University Letter

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Chief city planner for Oslo, Norway, will give talk Oct. 17 as part of Norway conference

UND will host a public lecture by the former Chief City Planner of  Oslo, Norway, at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 17, at the Gorecki Alumni Center.

Ellen de Vibe, who recently retired as the city planner of Norway’s capital city, is slated to present on the city planning and policies that led to Oslo’s prestigious recognition as the 2019 European Green Capital. Her work at the Agency for Planning and Building Services in Oslo heavily influenced the cityscape of Norway’s largest city and cultural hub, and helped it win distinction as Europe’s most environmentally conscious capital.

De Vibe’s visit to UND is part of a multi-day annual seminar (Oct. 17-19) of the Norwegian Researchers and Teachers Association of North America (NORTANA), which is convening this year at UND.  Her lecture will take place in the Gransberg Community Room of the Gorecki Alumni Center. It is free and open to the public.

De Vibe will be joined at UND by fellow Norwegian, Ingar Brattbakk, a city researcher for the Oslo Metropolitan University Work Research Institute. As a societal geographer, Brattbakk uses Oslo as the focus of his research on socioeconomic and ethnic segregation, deprived neighborhoods and community development work.

Democratic spaces

De Vibe and Brattbakk’s presence at UND, for NORTANA’s annual seminar, or “Norgesseminaret,” is fitting, as this year’s event is all about Oslo and the way it’s embraced diversity and inclusivity in the public square.

The theme of the NORTANA conference, which traditionally is conducted entirely in Norwegian, is “Oslo: Democratic Public Space.”  Local conference hosts Melissa Gjellstad and Steve Finney, faculty in UND’s Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, have put together an event in which participants will explore the “Fjord City” concept and the divisions within Oslo neighborhoods and public paces, which influence the way Norwegians perceive Oslo and its multicultural neighborhoods. They’ll also study how Oslo city planners have worked conceptually to redesign and intentionally integrate the urban public spaces within the city.

Conference organizers are expecting about 40 participants to take part in this year’s NORTANA event at UND.  UND last hosted the event in 2003.