Aspects of Development of the Oslo City - Assignment Example

The Oslo Cultural, Social, Environmental, and Economic Aspects of Development Name University Oslo is considered one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Scandinavian countries. The city has gained positive image among the visitors, and is able to satisfy the needs of the most demanding travelers. The capital of Norway has managed to combine old architectural forms with modern advances creating its special image. There are plenty of museums, theatres, parks, and other places of interest that attract tourists from all the countries of the world. Despite its busy and industrial character the capital of Norway remains green and ecologically safe (Key facts about Oslo, 2010). Every winter Oslo hosts numerous winter sports competitions in the famous Holmenkollen National Ski Arena. Thus, Oslo is an outstanding tourist-friendly location, which has much to offer. The capital of Norway is multinational and diverse city, which is not very typical to Scandinavian cities as for a long time emigration prevailed immigration. Now Oslo is one of the fastest-growing cities in Scandinavian countries that is why the population increases rapidly, and the city authorities has to tackle a number of social problems, and high immigration rate is one of the first (Kemp, 2008). In the last two years the population exceeded in 2%, and the number of residents is expected to grow in 40 % in the next few decades. Such boost of population is explained by higher life expectancy and rising birth rate (Savage, 2014). Norwegian economy continues to grow in spite of European crisis attracting migrant labor from less developed countries. Therefore, immigrants from Poland, Latvia, Pakistan and other countries become new residents of Oslo. This will cause additional demand for working places in the country, and the tourist sphere will be the one which will be able to offers such places. The capital immigration flow started in 60-s when oil was discovered in the North Sea, thus the city has already elaborated its mechanisms of integration for the new comers. Oslo was ranked as the second in the Intercultural Index Cities list, which means that it has managed to establish stable and effective policy framework with recourses and actions implemented in life (Oslo intercultural profile, 2012). Two years ago the city has introduced a new policy directive “City Government Decision 152/12 - Diversity Opportunities”, that is a modern statement of the city’s goals and perspectives, developing along with a direction first represented in 2001 with the founding of the OXLO Oslo Extra Large campaign. Encouraging immigrant inflow into the country will have positive and negative results. Employment rate increase, economy rise can be overshadowed by an increased social and cultural tension if not managed properly. The city passed major changes in legislation connected to the process of migration and integration in 1996, and since then a number of editions were made. After the atrocious incident with racist mass murder Oslo has launched the initiative, which is called OXLO Oslo Extra Large aiming to state new values and plans regarding the status of migrants. The massacre in Norway caused mass negative interest to the state, and the country was forced to explain to the whole world the boost of racism, which is hardly can be justified. The image of Norway as a multinational country tolerant to all the visitors has been distorted, thus taking active measures to fix the consequences of the atrocities has become a top priority. The initiatives presupposed better cooperation between NGO organizations, educational institutions in order to promote intercultural tolerance (Brochmann & Hagelund, 2012). Making schools in areas of high cultural diversity more attractive than those in homogeneous areas by offering professional and competent staff and facilities is considered one of the most efficient tools in Oslo. Thus, a lot of schools in the poorer eastern part of the capital are ironically ranked the best schools in Oslo. The government of the city is struggling to make this initiative more publicly acceptable and famous (Oslo towards 2025, 2014). The city wants to be a responsible partner for the state, and support actively national and international networks. Thus, along with Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger, and Kristiansand Oslo has settled state network for work on diversity and racial equality (Opportunities of diversity, 2012). Taking into account globalization, increased level of immigration, and modern tourism trends the necessity to deal with diversity becomes in inevitable. Employers of the tourist industry as well as tourists themselves come from various regions of the world creating certain collective mixture. This issue in its turn can result in unexpected tension and cultural clashes. Thus, cultural variety regulation can lead to positive or negative consequences depending on the degree of effectiveness. Therefore, tourists can be influenced by lack of cultural awareness, people with opposite cultural norms and perception may have negative experience. However, efficient cultural mixture regulations benefit tourist industry resulting in attraction of new customers and better staff motivation. Introducing and learning diversity and equality from the school level has become one of the most important directions for the country in general which will result in tourism wide promotion and enhance. Apart from social aspect Oslo municipal authorities concentrate on the cultural and sport development of the city. Funding provided by the city government permit to achieve good results in culture promotion. Among the main goals of the government are encouraging city artists to interaction with public and promotion of the public cultural events. Thus, the theatre scene is gaining special meaning in Oslo providing public with a variety of modern and interesting productions. Cultural activities only benefit from cooperation of institutional and independent theatres (Oslo towards2005, 2014). Oslo can be positioned as a cultural tourist capital of Europe, thus this direction development is crucial for the government. Oslo can offer a wide variety of museums from large scientific to small thematic museums to the tourists. Government is anxious to promote the museums of which Oslo can be proud. Among the most ranked museums there are Ibsen, Munch, and Vigeland museums. Around 2.2 mln. people visited Oslo museums in 2005 (Duthie, 2010). The city also provides public with access to the libraries, which are quite popular in the capital. The government is concentrated on the enlarging of libraries` archives and expanding the space to attract more readers. The city is known as the sports capital, thus focusing on building new sporting facilities is obvious, and however, the authorities regularly upgrade the existing areas. The city finds it important to build facilities that could host international events (Oslo towards 2025, 2014). The city also hosts Nobel peace prize annually in the Oslo City Hall, which is important event for the citizens. Oslo government has to deal with cultural and historical heritage preservation as Oslo possesses a number of valuable buildings, sites, and areas. It is crucial to take into account important sites while building activities and modernization processes (Rosland, 2013). For instance, Oslo port area, its objects and installations, were included into The Cultural Heritage Plan. It is crucial for the city to preserve valuable heritage (The Ports Cultural Heritage, 2012). The citizens of the capital live in close contact with nature and prefer having rest in rural areas. The city authorities have supported the preservation of natural habitat as Oslo is surrounded by forests, parks, and lakes. The capital has very rich flora and fauna with numerous species and habitats, thus, ecological protection is one of the priorities of the authorities (Rosland, 2013). The city is also ranked as one of the smallest producers of carbon footprint emissions among all the European cities. The capital is anxious to provide all the citizens with fresh clean area, and the possibility to recreate in ecologically safe areas. At the end of the 19th century the authorities of Oslo decided to invest into hydro power in order provide citizens with life-long energy. The first hydro power station resolved the problem of energy supply for Oslo once and for all. Today E-CO Energi is one of country`s dominant energy groups, producing 9.7 terawatt-hours yearly, more than the total consumption of electricity in the capital. The capital possesses 100 per cent of the main company (Rosland, 2013). The capital has concentrated on long-term approach to ecological problems solution. Oslo government aims to deal with possible ecological problems and resources limits much in advance. This gives the city stability and the direction of environmental development. Oslo even was awarded with European Green Capital Award in 2010 as one of the greenest cities of Europe. Explicit goals establish the framework for taking efficient and fruitful action to assist the environment preservation. As was mentioned above, this fact is crucial for Oslo as it aims to position itself as one of the most ecologically-friendly capitals in Europe. Rosland states that Oslo will implement the approved strategies in the Master Municipal Plan and other policy documents, such as the Urban Ecology Programme (2016-2025). The Climate Action Plan 2012-2015 is aimed to make sure that the city`s ecological balance is preserved (Oslo towards 2025, 2014). The implementation of the Urban Ecology Programme has yielded numerous environmental projects and has demonstrated itself as an efficient tool in creating a sustainable city. Among the most successful implementations is the improved cycling scheme, the phasing out of oil heating in municipal buildings, the striving for low emission (subsequently zero emission) vehicles in the municipal vehicle fleet, and the introduction of environmental certification (2013). Oslo has a possibility to attract tourists as a “green capital” taking into account its ecotourism potential and its pioneer experience of environmental sustainability implementation. The city government strives to make the life of the citizens healthier and more comfortable, which results into overall increase of life satisfaction level in Oslo. In the course of Oslo transformation into attractive tourist destination special accent was placed on eco-friendliness. A section called Green Oslo was created on the VisitOSLO official website. Green Oslo tells about the areas of the capital that are involved into creation of green atmosphere of the city. Locations and government treat this initiative with special enthusiasm understanding its mutual benefit for tourists and citizens. The proximity of the capital to various forms of natural landscapes makes outdoor experience more achievable. Restaurants, hotels eagerly support Green Oslo action plan. Green Oslo presupposes ecological nutrition, dwelling, and transport (Green Oslo, 2012). Taking ecological development seriously the city has even established a policy of eco-certification, which obliges all companies, governmental institutions, schools, kindergartens to pass through certain procedutes in order to receive the documents. The eco-certification systems in use are ISO 14001 for large departments and companies, and the Norwegian Eco-lighthouse for small and medium-sized units and businesses (Rosland, 2013). Reducing transport usage, inefficient energy consumption, using active recycling, decreasing waste generation are primary goals for sustainability ensuring. In 2006, the city has approved the project which is aimed to find new approaches to the climate of the city, waste disposal management, and energy supply. The initiative presupposes the introduction of source separation and the recycling of organic household waste and plastic packaging (Jenkins et al., 2002). The authorities strive to reduce the area of landfills, which now constitutes 5 %. However, two of Oslo’s landfill are not supplied with waste any more. A new program of separation of food waste and plastic packaging has been implemented in all the city districts. The simple and logical system of garbage separation has been elaborated and allows simple collection of waste from households (Rosland, 2013). Such measures will benefit the level of pollution of the city as one of the main sources of pollution comes from inability to manage waste and landfills. Major part of overall emissions is produced by city transport in Oslo. Thus, the capital strives to supply citizens with increased supply of public transport and reduce personal cars usage. Moreover, Oslo also is anxious to promote green vehicles and reduce fossil fuel consumption, and even made parking for electric vehicles free of charge. Electro mobiles are given free passage through Oslo´s toll road system and are allowed to use lanes otherwise reserved for public transport (Oslo towards 2025, 2014). Oslo is offering one of the finest conditions for living, which combines modern urban zones with green areas for relaxation. The districts of the capital have, nevertheless, their peculiarities. Oslo districts vary in terms of population, immigrants’ percentage, architectural composition, land area and so on. It was estimated in one of the recent researches that geographical differences do not influence the city dwellers in the districts. Vast complex of all levels of accommodation close to the nature makes staying in Oslo pleasant and comfortable. Moreover, reaching open door landscapes does not take a lot of time either with a green transport presupposed by the initiatives or by personal cars. Thus, for the elderly tourists as well as for families with children these peculiarities will be extremely important. Oslo has comparatively strong and stable economy with a great potential for development due to business friendliness. The capital hosts major maritime sector companies. The maritime business consists of more than 900 companies with 8 000 employees. Det Norske is among the largest influential maritime sector companies. As the GDP of the country is predominantly based on maritime business, Oslo contributes 25 % to the GDP of Norway. Stable economy allows the city government to make plans regarding Oslo development much in advance. Tourism is considered to be one of the perspective industries for the city, and Norway in general, and thus its development is supported by forecast revenues of other sectors. The city does not depend on euro currency, thus have no fluctuations in demand among Scandinavian visitors. Oslo hosts several important business clusters with an elaborated network of international connections. The city being the part of Capital Region Project provides jobs in maritime sector, energy and resources, environment, and culture spheres. There is great potential of these business branches development and international expanding (Rosland, 2013). The country spends 43% of revenue on research and development with Oslo being the predominant center as, for example, 20 out 21 research centers are situated in the capital. The capital paves its way in development as a major tourist attraction. VisitOslo has been introduced as the recent initiative to make Oslo more accessible destination for holiday/leisure travelers and the scene for international events (Oslo towards 2025, 2014). Oslo is one of the most attractive European capitals with a huge potential for development. Norway was not influenced by the European crisis greatly, and, thus, Oslo is growing its power significantly increasing the population and the employment rate subsequently. The capital strives to make the living of the citizens easy and comfortable emphasizing multiracial diversity as immigrants constitute large part of work force of the city. Oslo is becoming an arena for significant international events and is increasing its cultural activities. The capital of numerous museums, theatres, exhibition centers has much to offer to its visitors. The government of the city is particularly interested in turning Oslo into green capital. A number of initiatives, such as waste recycling, gas emissions decreasing, green vehicles promoting were already implemented in life adding to Oslo`s green image. Nowadays Oslo is considered to be one of the most expensive and promising cities of the world. Reference List Brochmann, B., & Hagelund, A. (2012). Immigration policy and the Scandinavian welfare state, 1945-2010. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Duthie, A. (2010). 7 of the best tourist attractions in Oslo.Globe Tales. Retrieved from: http://www.globetales.com/7-of-the-best-tourist-attractions-in-oslo-norway/ Jenkins, R., Barton, J., Bartzokas, A., Hesselberg, J., & Knutsen, H. (2002). Environmental regulation in the new global economy. Northampton: Edward Edgar Publishing. Key Facts about Oslo. (2010).Visit Norway. Retrieved from: http://www.visitnorway.com/uk/where-to-go-uk/east/oslo/key-facts/ Kemp, A. (2008). The Immigration invasion. Burlington: Ostara Publishing. Savage, M. (2014). Oslo`s rapid growth redefines Nordic identity. BBC News. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25722053 Opportunities of diversity- on OXLO, Oslo. (2012). City government decision. Retrieved from: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/cities/OsloStrategy.pdf Oslo intercultural profile. (2012). Council of Europe. Retrieved from: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/cities/osloprofile.pdf/ Oslo towards 2025. (2008). The 2008 municipal master plan. Retrieved from:http://www.oslo.kommune.no/getfile.php/byr%C3%A5dsavdeling%20for%20finans%20%28FIN%29/Internett%20%28FIN%29/Dokumenter/2010%20%20og%20f%C3%B8r/Kommuneplan%202008%20-%20engelsk%20versjon%20med%20bokmerker.pdf Rosland, S. (2013). Urban ecology in Oslo. Climate Action. Retrieved from: http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/climate-leader-papers/urban_ecology_in_oslo/ Read More