Private-public space in a Nordic context: the Tjuvholmen waterfront development in Oslo

ABSTRACT

Based primarily on an observational study, this paper addresses privately owned and managed public space at the Tjuvholmen waterfront development in Oslo. To date, no other research has been published internationally on external private-public space in a Nordic context. The four factors or processes dealt with are planning and development, design, management and, in particular, use. The main finding is that Tjuvholmen’s public spaces are characterized by ‘tightness’ and reduced publicness. As such, they share key characteristics with private-public spaces described in the literature from the US and the UK, while in some other respects they also deviate from these.

Notes

1. Another form of privatized public space that is widespread in many parts of the world, gated communities, are practically non-existent in the Nordic countries.

2. Planning and development are dimensions which Franck and Stevens do not address directly, but to which the authors of this paper apply their approach.

3. The part which constitutes the study area was completed in 2007–2008.

4. For a detailed study of the production and design of the Tjuvholmen area, see Ellefsen (2016).

5. With regard to categories of public space use, the authors distinguish between ‘necessary’, ‘recreational’, ‘commercial’ and ‘idealistic’/’non-profit’ activities. 'Necessary' activities are tasks that are more or less imperative. 'Recreational activities' are characterized by freedom and the absence of coercion. ‘Commercial activities’ refer to sale, serving and anything else whose purpose is to provide the individual, the employee or the company in question with a profit, income or livelihood. ‘Idealistic’/'non-profit activities’ include forms of use where promoting a particular message (preferably of a non-commercial type) to the general public is a main characteristic. The categories ‘necessary’ and ‘recreational’ activities are taken from Gehl (2010, 30–33), the other two are self-composed.

6. As of 1 January 2015, 32% of Oslo's population of approximately 650,000 had immigrant backgrounds, of which a great majority from non-Western countries (Høydahl 2015).