2001-June 6-8 MILU - Iiinstitute.nl

Report of working group H: When a multifunctional and when a monofunctional
intensive strategy? Case Groruddalen Valley.
Report by Arun Jain
The Groruddalen Valley is a key residential, industrial holding and distribution area
within the Greater Oslo Metropolitan area. It is also a major road and rail
transportation corridor connecting Oslo airport, port and city center with the rest of
Norway. The area is characterized by a mix of uses and has been subject to
numerous studies and efforts looking at aspects such as congestion relief and better
coherence amongst existing land uses.
The IFHP MILU working group was invited to collectively take a fresh unbiased look
at the valley, note current issues, comment on them and suggest possible new
directions for solutions. Three days of working sessions were arranged to facilitate
the development of ideas. A site visit during the second day of the effort provided a
better sense of the scale and magnitude of issues at hand.
During this time, the hosts tried to provide some clarity on the valley’s main issues
and preferred development priorities. Background and concerns pertinent to the
valley were revealed to the working group only during the sessions themselves and
only upon detailed questioning or in response to faulty assumptions. The inability to
review existing background studies or mappings also greatly limited the working
group’s ability to provide meaningful commentary.
The above notwithstanding, the following is a summary of the understanding of the
proceedings. All the observations and comments below are of course, limited by the
extent of the site exposure and information provided and accordingly, limited in their
applicability.
17.