Bringing Environmental Knowledge into Action in Norwegian Local Governments

Funded by the Norwegian Research Council program Miljø2015/Miljøforsk from 2014-2017

More than half of the world’s population is now living in cities, and this share is expected to increase in the years to come. This may cause environmental challenges, particularly with respect to increasing greenhouse gas emissions and local pollution. In order to handle these challenges, developing and sharing relevant knowledge between cities is of great importance.  

The BREV project has explored knowledge development and learning within sustainable urban development in Norway. We have addressed the ways in which city actors (planners, politicians and administrative employees in national, regional and local governments involved in sustainable urban development) in Norway create, learn and share relevant knowledge to make Norwegian cities more sustainable. Central questions have been as follows: What visions and expectations guide the city actors’ work? How do they develop knowledge and how do they learn from each other? How do they decide upon urban public transport systems, and what are the consequences of these choices?

A main finding from the project is the importance of having centrally organized urban programs in order to create and sustain horizontal learning networks between cities. This may contribute to knowledge exchange and learning among actors aiming to improve the sustainability of cities.

Vivian Anette Lagesen led the project. Lina Ingeborgrud and Lucia Liste have been project members.