Malmö Voices, dialogue with Christer Larsson #3

KED and Tove Helene asks, in question 3
Does she speak Arabic?
This question is related to my reaction when you presented us to one of your young colleges, working with the migrant communities in Malmö.
And I asked; does she speak Arabic? A question you said you have thought a lot about afterwords. In a lecture at Harvard this spring an Indian researcher said that the global quality of a city is to be measured on how she (the city) treats the migrant. Our students have been exploring Malmö and done discoveries in this field, they have visited Paris and done comparative studies and observations. I asked one of our students to enter into this question to you, and she wrote (before we travelled to Paris):

I see the numbers, where are the facts?
Visiting Malmö through the internet, I got to know that people from 171 different nations live in the city. These people represent almost 40 % of all ”malmöers”. Getting to know Malmö by diving in to the world of statistics, I understand that ”new malmöers” are representing 12 - 60 % of the population in every township. At least 38 nations are represented in each township by more than 10 persons. Centrum got inhabitants from 94 different nations. The nation that is biggest represented in one township, is Irak with 2881 persons.
Encircling the city of Malmö and being a visitor that see all the different townships by foot, by cycle, by buss, I find expressions of different social layers, different life situations and different ways of living. But, I can’t see, and I cant stop wondering, where does the diversity, richness and potential of all the new malmöers come to expression?
By using Knut Eiriks formulation “ Does she speak Arabic?”, I wonder...
”Where is her cultural treasure expressed?”
”How is her cultural treasure expressed?”
”When is her cultural treasure expressed?”

So our dear friend Christer; Can you elaborate on your thinking, your planning strategies, your innovations end explorations into the migrant, the stranger, as a force in
the appearing Malmö?

Christer Larsson answers
It is a tricky question and can´t been answered so precise, I mean we have a lot of positive effects from foreign cultures in Malmö. A lot of new restaurants, a lot of new shops etc, many of the small shops has been closed if not immigrants decided to run it. We also have a lot of cultural events and I also believe that the Malmöer have been much more open minded than before.
We have a big challenge in our comprehensive planning, one idea is to engage all the citizens in the process so how is that possible, one way is to reach the younger people through f ex new media. We know that there is a lot of thing going on in music and media and will try to find and engage them. Malmö has also been famous fore the rap-music f ex Timbuktu.
Integration is really a difficult issue and the key question is the labor market, it so essential that all people will have the opportunity to have a daily work to be integrated and learn the language.
I also believe that it is a long process of hard work in many issues at the same time and it´s not easy. My goal is that Malmö should be a multicultural and cosmopolitical city in a positive way, we will see. One way is to combine special planning and social economy, f ex to work with connections engagement and dialogue in our Dialogue-PM, you can see this PMs on our web.
We mustn´t forget that our welfare was created by immigrants during the 60ths were we had a lack of workers in Europe´s industry and needed to import Italians, Yugoslavs etc, don’t forget that.
I also suggest that you goes to Möllevångstorget next time, it is an exciting square with a lot of commerce.

Christer Larsson om Øresundsvisjoner

Here is a small talk by CL on perspektives for the future of Øresundsregion.
Only in sweedish Im afraid....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVgR4_S2rXI

Malmö Voices, dialogue with Christer Larsson #2

Question, Knut Eirik Dahl: Accessibility, new forms of transport and The Fourth Space: A global example? In your last mail you told us that you where on your way to a meeting on Climate Change. In the Mosaïc::Region concept we discussed all kinds of new transport forms, in both Malmö and Copenhagen and the possible new Øresund Metro with the new connection between Helsingborg and Helsingör.We challenged the use of cars versus new and more coordinated webs of transport; walking, cycling, trams, busses, metros etc. One of our students from China is now exploring the dynamics of Malmö on the cities policies on extended bicycling, as you know Copenhagen is so proud of. The student is doing a surprising study of Malmös possible good example on bicycling related to the policies in large Chinese cities. He says that the bicycle is loosing its importance in China as the cities get bigger, but is gaining importance in Malmö. So, how do we visit your Forth Spaces: by car or in a totally new concept on transport forms. Are you exploring a Malmö concept where the car use and consequent amount of street asphalt is challenged? How is your policies on coordination of all light and collective transport forms. Is Malmö such an example for the world, as our students hope it is? Can he return to China with your city as the leading example?

Answer, Christer Larsson: Here are some very quick answers: Bicycling is still an important way to commute to the daily work, about 40% of all commuting is done by bicycles. In our planning we try to give priority to bicycles and pedestrians and of course public transports. It is very important to develop an attractive system for public transport, today this is busses driven by biogas but in the near future it will be a tram system as well. Next year the City tunnel will bee opened and that means that we will have three nodes in the city structure to use. Combined with the trams this will be attractive for daily transports in the city and the region. Concerning the traffic I will also say that it is of great importance for developing the 4th cityspace that the cars will reduce their impact of the attractive spaces. Cars take a lot of space.Your Chinese student could absolutely use Malmö as an example of a sustainable city, I guided the Chinese Minister of Housing and Urbanism, Qiu Baoxing in the Western Harbour last Sunday and we had a very nice discussion with him.

Malmö Voices, dialogue with Christer Larsson

Question KED: The Fourth Space.
The UN Climate Conferance is underway a cross the bridge in three months from now, it is tempting to start this intervju with questions on your strategic and hands-on thinking related to these challenges. But – on the telephone you put forward a concept on public spaces called The Fourth Space, which I understood as a kind of new strategic and practical guideline organising Malmö urban spaces. Can you open up some of your thoughts on this?

Answer, Christer Larsson: Of course I will, The Fourth City space is related to attractiveness and the changes in workplaces and lifestyles. Speaking about sustainability as I consider, it´s necessary to always speak about social, economic and ecologic issues at the same time. As a background for this is the attractivity of the city connected to workplaces and the global competition between regions and cities. So we have sustainability and attractiveness as one driver in the process another is the knowledge based economy with the change of workplaces, lifestyles, urban and social capital. We have a triangular connection between; Attractivity, Florida, creative class, public spaces etc.Innovation, innovative structures for new lifestyles and work, innovative methods in planning and social issues. Culture/social capital, how people act together to strengthen relations, innovations and growth. So that means that if we with spacial planning should meet all this its necessary to have an idea about the structure and the relation between buildings and public spaces. This relation are we addressing as the 4th city space.Spaces where you live is the 1st, work is the 2nd, public spaces is the 3rd and the interaction is the 4th. My idea is that the 4th should promote new lifestyles and the new workplaces. Where you work 24 hours a day in meeting places, cafes, libraries etc – the 4th space.There is a lot more to say about this, and I add some ppts as well. This is also an ongoing discussion in the NordicCityNetwork.Finaly, the sustainable city is always dense and mixed. It consume less transports, land and energy. Remember that 80% of energy consumption is related to buildings and structures for transportation. God luck with the work and come back with some new tricky questions.