Opinions This is a debate post. The post expresses the writer’s views.
As the incoming leader of the Bergen Architects’ Association, I represent a collective professional community that believes the Byarkitekten should pass. The city architect’s staff is an important bridge builder between those who will build and those who will live, and is a stimulating sparring partner for architects and builders.
In such a complex process as building a city, advice and resistance are needed before the project is built. With the re-establishment of Byarkitekten in 2017, advisers and developers gained a competent and independent professional environment where sketches and plans could be discussed. As usual in the West, people do not always agree on the solution.
The city architect has begun to find its form, and as agencies have the most room for development. Despite occasional heated debates and wounded pride; With his core competence in challenging and highlighting the city’s potential for improvement, the city architect contributes to development with increased quality and an environmental focus.
For several years, the city architect has been at the forefront of innovation and new thinking about how Bergen should be built and has distinguished itself as an exemplary agency that several Norwegian municipalities look up to.
They have developed a inclusive method set for architecture and urban development. This has resulted in guides which, in their easy-to-understand and inspiring form, are used by both agencies and proposers. They have designed predictable quality targets and contributed as mediators between planning authorities and developers.
The development of The city of Bergen has existed for 953 years and the City Architect is, in this respect, a new agency. But they have gone a long way to establishing a unique consulting environment, and the results are beginning to manifest themselves in the form of high-quality built projects. The city architect contributes to the refinement of Bergen as a brand, and has contributed to increasing people’s awareness of the importance of good architecture and inclusive urban spaces.
Inspired by Bergen and Copenhagen have also Trondheim and Stavanger got a city architect, while Oslo and Kristiansand will soon. Therefore, it seems strange that Bergen is now going “the other way” and is considering abolishing a competence environment which, in the rest of the country, is a model for urban development.
