How national parks change a rural municipality's development strategies - The Skjåk case, Norway

The governance structure on which contemporary nature conservation policy and practice are based represents a new structure that may affect development strategies in rural municipalities. The purpose of the article is to analyse the dynamics of change in local place development strategies in the wake of proposals of and establishments of national parks in a rural municipality in Norway. The empirical analysis is based on a qualitative longitudinal study that spanned a period of more than 20 years. The author claims that neo-endogenous approaches represent a valuable addition to studies that have treated state-driven nature conservation initiatives in terms of local resistance and unbalanced power relations. This due to the article's focus on co-evolution and the development of local capacity through external relations. Additionally, the article demonstrates the value of longitudinal studies when rural dynamics of change are investigated. Both planning and complexity theories are combined with assemblage theory are applied in order to conceptualize the dynamics of change from a local perspective. The author concludes that the national parks trigger strategic shifts and new approaches to place development that challenge previous strategies. Moreover, the local ability to act for change is strongly connected to processes of deterritorialization and reterritorialization. Additionally, new challenges grow in these processes of change, namely tensions between the defined and the undefined becoming when results in terms of goals and purposeful ends are not achieved.publishedVersio

The strategic value of contradictions: exploring the practices of climate planning in Bergen, Norway

Understanding how cities develop climate plans is crucial to capture their potential to achieve ambitious climate goals. Previous literature has highlighted the role of external pressures or heroic actors in driving local changes. By highlighting the everyday practices of actors in urban climate planning, we reveal new sets of contradictions in climate governance. Drawing from social practice theory, this paper examines how contradictions were managed in the process of developing a new climate plan in Bergen, Norway. Through a variety of empirical sources, we explore the strategic value these offer, and the organisational work accomplished by the navigation of contradictions. We highlight three strategic benefits of negotiating contradictions: the legitimisation, expansion and signalling of climate work. In conclusion, the paper argues that considering practices of climate planning reveals novel forms of agency, namely the potential of mundane organisational processes and the pivotal role of civil servants in this work.publishedVersio

How Does Place Matter to Highly Skilled Migrants? Work/Non-work Experiences of International Physicians in Norway and Sweden

The article tackles the question of how place matters to migrant physicians in the regions of Agder in Norway and Skåne in Sweden by exploring how place-specific conditions affect their experiences in the work, private, family and social domains of life. For this purpose, the article uses thematic analysis of the narrative material gathered through 25 semi-structured interviews. The lens of work/non-work domains, combined with a practice-oriented approach to place, highlights the complexity of lived experiences as they evolve in a particular context. Three main findings are identified: the non-homogenous significance of place across life domains, the vital role of transborder connections and obligations that affect individual and family resources for work/non-work negotiations in the place of settlement and the limits to the skill-based privileges in the place of settlement, which are notable in the domain of work but not replicated in non-work domains.publishedVersio

Kulturen og det regionale Norge

Hensikten med dette prosjektet er å belyse kulturlivets betydning for den regionale utviklingen i Norge. Følgende problemstillinger er søkt belyst gjennom prosjektet: - Hvordan fordeler den offentlige ressursinnsatsen seg på ulike regioner i Norge? - Hvilken betydning har ulikheter i den statlige (og kommunale/ fylkeskommunale) ressursinnsatsen for utviklingen av et profesjonelt kulturliv i ulike regioner? - Hvordan er kulturinteresse og egenaktiviteter i kulturlivet fordelt på ulike regioner? - Hvilken betydning har kultur og kreative næringer for regional og økonomisk utvikling? - Hvordan kan et sterkere regionalt kulturliv bidra til nyskapning og kvalitet i kulturlivet? - Hvordan kan økt statlig kulturinnsats i det regionale Norge bidra til utvikling av de ulike landsdelene i Norge og samtidig styrke det samlede kulturlivet i landet

Asylsmottak og lokalsamfunn

Det empiriske grunnlaget for denne rapporten baserer seg på en spørreundersøkelse gjennomført blant alle kommuner med asylmottak i Norge og blant alle asylmottak i Norge. I tillegg er det gjennomført tre Casestudier i tre forskjellige kommuner, og som danner det kvalitative datagrunnlaget i undersøkelsene. Den overordnede hensikten med rapporten er å beskrive, analysere og komme med innspill til hvordan forholdet mellom asylmottak og lokalsamfunn fungerer og eventuelt kan bli bedre. Rapporten beskriver og analyserer 1) samhandling på et overordnet institusjonelt nivå mellom UDI, driftsoperatør og kommune, og 2) samhandling lokalt mellom asylmottak, kommune, det sivile liv, grupper og individer. I tillegg diskuterer rapporten hva slags type kompetanse det er viktig å legge til grunn i et lokalsamfunnsarbeid

Samspill i fem norske byregioner

Internasjonal forskning har gjennom flere år påpekt at et funksjonelt trekk ved den moderne byen er at den flyter sammen med sitt omland. Byen og omlandet har i en historisk kontekst fått endret betydning, noe som særlig kan sees i sammenheng med en sterkere global integrasjon. Det blir ofte sagt at grenser er blitt mer flytende. Fysisk, mental og sosial mobilitet flytter og utfordrer skillelinjer og skaper nye relasjoner i komplekse nettverk. Disse relasjonene defineres og redefineres stadig på tvers av tradisjonelle geografiske grenser. Dette har vært det teoretiske så vel som det empirisk observerbare utgangspunktet for denne undersøkelsen av samspillet mellom by og omland i fem norske byregioner. Prosjektet har vært tuftet på en erkjennelse av at det er behov for ny kunnskap om samspillet mellom by og omland i Norge. Skillet mellom det urbane og det rurale har ikke vært vektlagt i dette prosjektet slik det tradisjonelt har vært i norsk regionalforskning og regionalpolitikk, men snarere har samspill og integrasjon mellom by og omland vært det sentrale fokus. Til sammen står samspillprosjektet for grunnleggende ny og unik kunnskap om samspillet mellom by og omland i en norsk kontekst. Dette samspillet belyses med omfattende analyser av hverdagsmobilitet, analyser av næringspolitikken og analyse av det næringsmessige samspillet i alle de fem byregionene Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim og Tromsø. De empiriske analysene er blitt satt inn i ulike teoretiske forståelser som fokuserer på hvordan moderne byregioner kan forstås, med særlig vekt på endringene som har skjedd i forholdet mellom produksjon og forbruk i dagens byregioner

Place, geography and the concept of diaspora : a methodological approach

This paper is an investigation, in a methodological sense, of the relevance of place in the context of international migration. It offers a critical discussion of the concept of diaspora, especially in relation to place. It furthermore argues against the use of homogenised and pre-fixed concepts such as disembedding as bases for empirical research about place in the context of international migration. The theoretical part of the paper begins with what has been called the “cultural turn” in human geography, a development which is discussed in relation to the material and the immaterial. Throughout the paper the argument is that the material and the immaterial interact within the concept of place. The methodological argument starts with the phenomenological concept of typification, and continues by placing categories and prototypes as methodological concepts in a semiotic model which highlights both the material and the immaterial contexts of life

Mobilitet og det multikulturelle byrom: Hva skjer med stedsmyten, grenser og forskjellighet? Eksempler fra Kristiansand, Norge

This article raises the question of what happens on a conceptual level when migrants arrive in a new place. The article shows how processes connected to the establishing of borders and boundaries and the transgressive are competing, intersecting processes within the same multicultural urban space. In the analysis, the concept of place myth is used in the sense of prototypical geographical conceptualizations of what place is. The way that the concept of place myth treats diversity and mobility is analysed, as is the way in which migrants handle a place myth that sees mobility and migrants primarily as new phenomena not yet part of the myth. The article shows that metaphorical concepts such as region and flow are valid, and sees the two processes connected to borders and mobility locally, in conjunction with global and national trends. The article concludes with examining how the place myth, mobility and the cosmopolitical dimension can function as elements in local adaptation strategies among migrants.

How national parks change a rural municipality's development strategies - The Skjåk case, Norway

The governance structure on which contemporary nature conservation policy and practice are based represents a new structure that may affect development strategies in rural municipalities. The purpose of the article is to analyse the dynamics of change in local place development strategies in the wake of proposals of and establishments of national parks in a rural municipality in Norway. The empirical analysis is based on a qualitative longitudinal study that spanned a period of more than 20 years. The author claims that neo-endogenous approaches represent a valuable addition to studies that have treated state-driven nature conservation initiatives in terms of local resistance and unbalanced power relations. This due to the article's focus on co-evolution and the development of local capacity through external relations. Additionally, the article demonstrates the value of longitudinal studies when rural dynamics of change are investigated. Both planning and complexity theories are combined with assemblage theory are applied in order to conceptualize the dynamics of change from a local perspective. The author concludes that the national parks trigger strategic shifts and new approaches to place development that challenge previous strategies. Moreover, the local ability to act for change is strongly connected to processes of deterritorialization and reterritorialization. Additionally, new challenges grow in these processes of change, namely tensions between the defined and the undefined becoming when results in terms of goals and purposeful ends are not achieved

How Does Place Matter to Highly Skilled Migrants? Work/Non-work Experiences of International Physicians in Norway and Sweden

The article tackles the question of how place matters to migrant physicians in the regions of Agder in Norway and Skåne in Sweden by exploring how place-specific conditions affect their experiences in the work, private, family and social domains of life. For this purpose, the article uses thematic analysis of the narrative material gathered through 25 semi-structured interviews. The lens of work/non-work domains, combined with a practice-oriented approach to place, highlights the complexity of lived experiences as they evolve in a particular context. Three main findings are identified: the non-homogenous significance of place across life domains, the vital role of transborder connections and obligations that affect individual and family resources for work/non-work negotiations in the place of settlement and the limits to the skill-based privileges in the place of settlement, which are notable in the domain of work but not replicated in non-work domains.How Does Place Matter to Highly Skilled Migrants? Work/Non-work Experiences of International Physicians in Norway and Swede