2 Summary
Improved urban environment
The Government will stimulate and support a development that ensures the quality of life in cities and towns. Growth and transformation of the cities and towns represent both threats and opportunities. These changes have major consequences and are practically irreversible, hence it is important that further development of the city-structure and the city-districts are guided in the right direction. The development of sustainable and competetive cities and towns demands a long-term perspective, in which land-use and spatial planning remains an important tool.
The cities play a steadily increasing role in regards to innovation and development of businesses and services. 77 percent of the inhabitants in Norway are now living in cities and towns. The cities' strong growth in employment and population increases land-use pressures. This pressure is further reinforced by the increased land-use per inhabitant in Norway. This urban sprawl leads to greater travel distances between important functions and an increased demand for transport services. A strong growth in land-use will also occupy productive agriculture areas, reduce biodiversity and may threaten areas important to nature, valuable eco-systems, wildlife and cultural milieus.
Poorly managed city-growth results in urban sprawl and increased motorised traffic, while environmentally-friendly traffic, also for short distances, will be reduced. Among the population, a lower level of physical activity is a growing problem for public health. Growth in the private car-use leads moreover to increased energy consumption. The population is exposed to noise and air pollution, in combination with airborne particulate matter caused by wood-firing, which leads to increased risk of disease and other significant health problems. Increased emissions from private car-use contribute significantly to global climate changes. Some city-districts are suffering environmentally from heavy traffic, lack of green areas, poor management of cultural heritages sites, deteriorated buildings, and poor maintenance of public squares and other outdoor areas.
In this report, the Government clarifies the principles for the principal physical structures in cities and towns and for the detailed physical development in local communities. The counties and municipalities are – in co-operation with national authorities – responsible for implementing the principles through integrated land-use and transport planning, both regional and locally.
Development of environmentally friendly structures in cities and towns
Towns and cities in common regions should establish a co-operation for planning for regional development. There is a synergistic potential, in the cities' and towns' urban qualities, distinctive character and unique qualifications, that must be utilised. Co-operation and an appropriate, distributed workload, between the cities and towns, will enhance public services.
The physical structure in cities and towns encompasses the development-pattern and the organisation of infrastructure, centres and green areas. These structures change over time as a result of ongoing decisions and development concerning land-use and transport. Over a period of time, there are a lot of decisions, and with an integrated approach the decision-makers have an opportunity to act as dynamic stakeholders. The Government desires local and regional authorities to make the most out of this potential for change, in order to develop functional and environmentally-friendly structures of cities and towns. Further, a sustainable urban development must be ensured through long-term development structures and co-ordinated land-use and transport planning, which is founded on the following principles, cf. figure 2.1
The cities and towns of tomorrow should be dense, functional, diverse, and to a larger extent, based on environmentally-friendly transport. The main road network should serve the public transport nodes in the cities, and also other functions that demand high-levels of car-use. Public transportation system must be strengthened and form the backbone in the transport-system and the city-structure. Valuable green-structure, bio-diversity and cultural heritage must be unconditionally safeguarded, when creating a dense urban development. The density of cities and well-defined boundaries to the countryside – particularly agriculture areas and woodlands – will be important to reduce the land-use consumption, protect the bio-diversity and ensure outdoor life. New development should primarily take place within the building-zone, by transformation and infill, rather than utilisation of green areas. New dwellings and services that generate traffic should be localised at major public transport nodes or close to public transport lines. These principles will enhance the transport-efficiency for private businesses and services, contribute to a better financial foundation for public transport, and reduce the demand for private car-use. Implementing these principles will reduce the consumption of fuel and emission of greenhouse gases, while the local air quality will also be improved.
Figure 2.1 Town development model in which the public transport constitutes the backbone in the city-structure. The illustration shows a principle description of the most important elements in an environmentally friendly city-structure.
Source Miljøbyprogrammet
Development of attractive places
A principal condition when creating en environmentally-friendly development in cities and towns is the interplay between the overall city-structure and the different town quarters within the city area. The city-centre constitutes the structure core, and plays a key role in the public transport system. The local centres and towns – both within the city region and outside the city borders – should be connected to the main lines in the public transport system. Efforts must be made in order to minimise travel distances to services, and the outdoor environment should promote walking and cycling, health and quality-of-life. When planning and implementing a transformation or new development, it is important to secure the existing qualities in cultural heritage sites and milieus. The green-structure, in combination with attractive outdoor areas and squares, will significantly upgrade the physical environment. Public transport should be prioritised in the local centres, in combination with easy access and safe outdoor environment. Less noise and quiet areas should be safeguarded, possibly through the establishment of environmental zones.
Comprehensive local planning and implementation are important means to achieve environmentally-friendly places. The complex relationships between housing, services, employment, outdoor areas, transport, and parking can be solved by integrated planning. Many stakeholders and institutions have different goals – partly conflicting – when a local centre or town-district shall be transformed or further developed. The challenge is to create new forums for co-operation, e.g. through binding partnership.
A balanced development pattern for attractive cities and towns
The Government will initiate a further development of the co-operation between the cities and towns and their surrounding municipalities. The distinctive characteristics, qualities, and potential of the regions must be utilised for development of businesses and services. This will enhance the regional balance and give a more efficient use of resources. The Government will continue the national program «Development of Attractive and Environmentally Friendly Towns in Rural Areas», which will be finalised in 2005.
Functional city-structures and co-ordinated land-use and transport planning
In order to achieve national goals to develop functional cities and towns, the Government will:
Further develop and reinforce the means and principles for creating functional and environmentally friendly structures. The municipalities and counties have a major responsibility to follow up these principles through land-use planning.
That the city-areas shall be developed on the basis of co-ordinated land-use and transport plans. These plans must have a regional perspective and be anchored in the Planning and Building Act.
Ensure that localisation of national investments will contribute to a positive, environmentally-friendly development.
Further develop, increase, and disseminate the knowledge regarding the relation between land-use, city-structure, transportation, physical activity and health, in such a way that a preventative health policy to a larger extent can be integrated in the land-use and transport planning.
Place emphasis on a closer co-operation with the private sector in order to realise efficient transport and distribution of goods when developing transport and land-use policies.
The Government means it is necessary to co-ordinate land-use and transport planning with investment in transport infrastructure in city areas. This may lead to a prioritising of investments in public transport or the cycling network.
Co-ordinated land-use and transport plans shall be emphasised when prioritising projects in the city areas in the National Transport Plan. Based on evaluations and experience, the Government will revise the national guidelines for co-ordinated land-use and transportation planning. The principles presented in this report represent an important basis for the revision.
Comprehensive spatial planning and high quality city transformation
The Government will:
Ensure infill and transformation with high quality, and that local communities in cities and towns will be developed with a comprehensive perspective. The challenges concerning traffic and land-use pressure must be solved with an integrated approach, in which existing qualities are protected, while the needs of further development are simultaneously ensured. There is a need for placing deliberate emphasis on maintenance of outdoor public areas, green-areas and cultural heritage sites.
Underline the significance of connecting new development and transformation areas with public transportation, by public-transport nodes or along public-transport lines.
The State must act in a co-ordinated fashion, particularly regarding transformation-or renewal-areas where the national authorities play a role as both owner and authority. National investments, developments, and other activities should be co-ordinated with local plans for urban development.
The Government has developed a primary strategy to fulfil the national goal for reduction of noise pollution. There will be initiated an offensive to implement source-reducing measures, and the regulation will be strengthened. The Government will further reinforce the efforts to achieve better air quality by, among other factors, establishing stricter thresholds for local air quality through new legislation and by supporting environmentally-and health-friendly transportation modes like public-transport, cycling and walking. The Government will actively incorporate national targets for noise and air pollution into the National Transportation Plan, and invite certain large municipalities to carry out «environmental zone pilot projects» in order to document possible initiatives and measures.
Figure 2.2 The City railroad in Strasbourg, France. The city railroad is lead through central squares and the pedestrian zone, having a trace of its own. Avenues, streets and buildings along the track were improved simultaneously during the construction period of the track. Since 1990, use of public transport has increased by 40 percent.
Source «Nye byrom», Jan Gehl and Lars Gemzøe
To conserve and further develop the green structure and woodlands, the Government will request all major municipalities who border woodlands to work out a woodlands management-plan within 2006.
Further, the Government will:
Increase efforts for protecting cultural heritage, by promoting building restoration as an alternative to new development, continue and improve the established city network of co-operation on protection and development of cultural heritage, and give increased authority to municipalities within this sector.
Improve the management of cultural heritage through changes in the Planning and Building Act.
Stimulate the private business sector to take responsibility for the consequences of trips generated by visitors and employees, by producing guidelines and support for developing mobility plans, and by introducing incentives to promote environmentally-and health-friendly transport-alternatives.
Continue the «Forum for Co-operation for Urban Development in Large Cities» and invite other major cities to participate when relevant issues are to be adressed.
Evaluate National Guidelines on Strengthening the Interests of Children and Adolescents in Planning, and revise the guidelines if appropriate. The need for such a revision will be considered in relation to the need for broader set of guidelines to assure quality of planning for other groups as well. These are also important elements in the planning of transformation and infill in cities and towns.
Follow up the work with accessibility and universal design through a detailed action programme
The Government will stress the need for a close co-operation between the municipality and the major stakeholders – both private and public – in order to develop the city centres.
The «Committee on Improving the Planning and Building Act» has prepared proposals concerning measures to simplify and improve planning in general. The Government will assess these proposals in the final phases of the Committee's work.
The Government will assess the need for changes in the Planning and Building Act to boost municipalities’ capacity to choose their own individual energy solutions. There will also be an assessment regarding possible requirements to ensure flexible solutions i new development and by renovation of existing buildings.
There is a need for improved utilisation and co-ordination of the resources that today are being used by an array of organisations and institutions that have competence in the field of improved urban-environment in cities and towns. The need for establishing a centre for networking, systematisation and dissemination of knowledge, will be assessed.