Norwegian policies for developing sustainable small rural communities: A heart for the whole country or national

policies for sparsely populated areas in Norway

Prof. Jørgen Amdam

Volda University College

Nesna 23.07.07

Content

• What is happening in Norway – especially rural districts – and why

• Regional policy– The small regional policy– The big regional policy

• Policy for marginal areas – sustainable small rural communities

• Summing up

What is meant by rural areas?

RURAL – OUTSIDE COMMUTINGAREAL, BUT HIGH URBAN INFLUENCE

URBAN – RURAL”RURBAN” – COMMUNTING AREA

URBAN - METROPOL

”SUPER-RURAL”:PHERIPHERALAREAS OUTSIDEURBAN INFLUENCE

Rural Norway:Sparsely populatedLong distancesFjords and mountainsFerriesTransport through Sweden and Denmark to Germany,France, Italy ..

EU PERIPHERY INDEX:100 % OF NORWAY ARE UNDEREU AVERAGE – MOST ARE VERY PERIPHERAL

Town andCity structure

Norway is almost “empty”

Population density 2000NORWAY VERY LOW

GDP PER CAPITANORWAY VERY HIGH

Gjennomsnittleg årleg endring i prosent

-0,40

-0,20

0,00

0,20

0,40

0,60

0,80

1,00

1,20

Storby Småby Stor bygdeby Liten bygdeby Rural Vestlandet Landet

Befolkningsutvikling 1980-90

Befolkningsutvikling 1990-2000

Befolkningsutvikling 2001-2005

Population change 1980 – 2005.

50000 15000 5000 1000 Norway

Employment and type of regions – urban/rural 1986-2001,

1986=100

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

115

120

1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001

Storbyer ByerBygdebyer Små bygdebyerLandsbygd Totalt

Urban

Rural

Population and type of regions – urban/rural: 1970-2002,

1970=100

70

80

90

100

110

120

130

140

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Inde

ks

Storbyer Byer Bygdebyer Små bygdebyer Landsbygd Landet

City

Rural

Sysselsetting Sogn og Fjordane

Primær

Sekundær

Handel og transport

Off og priv tjeneste

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

1946 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2001

Primær Sekundær Handel og transport Off og priv tjeneste

THE RURAL COUNTY SOGN OG FJORDANE - EMPLOYMENT

AGRICULTURE AND FISHING

MANUFACTURING

PUBLIC AND PRIVATESERVICES

SHOPPING ANDTRANSPORT

Sysselsetting Rogaland

Primær

Sekundær

Handel og transport

Off og priv tjeneste

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

1946 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2001

Primær Sekundær Handel og transport Off og priv tjeneste

THE URBAN COUNTY OF ROGALAND

AGRICULTURE AND FISHING

MANUFACTURING

SHOPPING ANDTRANSPORT

PUBLIC AND PRIVATESERVICES

NorwayAverageregions

Østfold Indre Øst-land

Sogn and FjordaneMøre and Romsdal

Nam-dalen

Finn-mark Nord-Troms

GDP/ inh. NOKEURO:

18407023.000

17032921.000

15792020.000

17259222.000

15110619.000

15672620.000

Public spending and transfers % *

38 40 49 39 53 55

Commuting %

1 9 9 5 6 7

Sum External income %

39 49 58 44 59 62

* Public spending, economic support to business (agriculture), public insurance

GDP per person in some rural regions

Urban change1990 – 2003:

Rural change1990 - 2002

POPULATION CHANGE IN LABOUR MARKET REGIONS 1990 - 2003

Urban Population:

VOLDA

Migration balance related to education - Ytre Søre

0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2

Inntil eitt år i vidaregåande

To-tre år i vidaregåande

Høgare utdanning til og med 4 år

Høgare utdanning meir enn 4 år

Bufaste Tilbakeflyttarar Nykomarar

Volda University College region - Ørsta/Volda

0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 1

Inntil eitt år i vidaregåande

To-tre år i vidaregåande

Høgare utdanning til og med 4 år

Høgare utdanning meir enn 4 år

Bufaste Tilbakefl yttarar Nykomarar

35-YEARS OLD

Over 4 year University

BA-level

CollegeNot Back New

Basic

100%

“The small regional policy”

The budget of the department for regional development in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development

• Support to private industries

• Differentiation of labor taxes

• Special programs - support to small communities

• International cooperation – Interreg ++

Sone/Type industries – investments support max. Big Medium Small

Sone IV 15 25 35Sone III 10 20 30

Total support 2006: 1500 mill NOK+ 1100 mill NOK as compensation for increasedLabor taxes

Labor taxes for health insurance ++:General: 14,1% of salary

According to the peripheral localizationof private or public employer this isFrom 0 to 10,6%

Total support 2004: app. 8000 mill NOK

Support to small communities

• Support 2007: 50 mill NOK

• Pilot projects including local youth activities

• Support to shops in marginal societies

• Start up support to a “Centre for regional development”

The small regional policy in general

• The most important means are general and automatic support like reduced labor taxes

• Project support organized regionally:– Innovation Norway for business support– The County Municipality for other support –

infrastructure etc• Small national pilot projects • Project support have been reduced a lot the last

20 years • From project support to general support “tax

systems”

The big regional policy

The urban-rural profile in use of public money

• “The Welfare Commune” – the economy of Municipalities

• Infrastructure – roads etc.

• State spending – health, university …

• The Effect Group 2004 - Ørbeck

State spendings per capita NOK Transfer to municipalitiesSalary to state employeesTransfer to private industriesTransfer to individualsState tax

State spendings 1978 – 2001 1000 mill NOK

Individual support

Municipalities

Salaries

Production support

Municipal income per capita 2000

Other income (renovation ..)Taxes on income etc.State support for specific tasksBasic state support

Total income per capita 2000

Income from capital, pensions ..Other incomeIncome from public pentionAgriculture s.Public salaries

Regional policy

• The profile of total state spending are a lot more important then regional development means– Municipal economy– “Folketrygda” – the public insurance system

• Both are dependent of where people are living – under 18 and over 60

• From jobs create population to population create jobs?

Local development

• From the top – allocation and transfers – need someone that can use the system – instrumental

• From below – mobilization – participation .. - communicative

The civil society

Public

activity

Private

industries

Challenges

Rural capacity

Response and results: Substance Process: Visions Strategies Collaboration Mobilization Partnerships Projects Learning …

CONTEXT

SITUATION

STAKEHOLDERS: RURAL CAPABILITY – CAPACITY BUILDING AND RESPONSE

The sivicso c ie ty

Pub lic a c tivity

Rura lC a p a c ity

Re g io ns d o m ina te db y use o f na ture -lo w lo c a l d e p e nd e nc y

Ro b ust re g io ns -fle xib le , d ive rsifie d ,hig h lo c a l d e p e nd e nc y

Re sp o nsea ndRe sults

Privateindustries

URBAN CONCEN-TRATIONS

RURAL STRUCTURE

MANUFAC-TURING(Focus on natural and economic capital)

Big scale manufacturing regions

“Traditional” rural areas - production based on land and nature – agriculture, fisheries, mining, mass tourism …

KNOWLEDGE(Focus on social capital)

Diversified metropolitan and urban regions

“Flexible” rural areas – diversified, focus on life quality for inhabitants

National(Oslo)

”Landsdel”

County

”Region”

Commune

State bureaucracyLevels

Political structure

StortingGovernment

County Commune

Commune

NORWAY

Ja 2 6 .1 9 9 6

P U B L IC A D M IN IS T R AT IO N A N D A L L O C AT IO N

P U B L IC P R O D U C T IO N O F S E RV IC E S E T C .

U ser p a rtic ip a tio n

M O N O P O LY

P U B L IC - P R IVAT EC O M P E T IT IO N

"T H E G O O D S O C IE T Y ”P U B L IC A N D P R IVAT E C O O P E R AT IO N IND E V E L O P M E N T O F T H E S O C IE T Y

C O M M U N EO R G A N I-S AT IO NP o litic ia n sA d m in is tra to rsP ro d u c e rs....

C O M M U N EIn h a b ita n tsVo te rsU sersC lien tsA ctiv is tsO w n e rs....

In te rn a tio n a l

P R IVAT E

P U B L IC

L ocal an d reg io na l p lan n ing

R eg ion al dev elop m en t

E duca tion

L ab or m arke t

A g ricu ltu re

In dustrie s

H ealth

S E G M E N T S

T H E P R O B L E M O F C O -O R D IN AT IO N INR E G IO N A L D E V E L O P M E N T A N D P L A N N IN G

S ta te

C o u n ty

C o m m u n e

H o u seh o ld

C iv i l s .C o rp e c

S ta te a d mP o lit ic a l c o m

D O M A IN S

P O L I T I C A L L E V E L S

Local and regional political role:Government - reactive:Dependent position –

strategies "Top down"Outside interests dominateNational role models

dominateConcerned mainly with

implementation of national policy

Sluggish response, static of low national priority

Inflexible, “law and rules”Individual, separate sector

programmes

Governance – proactive:Leadership position,

organise "Bottom up"Local interests dominateLocal collaborative models

dominateConcerned with leadership

and local development – ”The good local society”

Rapid response,change oriented if local agreement

Flexible – challenges/needsIntegrated programmes and

projects, problem oriented

What stimulates and prevents regionally initiated development• Entrepreneurs - collective and private key

individuals

• Networks and arenas

• External threats

• High local mobility of relevant knowledge and information

• Local identity

Dialogue, trust and partnership ‑ strategies for the development of regional

competence

Knowledge

Relational

Mobilisation

Strategies:• Production of knowledge that is related to the region

itself, to the business and industrial situation in the area - increase knowledge capital

• The capture and sieving of external knowledge that can help to increase the capability to meet new challenges and to implement changes - increase relational capital

• The linking of internal knowledge production and the grasping of knowledge externally into joint learning processes which further the development of the region as a special area - mobilise

CONCLUSIONSProactive work involves systematic differential

treatment in order to reach concrete goals

• Political Legitimacy

• Knowledge

• Capacity

• Capital

• Trust and Self-confidence

• Planning for the Region/Commune

• Talk and Cooperation