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Estimations for the Nordic population is that half of the 27 million inhabitants have access to a holiday home, via ownership, family or friends. People use second homes during the summer or winter season and increasingly at weekends; therefore, our analyses find that a continuous counter-urbanisation process exists in the Nordic Region. We conclude that second homes and seasonal tourists are primarily considered a positive asset for job creation, planning of cultural activities and provision of services. At the same time, the central challenges are adapting the welfare system and services to these large flows of voluntary temporary inhabitants. This motivates us to recommend policymakers and decision-makers in the Nordic Region to discuss whether municipal income taxes should be shared between municipalities, based on the locations of the permanent home and the second home. The main rationale behind this recommendation is that the infrastructure and welfare system could then be better adapted to the actual number of people who spend time in each municipality and make use of the local welfare system. I hope the study will help to bridge the perceived divide between urban and rural areas, says Elin Slätmo. The publication is available through the link below.

The final chords of the Baltic maritime symphony have been played in Gothenburg on 10-12 December. The Pan Baltic Scope project partners from 12 planning authorities and organizations presented their outcome of the activities, collaboration and the progress of the national maritime spatial plans. The 2014 European Union Directive on MSP emphasizes the need for coherent maritime spatial planning and aligned plans between independent states. To achieve this, the Pan Baltic Scope project brought together eight MSP planning authorities and three regional organisations in the Baltic Sea Region as part of the consortium. The project team was led by the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwaM), the lead partner in the predecessor Baltic SCOPE project. Yet again, the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) has been a trailblazer in the promotion and development of pioneering collaborative MSP activities. Nordregio was in charge of two activities: Drawing out the major lessons learned from the project activities and providing recommendations on how to bring better maritime spatial plans in the Baltic Sea Region. The final report includes factsheets that summarize tasks, achievements, enablers and challenges of different activities of the project. Developing of the land-sea interaction concept and exploring the potential of its application in MSP practices in the Baltic Sea region. The final report showcases stories, insights and lessons from countries at different stages of the MSP process, and to present challenges and enablers for effective LSI in a range of cross-border contexts, particularly encompassing the Gulf of Bothnia, Riga Bay and Germany. Publications The reports Nordregio was in charge of as well as all other reports will be available in print and as electronic versions. Lessons Learned in Cross-border Maritime Spatial Planning Experiences Lessons, stories and ideas on how to integrate Land-Sea Interactions into MSP Project Recommendations Scoping report Reactions…

What is resilience and how to build resilient regions? The keynotes and regional representatives at the Nordregio Forum 2019 panel shared their recipes and skillsets on how to become resilient. Jonas Wendel, Chief of staff to the Secretary-General at the Nordic Council of Ministers, nicely summarises the concept: “Resilience is to welcome change. And for those who are capable of changing, opportunities will present themselves”. Nordregio’s Senior Research Fellow Jukka Teräs sees it as a way of recovering from disturbance: “Do you bend, or do you break?” Teräs also provided clear instructions on how to do it: Generate awareness of possible risks by identifying risks, spread the risk by diversifying the industrial base and invest in entrepreneurship and last but not least by building trust between citizens, regional institutions and other actors. Nordregio Forum panel opened the stage for great regional examples from all the Nordic countries which only proofs that the regions are already working on this actively, and they shared the same message: citizen engagement is the key for success. All partnerships are important, and as the youth representative Pétur Halldórsson, chair of the Icelandic Youth Environmentalist Association (Ungir umhverfissinnar), put it: “The best solutions are found when we work peer-to-peer with all cultures in the Nordic countries to actively learn from each other”.  The youth representatives also shared the same concern about the Nordics becoming too arrogant and thinking we know the best. “We should also stay humble and learn more from other (non-Nordic) countries”, says Ragnheiður Kristín Finnbogadóttir. Smart specialisation and resilience: Do they go hand in hand? Smart specialisation is a strategy tool made for regions to create resilience by finding strengths and focusing on those. “Smart specialisation is not the same everywhere. Actors can be the same, but the opportunities are different”, says Peter…

Last week of October, during the IMF Annual Meetings in Washington DC, the Nordic Council of Ministers for Finance met to discuss common issues. Nordregio’s Director Kjell Nilsson participated in the meeting since Nordregio had delivered background material to two of the items on the agenda: the efficiency of the Nordic countries’ climate policies and the effects of different measures for better integration of immigrants on the Nordic labour markets. They agreed that commitment and strong Nordic leadership is needed in the first case and that getting into work or education as fast as possible is a crucial prerequisite for successful integration.                    

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…

Nordregio gathered almost 100 engaged participants for an event on Agenda 2030 at the local level on Monday October 28 in Stockholm. The outcome will feed into the process to formulate a new vision for Nordic Co-operation as such as well as into a concrete set of policy recommendations on how best to implement the SDGs at the regional and municipal level. The event was held under the auspices of the Generation 2030 programme opened by Paula Lehtomäki, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, who presented a new vision for Nordic co-operation adopted by the Prime Ministers in August, with the aim to become the world’s most sustainable region. This was followed by an overview of the report Agenda 2030 at the Local Level by Nordregio Senior Research fellow Elin Slätmo and a talk on A territorial approach to sustainable development by Stefano Marta from the OECD. The rest of the day was spent in groups discussing core aspects of SDG implementation, which was all summed up in a final plenary session. The output from that will be used in a policy brief feeding into the Nordic vision formulation process, so the event in many ways functioned as a hearing of local actors The policy brief will also be put forward to the Nordic Council of Ministers Expert Group for Sustainable Development, that acts as an Advisory Body to the Ministers for Nordic Cooperation and as Steering Group for the Generation 2030 programme, the Nordic programme for the 2030 Agenda. The Nordic Expert Group for Sustainable Development will use the Policy Brief to decide on potential further activities to support Nordic municipalities and regions in their work with the 2030 Agenda.

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…

An open seminar on the future of regional development will be held 12 September at the University of Akureyri. The seminar is organised by Ministry of Transport and Local Government, Byggdastofnun and Nordregio and in cooperation with the EK-R (Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Regional Policy) and Nordregio’s Board of Directors. Registration via this link   Programme 09:00-09:10 Opening Adress Rector Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, Rector at the University of Akureyri 09:10-09.25 Introduction: Nordic Cooperation on Regional Policy – What topics have been prioritized in the past and what’s in the pipeline for the future? Kjell Nilsson, Director of Nordregio and Affiliated Professor at University of Copenhagen 09:25-09:45 Opportunities and challenges for regional development in the North Atlantic Region, Snorri Björn Sigurdsson, Head of Department, Icelandic Regional Development Institute 09:45-10:20 What have been the key successes – and shortcomings – of regional development policy over the past 20 years, and what are the key lessons to be drawn? José Enrique Garcilazo, Head of Regional and Rural Unit, OECD 10:20-10:40 Coffee break 10:40-11:00 The Nordic Welfare State at the crossroads, Joakim Palme, Professor of Political Science, Uppsala University (SE) 11:00-11:30 Discussants Gerd Slinning & Katarina Fellman (Isabella Palomba Rydén) 11:30-11:50 The sustainable Nordic city of tomorrow, Ellen Braae & Henriette Steiner, Professor and Ass. Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Copenhagen (DK) 11:50-12:30 Discussants Jarle Jensen & Olli Vuotilainen 12:30-13:30 Lunch 13:30-13:50 Opportunities and challenges for future rural development policies in the Nordic Region, Gro Marit Grimsrud, Senior Researcher, NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS (NO) 13:50-14:30 Discussants Hanna Maria Urjankangas & Maria Eriksson (Eydun Christiansen) 14:30-14:50 Green transition for resilient Nordic regions, Markku Sotarauta, Professor of Regional Development Studies, University of Tampere (FI) 14:50-15:20 Discussants Sara Aasted Paarup & Bjørn Barvik 15:20-15:50 Coffee break 15:50-16:10 Future opportunities and challenges for the Nordic…

Location matters. Where one is born and raised still determines to a considerable extent one’s opportunities and constrictions for living. Inequalities among regions within the EU have been growing since the 2008 economic crisis. The EU funded RELOCAL project (Resituating the local in cohesion and territorial development) has studied 33 cases around Europe to understand what effect local initiatives can have on regional inequalities or “spatial (in)justice”. As a part of the project Nordregio studied the Swedish initiative “Digital Västerbotten”, and how digitalization can impact living in rural areas. In Västerbotten County in northern Sweden, the inland municipalities are becoming depopulated and the municipal authorities struggle to provide basic services because of long travel distances and limited resources. This is a very common phenomenon in most Nordic rural areas and there is a general concern that people living in these areas are being “left behind”. The limited resources for the inland municipalities create a situation where the municipalities can’t provide their citizens with the same opportunities as the rest of the region/country, in the RELOCAL project this is an example of “spatial (in)justice”. However, the other side of the coin shows a brighter view: The increasing digitalization of society has opened up new opportunities, and Region Västerbotten is testing new possibilities. Through the regional project “Digital Västerbotten” the municipalities in Västerbotten are sharing resources and exchanging knowledge to use for existing and emerging digital technologies to provide services and equal standard of living for people in all municipalities. The Västerbotten case is interesting in the RELOCAL context since it is the most northern, the largest and the most sparsely populated area of all of the 33 case studies examined in the project. The area consists of 15 municipalities on 55 000 km2 and with 268 000 people, of which almost…

A new discussion paper, titled Skills Policies – Building Capacities and Resilient Nordic Regions, has been published under the guidance of the Nordic Thematic Group for Innovative and Resilient Regions. The paper offers background for the upcoming in-depth study that aims at helping develop better policies and solutions for the labour markets. It has been made publicly available to encourage engagement with Nordregio’s research while it is still in progress. Skills Policies – Building Capacities and Resilient Nordic Regions, consisting of preliminary findings from a knowledge and literature review, dives into the issue of skills, Nordic policies related to the matter and brings examples of regional skills projects. Nordregio welcomes constructive feedback on the paper and hopes that this open process will ultimately contribute to a better result. To offer feedback, please contact Alex Cuadrado. The final report on the in-depth study will be available in mid 2020 at www.nordregio.org

Vulnerable youth who are not currently employed, in education or training, often referred to as NEET, is a growing group in the Nordics. Many of them are struggling with mental health problems and might be affected by the demographic and structural trends living and growing up in small Nordic communities. Nordregio’s new study shows that Iceland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands employ youth most effectively. Finland with high NEET rates is the only nation that has created a law to empower municipalities to find inactive youth and this approach already shows promising results in activating youth. Youth meet biggest challenges in rural Sweden and Finland, and especially in Greenland where the NEET rate is 33,6% and sets the territory to its own category. Second highest NEET rates are found in Northern and Eastern Finland, 10,9%. Finland is the only Nordic country that has a new national legislation (Nuorisolaki) requiring municipalities to employ youth workers to seek out young people who are inactive. Local “Guidance centres” (Ohjaamo) show good results by providing individual guidance and finding and bringing youth back to active societal life. Youth need new solutions – Finnish “Guidance centres” provide help Youth who are not in education, employment or training can be divided into three groups: ‘victims of recession’ who basically have suffered from lack of jobs, second group is ‘worker-citizens in the making’ who are on the path to becoming worker-citizens; they were enrolled in one or several vocational programmes but discontinued their studies at some point. What these NEETs have in common is that they have struggled with bad relationships in school and many have dealt with learning challenges. Third group is ‘troubled’ and they are suffering from some types of mental health problems. – Our study shows that some of the challenges that young people…

After the long winter it is finally time to celebrate the solstice and the nightless nights in the Nordic countries, Midsummer. Or Sankthansaften, as they say in Norway, Sankthans in Denmark, Juhannus in Finland, Midsommar in Sweden and Jónsmessa in Iceland. To prevent any cultural and regional collisions during Nordic Midsummer festivities Nordregio dived into the Nordic celebrations to find out: Should there be a bonfire or maypole? Who is most concerned about rainy Midsummer weather? Nordregio undertook a thorough data collection (Google Trends) to create this representative picture of Nordic Midsummer interests. The analysis depicts different Midsummer activities with five different colors, in some regions it is a battle between the two most dominating interests (regions with two colors) and some regions have taken all the cherries on top and adopted a balanced midsummer interest (green). According to our analysis, the maypole dance, an old fertility rite, still lives on as a tradition in Sweden and Åland, while the actual dancing around the pole might have absorbed some new moves along the centuries. Instead of dancing, Finland and Denmark light bonfires to celebrate warmth and the power of the sun, except the region Satakunta in Finland which is busy worrying about the weather. Denmark takes the bonfire tradition one step further as they also burn a figurine witch in the fire. What should be served on Midsummer? Beer, when in Norway. With beer there should also be herring when celebrating with people from Sogn og Fjordane and prepare to light a bonfire when in Møre og Romsdal or Rogaland region. Sweden seems to have the most significant regional differences in traditions. While the rest of Sweden is dancing around the fertility poles, people on Gotland focus on sipping beer with herring. Värmland combines beer and dancing around the maypole…

The OECD meeting in Skellefteå, Sweden, on mining regions and cities, went beyond a sectoral view to understand how to deliver wellbeing for regions specialised in mining and extractive industries. Central to this is how to ensure a just transition to a climate neutral economy and prepare local workers for digitalisation and automation. It also included a focus on responsible resource development in the arctic and engaging with indigenous peoples on these issues. Research fellow Leneisja Jungsberg presented how local smart specialisation is an approach to build capacity for local authorities dealing with resource-based industries in sparsely populated areas. It is a bottom-up approach engaging local community in questions related to social and demographic development, land-use issues and local economic benefit retention. Karen presented in a session exploring opportunities of utilising bio-economy models and processes in the mining sector. Leneisja Jungsberg previously worked with the REGINA project, an NPA project focusing on regions with large-scale projects that have large impacts on the local communities. Some key issues raised during discussions were: Ensuring diversified economies in the mining communities Considering the related industries – think circular economy Mining companies to become more proactive in “illustrating responsible behaviour Involve and include the stakeholders in the communities in the process Be alert to the growing demand for new minerals and metals for the digitized economy Who benefits and who is responsible in the development of the mines Consider rental fee agreements, royalties etc Development of Skills Responsibilities for social, health, housing and culture services The full programme can be found here.  

The Nordic countries have received more refugees than most other regions in Europe in the last years.Finding jobs for these new citizens is a major challenge, if they end up staying. The latest issue of Nordregio Magazine presents the highlights from a new Nordic report on labour market integration produced by Nordregio for the Nordic Council of Ministers. It includes a series of policy advice and outlines a path towards better integration of immigrants into the Nordic labour markets. Read the magazine

When talking about climate change, we usually look at it mainly from an environmental perspective. The 2019 edition of the Nordic Economic Policy Review just published by the Nordic Council of Ministers focuses on climate policy from the point of view of an economist. It poses a series of questions such as: What are the prospects for effective global coordination of national climate policies? How does the EU Emissions Trading System affect the effectiveness of different national polices? How cost-effective are climate policies in the Nordic countries? And is it futile to hope that small countries like the Nordics can affect the global climate? This issue of Nordregio Magazine focuses on two of these question in particular: do we get enough bang for the buck in terms of how we try to regulate the economy to prevent climate change and can the Nordics actually make a difference when it comes to a global problem like that?

The Nordic countries are known for their green cities, full of accessible green and blue spaces and surrounded by agricultural land, vast forests and lakes. Viewed in aggregate these green and blue areas are a network. A concept called Green Infrastructure has been developed to highlight the importance, development and planning of this network. The existing Nordic Green Infrastructure offers a wide variety of benefits to Nordic societies and inhabitants; to preserve biodiversity, to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to provide business opportunities. The use of urban parks for leisure, recreation or tourism have a clear, positive impact on people’s physical and mental health. Strategic planning is necessary to create a green infrastructure with more positive impacts than a number of scattered green objects. Despite of the increased awareness of the positive impacts of green spaces for people’s health and wellbeing, as well as for environment and climate, there is a clear need to strengthen its role in strategic planning. In this Policy Brief we identify how that can be done in the Nordic countries and also found interesting examples from Greater Copenhagen (DK) and Hämeenlinna (FI). This publication is part of the ESPON project GRETA – Green infrastructure: enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services for territorial development. More about ESPON GRETA

The State of the Nordic Region 2018 report has now been chosen as part of the material used in the entrance exam for the business administration study in a number of Finnish universities. State of the Nordic Region is a flagship publication of the  Nordic Council of Ministers produced by Nordregio every other year. The various versions of the 2018 edition have been downloaded around 13.000 times a little over a year after publication. With the addition of the main report to the syllabus used for the test that constitutes the entrance exam for the bachelor degree in business administration at 20 Finnish institutes of higher learning another 13.000 downloads might be expected. Work on State of the Nordic Region 2020 has commenced with expected publication in February 2020.

One of the projects supported by the Arctic Co-operation programme of the Nordic Council of Ministers is launching a major campaign to raise public awareness of the threat posed to the Arctic by alien species «travelling» with tourists and other visitors. Nordregio takes part in the campaign in our capacity as secretariat for the Nordic-Arctic programme. “Are you travelling alone?” asks an animated polar bear in a new campaign video as he examines some clothes, shoes and equipment belonging to the travellers that step off boats and airplanes that bring them to the Arctic. The polar bear is looking for seeds, insects and parasites that passengers may have unknowingly brought with them as stowaways. The video explains how you can avoid bringing unwanted species that can threaten the vulnerable Arctic environment. It is launched together with travel operators, airline companies, travel agencies and tourist offices that have the Arctic as a travel destination, as well as national and regional authorities to make sure it reaches as far as possible – hopefully unlike the alien species it aims to warn against. Alien species are a big threat The introduction of alien species by travellers to the Arctic can become a big problem if action is not taken now to stop their spread. Fortunately, there are some simple steps that travellers can make to protect the Arctic’s flora and fauna. Experts on alien species at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MMM) have participated in making the video and information material along with it. Facts: • Alien species are a global threat to biological diversity. • The Arctic’s flora and fauna are especially vulnerable to invasions. Travellers to the Arctic region can inadvertently bring seeds, insects and parasites…

Doctors are already in some cases prescribing access to nature as a way to treat patients that deal with chronical illnesses, and now there is an increasing scientific interest to document the relationship between nature and health. In a joint article, published by the “Revue forestière française” journal, Nordregio’s Director Kjell Nilsson explores the scientific evidence regarding nature’s effect on human health and well-being. The article focuses on three central research questions regarding the relationship between nature and health: (1) Nature’s restorative and preventive effects on human beings, (2) Health effects of outdoor physical activities, and (3) Therapeutic interventions such as therapy gardens and forest bathing. This includes an overview of research conducted in the aftermath of COST Action E39, a European research network, entitled “Forests, Trees, and Human Health and Wellbeing”. The main results of COST E39 were presented in the book “Forests, Trees and Human Health” published in 2011. Find the full article “What is the Scientific Evidence with Regard to the Effects of Forests, Trees on Human Health and Well-being?” here (in French: “De quelles preuves scientifiques disposons-nous concernant les effets des forêts et des arbres sur la santé et le bien-être humains?”).

Nordic event and new report highlight the need for increased efforts to combat segregation in Nordic cities. Nordic cities are segregated and characterized by economic and social barriers that challenge the idea of the Nordic region as inclusive and socially just. Many cities in the Nordic region are therefore working to overcome the barriers and this objective can be detected for instance in their strategies for urban planning, neighborhood regeneration, housing policy and integration of immigrants. Nordic Welfare Center and The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society organize a seminar in Stockholm on April 3 to discuss these issues and provide successful examples from the Nordic Region on how to combat segregation. A new report on “The segregated city: A Nordic overview”, by Nordregio Senior Researcher Moa Tunström will be presented at the conference, where representatives from relevant ministries from Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden will also discuss their respective national policies for combatting segregation. Structural causes of segregation “The segregated city – a Nordic overview” focuses on structural causes of segregation and planning policies in Nordic cities and also brings up the challenges related to refugee housing. The latter is an issue that Nordregio studies in depth in an ongoing project called Long-term planning for inclusive cities in the Nordic region, which will be finalized later this year. In past years, the number of asylum seekers have decreased in Sweden, but the municipalities are still struggling with accommodating refugees, partly due to the large number of asylum seekers in 2015 and to the national housing shortage. Finding housing is a mandatory task for the municipalities, but cities are becoming more segregated and these types of housing solutions can be met with resistance from the local population. At the same time, the Swedish system where refugees and asylum seekers…