Oslo

MVRDV. It is a project that has divided opinion locally. Developed by a partnership between the state, a private developer and the national railway company, it was designed to accommodate the rapid growth of the city while preserving the character of the old town and protecting the city’s greenery. The buildings have been occupied by international companies including PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte, along with 500 ‘champagne apartments’ (to use the description of one of the scheme’s critics) linked at groundfloor by a mall full of designer boutiques. In a survey by the local paper Aftenposten, 71% of the local population opposed the project and 30,000 people signed a petition opposing the scheme. It is seen by some as cutting the city off from its waterfront and casting long shadows from the low Nordic sun on the surrounding neighbourhoods. The scheme raises issues that are common to many of the cities described in this book: how to manage growth, how to balance conservation with ‘iconic’ architecture and how to recognise iconic architecture that is going to have a lasting value and not look an embarrassment in ten year’s time. Oslo has a pretty good track record in this respect. Its city hall is recognised as one of the finest modern buildings of the 20th century. Designed by Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson, this too was the result of a competition, although in a less prosperous age it took many years to complete. The original competition was run in 1918 with building starting in 1931, only to be disrupted by the war, so that it wasn’t completed until 1950. The building is best known today as the setting for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Alfred Nobel was a Swedish industrialist and arms manufacturer who created the prizes that bear his name in his will after his death in 1896. He specified that the Peace Prize should be administered by Norway to be given to the person who has ‘done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses’. The Nobel Committee is appointed by the Norwegian government and The Peace Prize is awarded on 10 December each year. It is speculated that Nobel asked for the Peace Prize to be administered by Norway because of the country’s track record in mediation and peace

keeping (unlike the more warlike Sweden). Oslo’s history has, however, not always been so peaceful. As we saw on page 45, Lisbon was conquered by a Norwegian army in 1108 who were en route to the Holy Lands as part of the Crusades. They did not, however, come from Oslo because, according to the Norse Sagas, it was only founded in 1049 by King Harald Hardrada. For those of you who remember your history, he was the Viking king who invaded England in 1066 to be defeated (and killed) by the English King Harold at the Battle of Stamford Bridge a few weeks before the English were themselves defeated by the invading Normans at the Battle of Hastings. Askerhus Castle above Oslo was built at about this time and the city that grew up on the land below the castle became known as Oslo – or ‘meadow at the foot of the hill’. The town grew rapidly and by 1300 had become the capital, even if it did have a problem with fire. Apparently, the city was destroyed by fire 14 times until at last in 1624 the king ordered that it be relocated and laid out on a more orderly plan. The city was renamed Christiania and grew to become a major commercial and artistic centre. The old town is still called Christiania and is laid out on its original grid. The name Oslo was not reinstated until 1925. Today Oslo is a city of around a million people set within a metropolitan area of around 1.5 million. Its population growth is fuelled by strong inward migration and it has become a diverse multicultural city. Much of the migration has taken place in the eastern parts of the city. Many cities have a cultural divide between their east and west ends but in Oslo this is particularly pronounced. The eastern part of the city is working class, multi-cultural and left-leaning in its politics while the western end is middle class and conservative. The two halves of the city speak different dialects and rarely mix. There is, as one might expect, ongoing debate about the extent to which the people of the east are able to participate in the city’s prosperity. There is concern about the cost of living, which is higher even than London or Paris, and the development pressures that result from this growth. However, this city of 40 islands and 343 lakes on the northern edge of Europe is clearly doing something right.