Tens of thousands of apartments are currently under construction in Oslo, and there is room for a lot more if we allow people to build high-rises, even in the central parts of the city. However, not everyone likes to live in apartments, and families with kids usually prefer single homes, row houses, and Norwegian style terrace apartments.

Oslo has lots of uninhabited areas, for instance a 15 km long virtually uninhabited valley named Sørkedalen just a few kilometers from downtown. There has been debates for as long as can remember on whether construction should be allowed in this valley. The capacity of the valley is somewhere between 30.000 and 50.000 inhabitants with low-density suburban residential buildings. That means that the subway would have to be extended into the valley though.

Here is a map of Oslo, and the valley (which I have colored yellow):
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/3826/sorkedalenth6.png

This is what the lower part of the valley currently looks like:
http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/2931/1106sorkedalenstorio4.jpg

The valley is home to a ski park:
http://sdp.skiinfo.com/images/dppic/f71918.jpg

The valley contains one important historic building that is worth preserving, Bogstad gård, which was the house of the richest family in Norway when timber was our main export industry:
http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/3576/bogstadxt7.jpg

This is the type of buildings that I personally think would make sense in this area:

Single homes:
http://www.teglhus.no/images/original/Tandberg2_127_.jpghttp://www.byggutengrenser.no/pub/config/dir_struc_root/artikkelbilder/Murhus.jpg

Norwegian style terrace apartments:
http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/589/holgerlystveienmp3.jpghttp://img243.imageshack.us/img243/7015/terrasseleilighetgu5.jpghttp://img377.imageshack.us/img377/9830/terrasseleilighetqy4.jpg

Row houses:
http://www.felixark.no/img/prosjekter/risskole/risskolevei_2.jpghttp://www.felixark.no/img/prosjekter/risskole/risskolevei_1.jpghttp://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00462/_1383843_jpg_462175r.jpghttp://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00462/_1383838_jpg_462169r.jpg

What do you think? Should Oslo open this valley for suburban construction?

no.

50 000 inhabitants in high density housing is alot better, dont waste the potential on crummy low density suburbia

@ch1le

I would agree with you 100% if the two alternatives were more suburbia or more density. It is unfortunately a bit more complicated than that, because the suburbia will sprawl no matter what. This is more a question about direction. If we don't change anything then the Oslo suburbia will continue to spread along E6 and E18 as far as 50 km from downtown. If we allow Sørkedalen to become a suburb, then the growth will take place there instead. It is, in other words, not a choice between suburbia and density, but a choice between suburbia and suburbia. I am therefore not entirely sure myself about this issue.

Not a bad idea! Of all the places in "Marka", I think this is the best place to build. I must admit that I don't know the area that well, but what I saw when I was there once, was alot of farmland.

I think they should fill Grorudalen with highrises. They can easily put 100.000 more people to the area.

@ch1le

I would agree with you 100% if the two alternatives were more suburbia or more density. It is unfortunately a bit more complicated than that, because the suburbia will sprawl no matter what. This is more a question about direction. If we don't change anything then the Oslo suburbia will continue to spread along E6 and E18 as far as 50 km from downtown. If we allow Sørkedalen to become a suburb, then the growth will take place there instead. It is, in other words, not a choice between suburbia and density, but a choice between suburbia and suburbia. I am therefore not entirely sure myself about this issue.

let sprawl go further than, and wait for the downtown to fill Sørkedalen

I think they should fill Grorudalen with highrises. They can easily put 100.000 more people to the area. Groruddalen = Commieblock slum, and is certainly an example on how not to utilize valleys around Oslo. No one wants to build anything there, and it is currently the only place in Oslo with empty office buildings and no construction activity whatsoever. You'll basically have to kick out people living there if you want decent people to move in and invest in the area.

let sprawl go further than, and wait for the downtown to fill Sørkedalen I can't imagine downtown ever growing that far, although that would be awesome. Keep in mind that the map covers an area of 40x30 km.

Not a bad idea! Of all the places in "Marka", I think this is the best place to build. I must admit that I don't know the area that well, but what I saw when I was there once, was alot of farmland. The idea is unfortunately not my own:D I think it could work, but we would have to be careful so it doesn't turn into a new Groruddalen. That is actually one reason I would be skeptic to such a project- people have an astonishing ability to forget history and repeat mistakes made by others.

@ch1le

I would agree with you 100% if the two alternatives were more suburbia or more density. It is unfortunately a bit more complicated than that, because the suburbia will sprawl no matter what. This is more a question about direction. If we don't change anything then the Oslo suburbia will continue to spread along E6 and E18 as far as 50 km from downtown. If we allow Sørkedalen to become a suburb, then the growth will take place there instead. It is, in other words, not a choice between suburbia and density, but a choice between suburbia and suburbia. I am therefore not entirely sure myself about this issue.
I say not, for the reasons given by ch1le. I disagree it's a coice entirely about subs and subs, bc most will not be willing to spend an hour extra driving each way to work. If we're ever going to have a hope to see highrises downtown, we'll have to fight this as much as the nimbys are fighting scrapers. I know it will hurt, but we have no choice. On the other hand, of course, 50 000 is only about five years of growth. It probably won't be an either/or choice.

But zoning for medium density lowrises of ~6 floors, is the absolute worst we can do. That can end up being a fallback for nimbys for years.

@Spearman

It could actually be the other way around. Norway is currently going through a phase with strong urbanization, but high real-estate prices in Oslo prevent many young rural people from moving here. Remember that the price of a small house in Oslo is often 3 times as high as elsewhere in the country. Opening Sorkedalen for low-density housing consisting of single homes, row houses, and terrace apartments, would make Oslo an even more obvious choice for rural people looking for opportunities and a more interesting life. Increased population as a result of opening Soerkedalen could therefore actually make skyscrapers more likely downtown in the future.

But zoning for medium density lowrises of ~6 floors, is the absolute worst we can do. That can end up being a fallback for nimbys for years. I agree.

^^Maybe. Keep in mind, though, that the current trend will not continue indefinitely. We need a high demand as a weapon against nimbys.

^^Maybe. Keep in mind, though, that the current trend will not continue indefinitely. We need a high demand as a weapon against nimbys. There are better ways to create high demand in Oslo. The countryside receives huge subsidies every single year, for instance 13 billion NOK in agricultural subsidies. It is also a well known fact that the government redistributes tax money from Oslo-dwellers to provide public services in rural areas. Remove all direct and indirect subsidies, and there will be 3 million people in Oslo after a couple of years...

What we need is more people. Then we would have it both ways. Politicians wouldn't need to tax cities to destruction to build subsea tunnels to islands with 50 inhabitants ;)

Ooo! I want one of these! :banana:

http://img487.imageshack.us/img487/589/holgerlystveienmp3.jpg

Ooo! I want one of these! :banana:They are great if you are fit enough to live without elevators. The slope these apartments are built on is very steep - around 45°, so the staircase goes zigzag up the slope.

no.

50 000 inhabitants in high density housing is alot better, dont waste the potential on crummy low density suburbia

I agree with you in part on the high density apartments but a better combination would be aparment complexes plus condos and private homes.

I'm saying this because here in America we have abused the fact that there's plenty of land and not too many people. Nevertheless, years of abuse are catching up with us because urban sprawl is taking up precious farmland and forests from Canada, to Mexico, to Nicaragua, to Argentina where cities have grown too large for their own good and all in the name of progress.

So now we're trying to reverse that trend by stopping uncontrolled city sprawl. Therefore, don't take green space for granted and save Sorkedalen for the future, because someone here said there's plenty of empty lots in Oslo which I believe should be filled out first.

Thus in the meantime, build more highrises, wait until you have filled the empty lots and then begin urbanizing Sorkedalen but on a nature-conscious way to prevent uncontrolled pollution, destruction of the environment and a declining lifestyle.

See you!