Urban Contingency - 2018 - Residents and Neighborhood

Report on Urban Resilience in Trondheim ––––– Residents and Neighborhood

Cinthia Stecchini, Krishnan Kavungal Anat, Xin Li AAR5220 – Urban Resilience nd Mar 2 , 2018 Trondheim, Norway

Introduction As the world population becomes increasingly urban, cities must be able to address unexpected events that could cause disturbance. Vulnerability is the propensity to be harmed and to not be able to deal with this harm (Kelman et al., 2016). It is built in a long-term process by human decisions thus, acknowledging vulnerabilities enables acting on them to eliminate or reduce the propensity to upheavals. This can be done through building resilience, which is also a long-term process that relies on human choices (Kelman et al., 2016). When applied to urban contexts, urban resilience ensures that shocks and stresses can be dealt with.

With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, Arup has researched and developed the City Resilience Framework to understand how urban resilience is built, and the City Resilience Index (CRI) to measure a city´s performance over time. “City resilience describes the capacity of cities to function, so that the people living and working in cities – particularly the poor and vulnerable – survive and thrive no matter what stresses or shocks they encounter” (City Resilience Framework, 2015, p.3) -this definition recognizes the importance of the city´s functions to deal with disturbances and transform from it, addressing inclusively and especially vulnerable groups and populations.

Cities, as complex and adaptive systems, are “composed of socio-ecological and socio-technical networks which extend through multiple spatial scales” (Meerow, Newell and Stults, 2015, p.39) and the interdependency of these implies that vulnerabilities can be cumulative, as well as the consequences of a shock. Therefore, resilience must span different scales, both temporal and spatial. The CRI acknowledges this need for a holistic approach to urban resilience and is, thus, defined and structured across four dimensions: Health and Well-being (people), Economy and Society (organization), Infrastructure and Environment (place), and Leadership and Strategy (knowledge). To allow various actors to measure city resilience and make better decisions, the index presents 12 goals which represent the most important issues in a city when facing a disturbance and towards which every city should strive to build and strengthen resilience. To define and measure the critical factors underlying these goals, 52 indicators were composed.

This report presents an overview of how the city of Trondheim, Norway, is organized in relation to goals 1 – Minimal Human Vulnerability – and 4 – Collective Identity and Community Support. Although these goals are categorized in different dimensions of the CRI – people and organizations, respectively – both relate to city resilience in a more local scale, of residents and neighborhoods. The first one addresses the fulfillment of basic needs and the latter relates to the community engagement and integration.

As vulnerabilities are cumulative, the neglect of basic rights and needs, such as housing and food, can enhance other vulnerabilities for households, making it harder for them to cope when facing stresses. An active and engaged community, on the other hand, can provide support for different groups and strengthen their capacity to deal, adapt and change in the presence of a disturbance. This report will, thus, present both goals and an overview of four of their indicators, presenting the risks, the actors involved in dealing with them and their actions, and will make suggestions to further improvement.

Methodology From each of the goals, two indicators were applied to context, which was guided by one or more key questions. Some methods used to collect data were common and are, therefore, presented here.

Data was collected from the official websites of the municipality and relevant organizations, reports, an newspaper articles.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the Salvation Army and the Church City Mission, both provide services for the city including free food, temporary shelter and community support. The latter is responsible for the management of Vår Frue Kirke, a church in the city that gathers different people, especially vulnerable and marginalized groups (poor, homeless, drug addicts, etc.), and where these three services are provide.

Governmental actors were approached for interviews. Yet, for different reasons most of them could not receive us during the timeframe of the research. One of the most receptive was the Mattilsynet or the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. Mattilsynet is a state-owned government agency that helps consumers ensures safe food and drinking water. They promote public, crop, fish and animal health, environment friendly food production and ethically sound holdings of fish and animals. They are based on the legislations set for similar agencies in the EU/EEA (Mattilsynet.no, 2018).

A questionnaire was elaborated using an online survey platform (Google Form), for which 49 persons th

th

voluntarily answered between February 20 to 25 . Invitations for participation were sent through social media and the sample is, thus, comprised of extended networks of the researchers. Sample distribution as follows: Regarding nationality, 23 respondents are Norwegian, along with the rest are from other 15 different countries. The age of the respondents distributes between 20 years old to 52 years old. Over half of the respondents are students. Approximately 53.1% respondents have been living in Trondheim for 1 to 5 years, 24.5% for more than 5 years, and 22.4% for less than 1 year. Respondents were asked about their Norwegian language skill in order to identify if Norwegian is a barrier for the integration to the society, nearly 60% speak fluent Norwegian, about 85% live as tenants across 12 different sub-districts, and most respondents live in Berg-Tyholt area. According to respondents’ gender, nationality, Norwegian language skill and location, overall the samples are well distributed.

1.

Gender:

2.

Nationality

3.

Occupation

4.

Years living in Trondheim

5.

Norwegian language skill

6.

Home ownership type

7.

Population distribution

Goal 1: Minimal Human Vulnerability 1. Description of the goal The first goal relates to people, addressing their basic physiological needs and to which extent they are met, acknowledging that human vulnerabilities must be minimized (City Resilience Index, 2016). This implies adequate provision of food, water, sanitation, energy and shelter that will enable a good standard of living for the population and, therefore, allow them to deal with unexpected events.

The indicators for the goal measure the provision, affordability and safety of these services. In this report, two of them were chosen for understanding the case in Trondheim: Safe and accessible housing, and Sufficient food supply. This choice is based on personal experiences: as international students, the prices of housing and food generate stress from the moment one moves to the city. Affordability of these services is an important issue especially when it comes to vulnerable groups (City Resilience Index, 2016).

The investigation was based on the following questions: 1)

To what extent does the city have an adequate supply of safe and affordable housing?

2a) To what extent are adequate and nutritious food supplies accessible as well as affordable to households and individuals (with emphasis on vulnerable groups)?

2b) To what extent is the quality and nutritional value of available food and quality of water supply monitored and maintained?

2c) To what extent are the relevant authorities prepared for emergencies in the case of food shortage?

2. Findings a) Safe and accessible housing Some vulnerabilities regarding housing provision were identified through the questionnaires.

Although results showed that most participants had not experienced any unexpected/unwanted events related to housing in Trondheim, the most frequent disturbance reported was animal infestation, followed by mould and burglary/break in, and then by flood and being unable to pay the rent (Figure 1). When asked about which of the same events are considered as a real threat that could affect their current home, the most frequent answer was again none, followed by fire and burglary/break in and, subsequently, by being unable to pay the rent (Figure 2).

Experienced unexpected/unwanted events (n=49) 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Figure 1: Unexpected/unwanted events related to housing that were experienced by the sample (n=49).

Perceived risks/threats (n=49) 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Figure 2: Perceived risks and threats related to housing according to the sample (n=49).

The high prices for housing also appear in the amount of monthly expenses that are used for this purpose: from those who answered the questionnaire, only 10 persons (20%) use up to 30% while all the others use more (Figure 3). Further in-depth research is needed to relate this to the monthly income, as high expenses with housing could mean that less is left for the fulfillment of other basic needs and, therefore, life quality decreases.

The affordability of housing also appeared as a critical factor when a research on online newspaper articles was conducted using the municipality´s name together with keywords such as housing, housing policies, social housing and housing deficit. Few results were relevant and, although the dates were old, two articles found showed that provision of affordable housing required further investigation: one pointed the difficulties faced by international researches to find housing in 2010, suggesting the need for more student and/or affordable housing (Normannsen, 2010), and the other reported how the city was reducing its municipal housing stock while the demand remained high (Hageskal, 2015).

Percentage of monthly expenses used for housing (n=49) 2%2% 6% 12%

0-10%

2%

10%-20% 12%

20%-30% 30%-40% 40%-50%

25%

50%-60% 23%

60%-70% 70%-80%

16% Figure 3: Percentage of monthly expenses used for housing.

80% or more

To what extent does the city have an adequate supply of safe and affordable housing?

The municipality has a housing stock of owned, rented or managed properties that are available for temporary rent by households with disadvantages in the housing market (Trondheim Kommune, 2018a). The stock is composed by different typologies including houses designed for special needs, such as wheelchair users.

Applicants must be without adequate housing and unable to get it by themselves due to economic, health or social conditions (greater emphasis is on the latter two during allocation or that low income per se is not enough).

The applicants cannot have debts with the municipality nor have denied previous housing offers and assistance.

They must have been registered in Trondheim for, at least, the last two years and foreigners must have residence permit. These last conditions do not apply for refugees who arrive for the first time in the city – they are granted municipal housing or housing assistance as soon as it is proved that they are unable to get housing. The minimal age for applying is 18. For young people, with ages from 17 to 23, a special housing service is offered, called Ungbo (Trondheim Kommune, 2018b).

Data from Statistics Norway (Statistisk Sentralbyrå, 2018) shows that Trondheim´s municipal housing stock consisted of 4580 homes in 2016 in comparison with 4410 in 2007 – an increase of only 170 units (Figure 4), while the population in the same period increased in more than 25000 (Figure 5). Although most of the housing units are owned by the municipality, the proportion of these in comparison to the rented ones changed in 2011 when the number of owned units decreased and the rented ones increase in approximately 1000.

Municipal housing stock, 2007-2016 5000 4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Total number of municipal homes available

Municipally owned

Municipally rented

Private owned with municipal disposal rights

Figure 4: Trondheim´s Municipal Housing stock, 2007-2016.

2016

Trondheim´s total population, 2007-2016 195000

190464 187353

190000 184960 185000

182035 179692

180000

176348 173486

175000 170000

170936 168257 165191

165000 160000 2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Figure 5: Trondheim´s total population, 2007-2016.

The number of new applications for municipal housing has decreased from 2009 to 2016, although it has been slowly increasing since 2013 (Figure6). Although the composition of all applications according to their condition was not available, refugees represent the group that most move to municipal housing every year (Figures 7 and 8) while households with no special conditions are the most frequently placed in waiting list (Figures 9 and 10).

New applications for municipal housing, 2009-2016 3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0 2009 Total

2010

2011

Rejections

2012 Allocated

2013

2014

Newly moved

Figure 6: New applications for municipal housing, 2009-2016.

2015

2016

Waiting list

Newly moved composition, 2009-2016 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Refugees

Need for housing

Mental disorders

Drug addicts

Drug addicts with mental disorders

Other issues

2016

Newly moved households composition, 2016 12% 5% 10% 54% 11% 8%

Refugees

Need for housing

Mental disorders

Drug addicts

Drug addicts with mental disorders

Other issues

Figures 7 and 8: Newly moved households to municipal housing.

Waiting list composition, 2009-2016 200 0 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Refugees Need for housing Mental disorders Drug addicts Drug addicts with mental disorders

2015

2016

Waiting list composition, 2016 12%

14%

9% 13% 39% 13%

Refugees

Need for housing

Mental disorders

Drug addicts

Drug addicts with mental disorders

Other issues

Figures 9 and 10: Waiting list to municipal housing.

The increase in the population is not followed by an increase in the number of applicants, suggesting that newcomers to the city find housing through other mechanisms. The data enables the identification, however, of households with low income and no other health or social condition as more vulnerable when it comes to access to housing through the municipality. The Municipal Housing department was contacted and asked for an interview or further information, but these were not possible in time due to the winter break. To facilitate access to housing, financial assistance is provided by the Norwegian State Housing Bank (Husbanken, 2017) and, in times of emergency, temporary accommodation can be sought through Nav (NAV, 2017). The emergencies considered are: fire, breakdown of family or relationship and eviction.

For homeless people or low-income travelers, Kirkens Bymisjon together with the Red Cross offers free shelter services. A place to sleep over night, food, and access to toilet and shower are provided. Although the guests cannot leave their belongings in the place, this service can be sought for several nights if they come in time for check-in. For homeless with drug addiction, the Salvation Army offer a similar service. On Fridays, Vår Frue Kirke is open during the whole night and anyone can come and sleep on a bench. Kirkens Bymisjon also provides housing for unaccompanied refugee minors. The representative we interviewed noted, however, that there are no temporary shelter services to homeless Norwegians with no other special conditions in the city, suggesting this population remains at risk.

b)

Sufficient affordable food supply Data from numbeo.com was used to find expenses in Trondheim to achieve a nutritious diet (which

includes two diet types of western and eastern food, where each diet would consist of 2300 calories) (Numbeo.com, 2018).

Table 1 (source: numbeo.com)

Table 2 (source: numbeo.com)

Through an online survey website aversalarysurvey.com, annual salary trends was observed of various jobs in Trondheim through from a sample of 55 individuals from the city (Averagesalarysurvey.com, 2018).

Table 3 (source: averagesalarysurvey.com)

Figure 11. Frequency distribution of survey results on average annual salary in Trondheim (source: averagesalarysurvey.com)

The survey on Google Forms included certain key questions regarding food availability, accessibility and affordability.

Figures 12, 13, 14, 15. Results of online survey conducted.

A map of a non-exhaustive list of food distributors (or supermarkets) in and around Trondheim city center was compiled from Google Maps

Figure 16. Distribution of Supermarkets in Trondheim (source: Google Maps)

The main local producers that cater to the market in Trondheim and all of Norway are the co-operatives of Nortura, Grilstad, Slaktehus AS (slaughterhouses), Isfjord (fishing) and Tine (dairy). Majority of the distribution is done through supermarkets Bunnpris, Rema 1000, Kiwi Minipris, Coop Norge, etc. Also mentioned by the senior

inspector from Mattilsynet that since most supermarkets operate as a chain around the country, the procurement is also decentralized with no heavy dependence on a local market.

There are also two breweries, E.C. Dahls Bryggeri and Austmann Bryggeri, and two chocolate producers Nidar and Cielo Sjokolade.

Any food near expiration but that which can still be safely consumed and in possession of the distributors mentioned above, there are certain agencies such as Matsentralen which collect, store and re-distribute to establishments like Freselsarmeen and Kirkes Bymisjon/ VårFrue Kirke. Matsentralen receives produce from Rema 1000 and Coop Norge and is relatively new in Trondheim. Informal practices such as dumpster diving, which refers to an act of searching through trash cans near supermarkets to find food that has been considered unconsumable and prematurely disposed of. Dumpster diving is frequently done by students and other communities who believe that throwing away food is bad or those who believe in reducing their expenses on food (either by necessity or by choice). The practice itself may be illegal (Gallagher, n.d.). There are certain communities or groups on social media that link people who wish to participate in dumpster diving activities together.

The inspector also mentioned that there was a substantial amount of food being wasted, especially from bakeries and restaurants. A mobile app “Too Good to Go” was privately developed to help reduce wastage and connect restaurants with people who need freshly prepared meals at low prices.

The Trondheim Kommune is the relevant city authority responsible for water supply. The Mattilsynet works in co-operation with the Kommune to provide clean a nd safe drinking water in the city and conduct frequent checks and monitoring of the water quality. The Mattilsynet employs veterinary doctors and other experts who help conduct inspections in all premises of food production, distribution, storage and serving establishments.

Debio is a responsible authority for regulating and approving organic production in Norway.

Figure 17. Network of food producers, distributors, related agencies and authorities in Trondheim (source: Self)

Placements and proximities of each organization depict the level of interaction, connection and similarity between other organizations.

The VårFrue Kirke and Freselsarmeen procure food from Matsentralen and otherwise directly from distributors. They process and cook the food further and make it available to certain marginalised groups in their premises. Free food and coffee is available during most days of the week in these premises. The Mattilsynet inspects these premises as well.

The Mattilsynet are also responsible for checking the quality of commercially imported food items using a detailed set of regulations, control procedures and specifications.

There have been several cases of food contamination, events that may have lead to production of contaminated food and/or cases where food has directly resulted in the loss of health of individuals in Trondheim.

Some of those incidents are mentioned below along with similar incidents from the close vicinity of the city: a.

Multiple cases of food poisoning related too food contamination in restaurants (specifically meat)

b.

In a nearby town of Røros, presence of parasites in the water supply was found (date unknown)

c.

In Nor-Trondelag, contaminated cheese served in a hospital resulted in deaths of certain patients

d.

High mercury content was noticed in fishes weighing more than 100kg and 3m in length in summer of 2017

e.

Polluted waters degrading the quality of fish has been monitored and recorded for public reference in the website matportalen.no

There is a county-level security and disaster risk management network lead by the governor. The network is known as Fylkesmannens Beredskapsutvalg or Beredskapsråd. The Mattilsynet and the Trondheim Kommune are an important part of this network in the Trøndelag region. There is a list of prepared set of scenarios which may result in a state of emergency in the county, which include nuclear fallout, quick-clay disasters, flooding, terrorist attacks, etc. In each case, the response provided by each organization is carefully prepared. Mattilsynet has high priority in many scenarios to ensure safe food supply during emergencies. The Mattilsynet played an important role in monitoring animal health, mushroom conditions and other aspects that may have been affected by radioactivity from Chernobyl in 1986.

The Mattilsynet frequently take part in drills that simulate emergency situations. The authority is confident in its preparedness and work closely with other stakeholders such as institutions and individuals related to medicine, individual and community health, public services, related agencies and authorities from the EU/EEA, etc. There are alarm systems in place for outbreaks and are monitored by various institutions for adjusting their functioning. These include MSIS - Norwegian Surveillance System for Communicable Diseases, VESUV - National Institute of Health's tissue-based system for Outbreaks, RASFF - Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed.

Figure 18. Functioning of VESUV alert system (source: Guzman Herrador, 2013; translation Norwegian to English by self)

In 2015, the Trondheim Kommmune had given 150 refugees a temporary place to live near the airport in Trondheim. Mattilsynet was responsible for helping provide safe and nutritious food to the refugee population during this time.

To what extent are adequate and nutritious food supplies accessible as well as affordable to households and individuals (with emphasis on vulnerable groups)?

Even though the general pricing of food is high, the average salaries and data collected to the surveys point out that nutritious food is generally affordable and accessible. The physical distribution of establishments such as supermarkets is favorable for most neighborhoods. But as per a few survey results, there were experiences of food shortage during Sundays when most supermarkets remain closed or nearing Christmas when there is high demand. There exist organizations that work toward the welfare of marginalized groups by providing them easy access to food. Such organizations are supported by other supplementary services and there also exists certain informal practices that help marginalized groups achieve the same effects.

To what extent is the quality and nutritional value of available food and quality of water supply monitored and maintained?

There are various agencies and authorities that are responsible for the maintenance of the quality and safety of food and water available in the city. The methods adopted by these authorities are detailed and thorough in all cases identified. Yet there exist rare or occasional cases where negative impacts have come out of food contamination.

To what extent are the relevant authorities prepared for emergencies in the case of food shortage?

There are important disaster risk mitigation plans in place that ensure food availability and safety of food during emergency situations. There is a good level of communication between various authorities involved in the management of such situations, so as to reduce the general impact as well as impact on food supplies and availability. The competence of various authorities has been proven through their management of historic incidents that may have lead to crises in food supply and quality management.

Conclusions and Recommendations: To increase accessibility to housing, municipal housing policy could prioritize the expansion of its housing stock by acquiring more properties. This would allow the attendance of larger populations as well as enable better contention of housing market prices. For homeless people, the already existing temporary shelter services could consider using a quota of their beds to national low-income population.

The Trondheim Kommune should identify food wastage as an ethical issue that exists in the city which results in unequal access. Through the success of food delivery programmes of the Kirkes Bymisjon and Freselsarmeen, it may be understood that there are significant populations in the city that depend on alternative sources for nutritious food (due to physical, social or economic reasons that are not readily apparent). Through policy guidelines the city authorities can help in increasing access to food without affecting the dignity of those who are in need of such services, as well as decrease the dependence on small-scale privately-run mechanisms, possibly unsafe informal practices, etc.

Goal 4 Collective Identity and Community Support 1. Description of the goal Apart from different stakeholders like city government and individuals, communities and organizations in the city are mostly related to the goal “collective identity and community support”. For instance how social and economic systems enable people– especially the vulnerable individuals who live in Trondheim, to stay peacefully, as well as to act collectively. Besides the top-down aspect which includes policies, regulations, and the fiscal management within Trondheim, the physical and social environment are also playing a very important role in this goal, e.g. the distribution of public open spaces and the identity of culture heritage in Trondheim ( figure 19 ).

Figure 19. The system of policy, environment and people.

Furthermore, with the aim of achieving the goal, the city should be observed to see if it has active community engagement, strong social networks and social integration. For example, are the communities in Trondheim actively and appropriately supported by the city government? Are the communities also well-connected with other communities to contribute to the bottom-up creation of Trondheim with a strong identity and culture? This creation enables individuals, communities and the city government to trust and support each other, engage with each other, and face unanticipated circumstances simultaneously without unnecessary civil unrest or violence. The goal focuses on the relationships and interactions within communities as well as between communities. It also measures the sense of identity, civic pride and engagement with city life by residents. The figure above shows the mechanical system between policy which stands for the city government; environment which includes both physical and social; people which stands for the individuals are operating cohesively in the case of this goal (City Resilience Index, 2016).

2. Methodology a) Indicators and questions： There are two indicators under this goal which includes “Local Community support” and “Actively Engaged Citizens”. It is worth mentioning that the term “citizens” here represents all the people who live in Trondheim regardless of their citizenship ( figure 20 ).

In order to determine the first indicator, the individuals, the households and the neighborhood communities should be provided with help and support from cohesive social structures. For example, how is the isolation of individuals and households reduced by the top-down support? How are the relationships between residents within communities fostered? How is the possibility of individuals being isolated during times of shocks and stresses deducted? How do communities work together to adapt to stresses and recover from shocks?

Figure 20. Goal, indicators and questions

The second indicator focuses on bottom-up, grassroots participation, as opposed to top-down engagement initiatives the city government may implement.

b)

Data collection methods: So far we have used the term “community” numerous times; however the definition of this term is still

very vague. So therefore we asked ourselves an additional question: What is community? The definition in a dictionary indicates that it is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

Community in Beijing, China might refer to the gated communities. In Pune, India, “Dadda”( literally for male) can be seen as a community leader, Nagar Sevak might be seen as an area leader. What about in Trondheim? Community in Norwegian is “samfunn”. Is Studentsamfunnet a kind of community we are discussing in the goal of community support? Svartlamon might be a good case to discuss, but how many communities are there like Svartlamon that are geographically neighborhood-based and that can also immediately offer support to its residents who are in need?

In order to answer prepared questions regarding community support, as well as to find out people’s point of view of community in Trondheim. We applied both quantitative and qualitative methods, including questionnaires via computer-mediated communication, such as instant messaging and email, site visits and observation, face-to-face and online interviews. The secondary data collection resources we used were statistics website, websites of community organizations, and articles and reports from the media.

3. Findings a) The questionnaires i.

Results regarding neighborhood communities This section addresses 9 questionnaire items related to neighborhood communities. In order to gain more clarity and reduce confusion to questions, we explained the term “neighborhood community” by adding that it is where most participants of community events live within the same neighborhood”.

About the prepared question: “To what extent do local communities and community organizations provide an additional avenue of immediate support for people”, the worst case

scenario is that there is little interaction between neighbors; few community groups exist and people have little connection or interaction within their communities.

According to the responses, nearly 45% respondents have only spoken with their immediate neighbors a couple of times, 33% don’t know their immediate neighbors at all.

Approximately 81% don’t feel any sense of community within their neighborhood. Only 14.3% respondents have weekly or monthly events within their neighborhood. Only 2 respondents answered there is a community within their neighborhood: Moellenberg Velforening and TOBB. The respondent who gave the answer of Moellenberg Velforening reported that they didn’t really know much about the community, for instance its funding resources, the community center or whether it has a community leader or manager. They also answered there are no weekly or monthly events within their neighborhood. We tried to know more about this neighborhood community and gain more information about it, but we didn’t get the chance to conduct an interview with its members. The only information we know so far is that Mollenberg Velforening used to be very active on media last year. We couldn’t help but ask ourselves: Does this community provide any form of supports to its residents? Does it receive funding from the city government or private sectors in order to provide additional avenue of immediate support for people, and how does it ensure that it can continue to operate? On the other hand, TOBB is a private real estate management company which provides services like administration, security, construction, etc. The only way to receive their services is to pay 400 nok for the membership, and it will cost 300 nok for residents less than 18 years old (Become a TOBB member,2018).

Figure 21-28. Questions and results regarding neighborhood communities

ii.

Results regarding other communities By asking people about their opinions on other community organizations that are based outside of their immediate neighborhood, we could have a general view of what kind of communities and social activities people are usually engaged in. When we ask about the name of their organizations, we received the answers such as Aktivisten, AIESEC, Doevekirka, Hometrotter, Jump Cut, Kria Dalan, Online Linjeforening, Pinsekirken Heimdal, Urbanistene, BEST Trondheim, Amnesty NTNU etc. Overall, they include several student organizations, organizations of shared hobbies, organization of shared political views and organization of shared religious, e.g. churches. Moreover, a respondent answered NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), another respondent answered Sit (Student I Trondheim, the organization based in Trondheim that provides several students services like housing, canteens, gyms etc). Apart from this, 42.9% respondents do not consider themselves to be a part of any community organizations. And of this group, 70% do not speak fluent Norwegian.

As mentioned before, culture heritage plays an important role in making social life more active and inclusive as well as building civic identity and adding engagement within the city. In order to explore the sense of collective identity at the city-wide scale and to know more about how people think of the culture heritage of Trondheim, we asked respondents to think of 3 words that describe the social and cultural aspects of Trondheim; and it came out with this diverse and contradictory result. As the results show, people have a sense of identity and culture but some of them are in conflict with, and weaken the identity of the city, e.g. the terms “lonely”, “isolated”, “segregated”, “ignorant” and “hopeless" ( figure 29 ).

Figure 4.4. The social and cultural aspects of Trondheim answers

Figure 29. The answers about social and cultural aspects of Trondheim

b)

The interviews i.

Salvation Army Trondheim It is not that challenging to find the red colored ATM sized Fretex boxes in Trondheim.

Fretex is the largest second-hand chain store in Norway. There are a total of 50 second-hand stores (4 in Trondheim), 1 online store and 1 outlet store, operated by Fretex in Norway. Fretex made 193 million nok in 2016. Traced back to its original administrator, Fretex is entirely owned by the Norwegian Salvation Army (About Fretex, 2018).

Figure 30. The entrance hall of the building of Salvation Army Trondheim.

The ministry is motivated by the love of God.

The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian Church and an international charity organization. Salvation Army Trondheim has its own website and a Facebook page with 968 followers, with a service which typical replies within an hour. The office address of the organization is in Midtbyen, the city center. Almost all of the activities which are organized by Salvation Army Trondheim take place at the same address as the administration office. The ground floor of the building contains a dining hall; there is a church on the top floor. We got a chance to interview the current leader of Salvation Army Trondheim who led us to the church and we had our conversations there. Although it is a religious organization, they open the door for everyone regardless of their religion. Besides religious activities, the organization routinely provides other services and events including free Norwegian language lessons, free lunch, other knowledge-sharing events, and hobby-related events like live music concerts. Furthermore, there are regular family-focused events that particularly strengthen family units like ‘playtime for family’( figure 30 ).

The funding of Salvation Army Trondheim includes support from the city government– Trondheim Kommune, private sectors (e.g. the profit margin of Fretex), and donations like legacies. The organization also has built a close relationship with local media. Finally, the leader uses “soup”, “soap” and “salvation” to portray the organization.

ii.

Kirkens Bymisjon “People know where to find us. They know the church in the city center”, said the manager of Kirkens Bymisjon. Similar to Salvation Army which was founded in London in 1865, Kirkens Bymisjon is also a faith-based organization which was founded in Trondheim in 1991. The church she mentioned is the Vår Frue - Åpenkirke which regularly offers religious activities and other services like free food, free music concert etc ( figure 31, 32 ).

Kirkens Bymisjon’s official website is also available in English. It has 21,334 followers on its Facebook page which is very responsive to messengers and typically replies in minutes. It is an inclusive, nonprofit organization, which works among people who face challenges in life for various reasons. Their vision is that people in the city shall experience respect, justice and care.

The organization has been cooperating with Trondheim Kommune, other organizations, thousands of volunteers, contacts, education and research institutions and with a large number of donors, which indicates that Kirkens Bymisjon has a strong network with other organizations that collaborate on initiatives across Trondeheim, in addition there is effective collaboration between these community-based organizations, education institutions and the city government.

Figure 31, 32. Vår Frue – Åpenkirke; the slogan of Kirkens Bymisjon is “Room for everybody”.

Room for all also means use for all, and they believe city should have room for everyone, also a good city needs good places for meetings and communities.

Besides church events, the organization has activities and services in the following fields: children, youth and families, residential social work, volunteer center, health services, support groups, self-help and poverty relief, culture exchange, 24 hours helpline via phone and internet which ensure that everyone including venerable individuals could get immediate support. The manager of Kirkens Bymisjon gave us four words to describe the organization; they are “courage”“presence”“generosity” and “faith”.

iii.

Aktivisten Aktivisten is a community that not so many people in Trondheim are familiar with. The first impression you get from them if you happen to pass by their meeting café in Midtbyen might be that this group of people is on the political left, and you will also notice that there are conspicuous signs saying “Refugees Welcome” and “Anti-Nazi Zone” from their window. “Some people like me are always trying to avoid politics, avoid seeing it on news, avoid hearing about it, and avoid mentioning it in any conversations” said by a resident in Trondheim. But in order to make a city more resilient and to make people involve in policy change, politics is normally a necessary and unavoidable topic that people need to discuss. Therefore, there should be mechanisms in place to empower vulnerable members in Trondheim. There should be a community which holds a strong sense of justice and positively contributes to improvements for the society. There should be a place that people can sit down together and openly discuss about politics, although some people’s believe might be away from the current mainstream and normally we have to agree on disagree.

Other than the meeting café, Aktivisten also uses the Facebook platform to publicize the events and share knowledge. Their Facebook page has 1027 followers and they typically reply messages in a few hours. Furthermore, everyone is welcome to take part in the activities except racists and fascists. They also share the meeting café with other community organizations,

e.g.

other political interests groups and animal right groups. A member of Aktivisten describes his community with “empowering”, “togetherness” and “safe”.

iv.

Norsk Start (Online) The initiative to have an interview with Norsk Start Trondheim was triggered by a shared event on Facebook. The event was a Norwegian language café hosted by Norsk Start and Studentersamfundet. Norsk Start is a student organization which works with the integration of refugees in Trondheim together with Trondheim Kommune and NTNU. They have weekly meeting events for refugees who have already settled and Norwegian speaking students, in addition to other social events each semester. They also have a buddy program for refugees who have attended university which allows them to join other students in relevant lectures as guest students at NTNU. The purpose of organizing language café was to give every student a chance to have interaction with other students and to improve their Norwegian language skills.

Different from the previously mentioned interviews which were conducted by face to face, the interview with Norsk Start was carried out on social media via Facebook messenger. It showed on messenger that they typically reply messages in a few hours on Facebook and its page has 876 followers. The organization is officially registered and it effectively collaborates with other organizations as well as the city government with the Trondheim Kommune's integration apparatus– the Qualification Program for Immigrants (INN). Trondheim Kommune also provides the main external source of the funding to Norsk Start. The organization’s office address is also the long-term meeting place for most of the activities which is in Midtbyen, the city center. Few activities like the Norwegian language café are happening in Studentersamfundet. Norsk Start offers services such as language courses, knowledge sharing events and culture exchange opportunities. Same as other interviews, we asked the organization to describe itself using three words. Norsk Start responded “including”, “integration” and “meeting-place”.

c)

Other findings

Figure 33-35, Prove of the existence of neo-nazi in Trondheim.

The sticker in photo ( figure 33 )spreads the hatred to vulnerable groups in Trondheim, it says: Islamists Not Welcome, Stay Back or we will kick you back. Recently, Studentersamfundet invited a hyper-nationalist politician to give a speech. On the same day, on a very popular anonymous social media, Jodel –students were discussing the importance of “free speech” and some said we should kick foreigners out before they blow up a building.

The photo ( figure 34 ) shows an article talking about the rise of the neo-nazi movement in Scandinavian countries, especially in Sweden. The article says there are 10 active neo-nazi members in Norway. Several days ago, we found a neo-nazi supporting sticker ( figure 35 ) in center of Trondheim.

According to the news report, riots and violence have occurred in Sweden (Ravndal og Bjørgo, 2018).

Therefore, based on the risk and vulnerability assessment ( figure 36 )

by Norwegian Directorate

for Civil Protection, we suggest adding another anthropogenic hazard -- Civil disorder. Where to put it in this likelihood- consequences coordinate system depends on how we take the action right now.

Figure 36. Source: Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection

4. Limitations and recommendations According to the data we collected through questionnaires, there is little sense of community within neighborhoods in Trondheim. Furthermore, most people are not familiar with their immediate neighbors; some even don’t know their immediate neighbors at all, with little interaction within their neighborhoods. In the case of other organizations for instance churches, different levels of support are mostly listed on the websites of organizations, as a result people can get easy access to the services. But most websites of these organizations are only in Norwegian. The data also shows that people are part of organizations like student organizations or other communities of shared interest, but most of these kinds of organizations are not capable of providing immediate support for individuals during times of shock or stress.

Because there is large number of non-Norwegian speaker residents in Trondheim, an immediate action we proposed is to make websites of more organizations available in English. In order to decentralize the power as well as enable people, we suggest encouraging forming neighborhood communities. Consequently, people will build stronger sense of belonging within local communities and neighborhoods, generally neighbors will know each other much better and provide additional avenue of immediate support to individuals and households. On the one hand, people will feel more engaged in the society; on the other hand, more job opportunities will be created. Finally, Over 50% of questionnaire respondents were students, compared with 22% of people in Trondheim being students, which is not close to representative. Therefore the relevant part of the report is not by any means representative but might provide a few ideas on how to improve future studies.

Overall Conclusion Building Resilience in a city is context specific of its geographical location, economic and social status, political will, and many specific factors (Sharifi et al., 2017). In the case of Trondheim, being in a western context, there is specific awareness for the need to build resilience. As suggested by indicators that are relevant to both goals 1 and 4 selected from Arup’s CRI, the city and relevant stakeholders have invested greatly in building resilience. This relates to the abundance of available resources in households, and generally the city and the country of Norway. In the case of cities of the global south, there are challenges related to availability of resources to households and governments, along with a lack of awareness (Asian Development Bank, 2013; Jha, 2012). In the case of Trondheim, there are holistic and concentrated efforts that lead to improvements in building resilience, as a result in the quality of life of the citizens. While for the most part, the current scenario and level of resilience seems close to ideal, there is still room for improvement in efforts relating to policy and cyber infrastructure. Trondheim is close to being one of the ideal cities that satisfy the goals 1 and 4 of Arup’s CRI.

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