 2015 December
- Working paper
- Nordic Region
- Sustainable development
- Urban planning
City-region planning for everyday life
Whether cities can provide a high quality of life for their inhabitants is an increasingly pressing question, especially in the light of rapid urbanization and climate change. However, recent research from four Nordic city-regions —which include Malmö, Stavanger, Aalborg and Tampere, and the areas around them—shows that detailed knowledge about inhabitants—permanent, temporary, new, multi-generational, or otherwise—in every part and subset of the city-region is lacking in spatial planning. If knowledge about the lives of those living in the city-regions is insufficient, then, how can specific spatial structures for a city-region be proposed as responses to different sustainability challenges? As a response, this policy brief proposes that, city-region planners should adopt Everyday Life Theory, (1) to influence everyday life practices in support of city-region sustainability; and (2) to better connect spatial structure/ urban form with existing sustainability challenges. By adopting Everyday Life Theory, we mean that planning should be based on empirical knowledge about the needs and experiences of different groups of people in relation to four different dimensions: employment, housing provision, mobility and social reproduction.
- 2015 November
- Policy brief
- Nordic Region
- Green transition
- Urban planning
Supporting Inclusion
Europe is currently dealing with a major influx of migrants and refugees. Every week, thousands of people are risking their lives for the opportunity to create a better future in Europe, notably in Germany and Sweden. Immigration is only the first challenge however. Once basic needs have been addressed, the arguably greater challenge of integration begins. This Nordregio policy brief presents a new way of measuring segregation – the diversity index – and outlines key steps that Botkyrka, a highly diverse municipality in the Stockholm County, has taken to alleviate Poverty and Social Exclusion, which could be instructive to municipalities across Europe, as they work to integrate new residents.
- 2015 November
- Policy brief
- Nordic Region
- Integration
- Migration
Nordic ways of dealing with depopulation and ageing in rural and peripheral areas
We live in a time of rapid urbanisation and ageing population, alongside international migration. It is clear that these demographic trends will strongly affect all of the Nordic countries, and especially their rural and peripheral regions. While these regions lose work force and tax revenues to pay for increased welfare demands, the fast growing city regions face other problems: housing shortages, congested roads and insufficient public transportation. The question is, what can we do about it? This policy brief compares national policies and measures taken in the Nordic countries: How to mitigate (prevent negative effects), or adapt to these demographic trends in rural and peripheral areas?
- 2015 November
- Policy brief
- Nordic Region
- Governance
- Migration
- Rural development
- Urban planning
Indicator frameworks: Helping planners monitor urban sustainability
This policy brief aims to provide planners with a clearer understanding of the opportunities and challenges presented by the use of sustainability indicators to support urban planning and policy-making. There is a common saying that goes “what gets measured gets managed”. With this in mind, Nordregio research has identified a number of perspectives that can be of value to planners considering whether to use indicator frameworks to monitor the performance of comprehensive urban planning strategies. We found this to be a pressing issue in light of the fact that a number of comprehensive city plans in large Nordic cities have been developed with little or no consideration given to the inclusion of indicator frameworks.
- 2015 March
- Policy brief
- Nordic Region
- Urban planning