(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The City Hall has Due to its unilateral focus on new housing, a situation in which blood mist builders turned every square meter of the city to find space for new lucrative housing projects. The cause of the bloodshed is multifaceted, but the most important is that by the end of the 90s, the state took over the corporate tax from the municipalities. The result was that Oslo lost all incentives to engage in business development. For several years, the municipality's only income was personal taxation and Oslo invested naturally enough in housing construction to attract new residents.
The situation today can best be exemplified by the racket effect. For many years, new housing was hardly built until it has now exploded. In 2004, 3 dwellings were completed in Oslo, the vast majority in the inner city, which is the highest figure in 457 years. The number of homes under construction has remained stable at around 14 for more than one year. More homes are being built than there are people.
What the City Hall (Labor Party is no better than the Right) has not taken into account is that the corporate tax from 1.1. 2005 again has been partially returned to the municipalities. This has created an imbalance in the municipality's overall policy. Today, the municipality earns money on facilitating business, but still has a satisfied focus on housing. One of the reasons for this is that facilitating business is far more complicated than building new homes. In some cases, this is grotesque. For example, with regard to the planned housing project in Seilduksveien 25 and 31 where a well-functioning business environment will be removed at the expense of yet another bland housing project. In Seilduksgata 25 there are around 70-80 man-years in the art and cultural field.
Of course, shakes all the developers of all the tender fillets at Løkka. The entire population of Norway between 20-39 will live there. But the planned housing project is another nail in the coffin for Løkka's uniqueness. Grünerløkka's success and attractiveness is due to a good collaboration between housing, old industrial and craft culture and new creative professions. But with a large-scale residential building on Løkka you are about to kill Løkka's peculiarity. One kills the goose that lays the floors.
The one-sided housing construction is also in direct conflict with the goal of building the Grünerløkka to become the most attractive cultural cluster in the Nordic region. The co-location of KHiO and AHO on each side of the river, Norwegian Form, Hausmania, Blue, UKS, the planned cultural quarter of the old Schous, the start of Akerselva Innovation and the cultural incubator Ikada make the area attractive for new industries at the intersection of ICT (capital-rich environments). and capital-poor environments within the arts and culture field.
Innovation – the watchword of the time – takes place at the intersection of housing, walking distance to work and urban lifestyle where the public spaces are used. The center must consist of a mix between homes and commercial areas; both with high quality in which the capital-strong ICT environments can work, and business premises of inferior quality in which the capital-weak art and cultural environments can operate.
Turning the city center into a housing ghetto with only night spots and hairdressers will kill Oslo just as effectively as the Black Dove did.
Erling Fossen, Oslo City Action
