Eli Støa

Leisure and sustainable development in Norway: part of the solution and the problem

The article presents the results of two succeeding Norwegian studies on the environmental impacts of leisure consumption. The first study presents data on the total consumption of leisure products and services by Norwegians, showing that leisure consumption increases more than everyday consumption, the most energy-intensive leisure activities increase the most, leisure activities have become more dependent on transportation and that leisure activities are to an increasing extent based on more material consumption. The second study consists of case studies from four leisure activities in Norway that have experienced the greatest increases in consumption over the last two decades: outdoor recreation clothing, cabins, leisure boating and leisure transportation. The case studies show that the problems connected with reducing the environmental impacts of leisure consumption are numerous and complex, and cannot be solved alone by technological improvements in leisure products and services. We conclude that new policies have to be developed which can on a short-term basis promote changes of leisure consumer habits in a more environmentally friendly direction, and on a long-term basis alter the existing strong links between economic growth and leisure consumption.

Framing Outsidedness – Aspects of Housing Quality in Decentralized Reception Centres for Asylum Seekers in Norway

Abstract In 2013, more than seventy per cent of Norwegian reception centres for asylum seekers were decentralized or partly decentralized, meaning that the residents lived in ordinary homes dispersed around the town or local area, instead of in a centralized institution. The article presents results from a research project aiming to document and identify how localization, type of buildings and housing quality of asylum centres influence the asylum seekers’ well-being. The main focus of the article is on decentralized asylum centres. The results are based on qualitative case studies of seven selected centres. The housing standard in the case studies varied, but there was generally a lack of maintenance of the buildings. Even if decentralized accommodation was seen as improving the well-being of the residents, empowering them, making them more independent and reducing conflicts, there is a danger that poor housing quality turns it into a symbol of outsidedness.

Ways of residing in transformation: Interdisciplinary perspectives

Profound transformations in residential practices are emerging in Europe as well as throughout the urban world. They can be observed in the unfolding diversity of residential architecture and spatially restructured cities. The complexity of urban and societal processes behind these changes requires new research approaches in order to fully grasp the significant changes in citizens lifestyles, their residential preferences, capacities and future opportunities for implementing resilient residential practices. The international case studies in this book examine why ways of residing have changed as well as the meaning and the significance of the social, economic, political, cultural and symbolic contexts. The volume brings together an interdisciplinary range of perspectives to reflect specifically upon the dynamic exchange between evolving ways of residing and professional practices in the fields of architecture and design, planning, policy-making, facilities management, property and market. In doing so, it provides a resourceful basis for further inquiries seeking an understanding of ways of residing in transformation as a reflection of diversifying residential cultures. This book will offer insights of interest to academics, policy-makers and professionals as well as students of urban studies, sociology, architecture, housing, planning, business and economics, engineering and facilities management.Profound transformations in residential practices are emerging in Europe as well as throughout the urban world. They can be observed in the unfolding diversity of residential architecture and spatially restructured cities. The complexity of urban and societal processes behind these changes requires new research approaches in order to fully grasp the significant changes in citizens’ lifestyles, their residential preferences, capacities and future opportunities for implementing resilient residential practices. The international case studies in this book examine why ways of residing have changed as well as the meaning and the significance of the social, economic, political, cultural and symbolic contexts. The volume brings together an interdisciplinary range of perspectives to reflect specifically upon the dynamic exchange between evolving ways of residing and professional practices in the fields of architecture and design, planning, policy-making, facilities management, property and market. In doing so, it provides a resourceful basis for further inquiries seeking an understanding of ways of residing in transformation as a reflection of diversifying residential cultures. This book will offer insights of interest to academics, policy-makers and professionals as well as students of urban studies, sociology, architecture, housing, planning, business and economics, engineering and facilities management.This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a macroeconomic overview of the state of the art in the field of housing, which reveals considerable regional or country-specific demographic, social and economic differences between the cases drawing on specific countries. It discusses the changing circumstances for the formation and study of residential preferences. The book also focuses on the culture of second homes in an affluent Norwegian society with a constantly increasing living space per person. It also discusses the social significance of conversion of centrally-located industrial heritage complexes in Tallinn. The book presents a discourse analysis of a case in Flanders, Belgium, which based on 1990s low-scale debate on the assumed dysfunctions of social rental housing. It presents critical account on the lack of diversity of offers within housing market, which is particularly notable in housing production systems based on industrialisation and standardisation.