Oslo

Urban Living Lab – Oslo, Hersleb Ung Byutvikling

How can urban change processes be implemented to attract more participation from young people?

The Norwegian urban living lab aims to create consistent opportunities for contact between the youth and city employees, while building youths’ capacities for reflection and interest in creating changes in urban spaces through research on their schoolyards as a ‘Byrom’ (multi-purpose public living space).

The Oslo ULL takes place at Hersleb Upper Secondary School (H20), an inner city high school in the centre of Oslo, the capital of Norway. H20 has in recent years transformed itself from an undesirable to an innovative school offering unique programs such as the KDA (Culture, Development, and Society) course for students which introduces students to architecture and design. The student body is highly diverse culturally, with many of the youth coming from low-income families and facing both social and economic challenges that can make actively participating in society demanding. H20 emphasizes learning in settings beyond the classroom and has established numerous external partnerships that contribute to educational efforts in the city and local community. Through partnering with Natural State on the TRUSTMAKING project, in cooperation with the Planning and Building Department (PBE) and Bykuben, the school aims to empower students as active citizens by enhancing their understanding of how they can make their voices heard in municipal planning processes.

While Norwegian society is characterized by a high level of trust, youth are more likely to distrust participatory processes. Youth often feel that their suggestions are not implemented or they are not given any input on how their suggestions affected the final decision-making process. Due to this, there is often little active engagement by youth to create changes in the city.

The Oslo ULL aims to make youth input visible through placemaking. Using placemaking mapping techniques and the principle of “lighter, quicker, cheaper,” we plan to go from youth ideas to physical change in the local environment in a short time frame and work with youth on how to make this process visible for future youth.

Working with youth as employed staff in the Oslo ULL through a grant from Sparebankstiftelsen, as well as students from the H20 KDA and Geography classes, using mapping techniques we are working on building youths’ skills for reflection on urban spaces and increasing youths’ capability of ‘control over one’s environment’ by applying theoretical understanding to real-life activities and creating opportunities for contact between PBE and H20 youth.