Skjellsordet “betongsosialisme” har av uvisse årsaker fått sin renessanse i den brennhete Oslo-sommeren. Kanskje skyldes det solstikk? Skjellsordet er sist brukt av den noengangerlittmorsomme komikeren Sigrid Bonde Tusvik i et leserinnlegg i Dagsavisen. Sigrid har blitt ekspert på byutvikling i Oslo etter å ha sett den danske barnefilmen “Den utrolige historien om den kjempestore pæra”. Nuvel, nok om henne.

Disse byggene kaller altså Sigrid Bonde Tusvik for betongsosialisme. Det er verdt å merke seg at materialene i all hovedsak består av eik og opplandskifer. ill. Leonard Design Architects/Vandkunsten/Oslo S Utvikling/Røiseland & Co. 

Et kjapt søk i Retriever (eller A-tekst for de litt eldre) viser at begrepet og skjellsordet “betongsosialisme” først og fremst, eller nesten utelukkende for å være mer presis, brukes av partiet Venstre. Hva de dog legger i skjellsordet er helt i det grønne.

I Retriever opptrer ordet første gang i 1994 og er da tillagt Odd Einar Dørum som kommenterer SVs Per Eggum Maurseth forslag om at den tette byen ikke behøver å stoppe ved Majorstuen, men at områdene mellom Ring 2 og Ring 3 har et fortettingspotensiale. I etterpåklokskapens lys er det verdt å kommentere at Eggum Maurseth fikk rett.

I 2013 fyrer Ola Elvestuen (eller Ola Husbåt som han den gang ble kalt) løs mot Arbeiderpartiets utsagt om at salamandere i en liten kulp ikke må få lov til å styre byutviklingen. At boligbygging skulle veie tyngre enn naturmangfoldet utløse kraftsalven om “betongsosialisme” fra Elvestuen.

I 2015 forklarer leder i Unge Venstre Tor Frøytvetd Dahl Venstres rekordhøye oppslutning i skolevalget (10,2%) med to faktorer: “– Vi håper nå at de voksne velgerne ser at vi trenger grønne løsninger, ikke betongsosialisme og Høyres privatiseringskåthet”.

I 2017 står en alvorstynget Ola Elvestuen foran Orklas nybygg på Skøyen og advarer om at en gammeldags betongsosialisme er i ferd med bre seg i byen. Det han mener er at alle bygg over 12 etasjer (som er gjeldende øvre grense for bygg i Oslo) er betongsosialisme (Akersposten). Så i sommervarmen nå i år toppes det hele av Hallstein Bjerkes kritikk av flere av byggeprosjektene som er under oppføring eller planlagt (Orklas høyhus på Skøyen, nytt planlagt bygg ved Plaza og KFUM´s nye stadion på Ekebergsletta. “Betongsosialisme” fyrer han av i Aftenposten (og saken blir plukket opp av Nettavisen som ikke har betalingsmur)

Er det mulig å dra noe meningsfullt ut av Venstrepolitikeres bruk av “betongsosialisme”. Nei. De bruker begrepet helt vilkårlig hver gang det grønne må vike. Alt av ny bebyggelse kan altså rammes med kritikken “betongsosialisme” av Venstrepolitikere, og viser at Venstre grunnleggende er et populistisk parti som ingen urbanister noengang må stemme på.

La meg forsøke å gi skjellsordet “betongsosialisme” en relativ presis definisjon: “Sterile og enfunksjonelle drabantbyer som ble bygget etter krigen for å løse et prekært boligbehov, og som kom som en konsekvens av lave tomtekostnader, stor statlig innsats og bruk av betong og og prefabrikerte elementer.”

Hadde Institutt for Begrepstømming fremdeles eksistert, hadde instituttet tømt begrepet “betongsosialisme” for ethvert meningsfylt innhold, og dømt enhver som bruker det til å få betong fylt rundt føttene og deretter senket dem i Havnebassenget.

 

Oslo Urban Arena attracted more than 700 participants from Scandinavia. More than 50 speakers participated in a 48 hour intense shared space-event. Here is the conclusions from the Oslo jury.

1. Welcome to Girlville

The future is all about women and cities according to the swedich professor Kjell A. Nordström. Or you might say it´s all about feminized cities. The new world order will not consist of nation states and superpowers fighting with each other as male gorillas, but of an intertwined network of 600 collaborating world cities. The woman rule the cities in two definitions. While many men still choose to live in the ”junk space” surrounding the cities, women flock to the cities, and here´s the important lesson to be learnt. They educate. Higher education in the world is becoming increasingly womanized.

2. The Real Estate Industry must marry the innovation economy

This is the conclution of a new report made by Urban Land Institute launched during Oslo Urban Arena. Cities must transform themselves to become organic growth machines producing new jobs. Cities used to focus on being service providers and welfare producers. Now they must balance their focus to value adding. When the industry moves, it has to be replaced by a vital startup-scene aiming at producing unicorns – new tech companies with a revenue of more than one billion dollar. In order to succeed the real estate industry must not only emphasize innovation in their own industry, but also create a work environment for the new economy. They have the dollars, they have the buildings, and the startups have the content. Building is not as much about erecting buildings, it´s about creating workable communities.

3. Tear down the silos

This message appeared first as a blog post at Planetizen by our keynote-speaker Brent Toderian and have stirred up the City Hall in Oslo. Brent asks: Does your local city hall have shared definitions of success? According to Brent many municipal leaders, seeking to fix the problem and create a shared definition of success, like to quote the famous story of the NASA janitor being asked by President Kennedy what their job was, and the janitor giving the answer “I’m helping to put a man on the moon.” That kind of culture of common success starts at the top and flows down—with the leadership, vision, inspiration, and constant communication connecting every task and role with the big picture goals. It is also worthy to separate the need for reorganization of City Hall, and creating a common culture by tearing down the silos. What does it help to reorganize if it only creates new silos? If cities want to succeed in creating a multidiciplinary, holistic perspective on city-making, every employee inside the City Hall must share the common vision.

 

4. The city is the brand

As cities compete to attract talents, companies and investment, many cities have branded themselves as either the most creative city in the world, the smartest or the most liveable. In many occasions cities develop slogans to go with the message. But as brandexpert Martin Boisen said: No one has ever moved to a city due to a logo. Action speaks louder than logos. Branding cities can actually be helpful. The world is a stage, and your city has a role to play. The first message is to avoid being a copy cat and focus on your own uniqeness. It is also just as important to involve a larger community to make branding work. It takes a village to brand a place. Equally important is to have strong leadership communicating the message. Strong leaders can rock the boat.

5. Urban planning must be messy

Too many urban planners see themselves as the rightful heir to the throne that Hausmann created for himself in Paris during the reign of Napoelon. Many cities experience a paradigmatic shift in planning going from technocratic to incremental. It´s about the science of muddling through. Prof. Greg Clark stressed that one of the key components of Londons´ rise to world city-status was messy planning. Developers, urban planning authorities and local residents all play a vital part of the planning game. Instead of imposing height restrictions, the planning authorities must ask the residents what they will have in change for loosing their private view. Getting a children´s playground in walking distance is much more appreciated than the private view.

6. If you want your city to run, first you have to walk

The car is under a dramatic attack due to climate change. Ban the car-activists want to park the car for good and ban them in the city centre. Brent Toderian stressed that his message – and a vital part of what has become known as vancouverism – was not anti-car, but prioritizing walk- and bikeability. If your city succeed in creating a walkable downtown, then even those who must use the car, will not be stuck in a traffic jam. This is a multi-modal transport planning that mirrors the need of a multitude of desires.

7. The grandma is in the details

The Norwegian born, but Copenhagen-residenzing architect Lin Skaufel focused on how cities welcome and encourage their inhabitants. This message can be split at least in two. Does the City welcome initiatives or is it just noise disturbing the city officials in their daily routines? And the grandma is in the details. If you wander or stroll in the city, do you experience a lot of urban gravy, or do you see small token of carefully designed devices designed to your pleasure? If you visit Copenhagen´s official Facebookpage the profile picture is a underarm with a large tattoo of Copenhagens city logo. Not a picture of a tourist destination. That resembles a confident city with a big heart. Like a grandma.

 

 

 

Oslo has now underway it’s most ambitious place promoting-project ever. After our first meeting in the Advisory Board – with high profile place branding experts from Amsterdam, Barcelona and London – it’s easy to point out differences from the well-analyzed case of Bilbao, but there is even one similarity worth elaborating.

When Bilbao started it’s ambitious regeneration plan in the mid-90´s unemployment rate staggered at record high 25 percent. As late as 1975 the unemployment rate was 3,2 per cent. The need to do something was urgent. Oslo’s unemployment rate is rising, but still modest at 3,7 percent. Bilbao increased industrial employment in the 70´s and eighties, but in Oslo it has been decreasing since the 70`s. The starting point is therefore very different. Oslo has already undergone the making of a diverse economy with a large proportion of new jobs created in business services (NACE 72-74). While Bilbao needed to get rid of the negative connotations of beeing industrial, and tap into the positive imagery of post-industrial, Oslo is already seen as post-industrial.

Bilbao used what is commonly known as Harvard’s SWOT-model (strengths, weakness, opportunity, threats) and used strategic planning as a major tool to drive the economic regeneration. The case of Bilbao is centred on the flag ship-project Guggenheim Bilbao. The museum still attracts around 800 000 non-Basque visitors yearly – which is close to a world record for a third or fourth-tier city. But the regeneration plan for Bilbao consists of several different strategies. Including a total modernization of the harbour and the airport, building a new metro, upgrading the tramway and the water and sewer system.

The most controversial place-branding project in Scandinavian cities came in 2005 when Stockholm launched their ”Capital of Scandinavia”-slogan. Stockholm was heavily hit by the dot-com-crisis and needed to change. First they tried to sell an image of the city as ”the Venice of the north”, but failed. Place branding is about creating an image of something unique. Who wants to be the second best Venice? The Capital of Scandinavia-campaign became a success cause of its broad anchoring in the region. Similar to Bilbao – they succeeded in bringing the whole region behind the initiative. Behind the Oslo regions place promoting-project is close to 80 surrounding municipalities and stakeholders from all the major multinationals present in Oslo.

The aim of the current Oslo-project is quite modest. Beside the goal to strengthen the regional cooperation, the main target is to reduce what you can call ”the perception gap”. The knowledge of Oslo is low amongst the global business-elite. Oslo has a strong economy base and with the rise of Oslo Airport as the Nordic hub, we could easily step up to be the main gate into the Nordics for talents, multinationals and investors going north in a stagnating Europe.

Place branding works in mysterious ways. Bilbao copied Glasgow in many aspects. They even used the same slogan. ”Glasgow can do it” became ”Bilbao can do it” (Bilbao puede hacerlo). But different from Glasgow – Glasgow’s image has changed, but the economic recovery has failed to materialize – Bilbao also succeeded to transform their economy. Business services represents 34% of the overall employment growth from 1995 to 2005 in metropolitan Bilbao.

The main challenge for Oslo is to motivate the movers and shakers to change, even though the crisis is not here, yet. But if we succeed, the crisis will never come. As we say in Norway: You’ll need a strong back in order to carry good times.