The one-company town in Norway: Can we learn from the recent past in planning for the near future?

Abstract

Hansen, J. Chr. 1978. The one-company town in Norway. Can we learn from the recent past in planning for the near future? Norsk geogr. Tidsskr. Vol. 32, 97–110. Oslo. ISSN 0029-1951. Features in the growth – and decline, if so – of industrial settlements in Norway are discussed. The notion of a time lag between maximum industrial employment, maximum service employment, and maximum total population is developed, dealing with the 1970 status of a sample of 156 industrial settlements, and their development 1950–1970. Cases of decline in both total population, working population, and employment in manufacturing industries prove the need for strategy for the old settlements as well as for the new ones. Three main strategies are advocated: 1) Continued expansion where the occupational structure and the geographical situation will permit a diversification of the local economy; 2) Integration of smaller settlements into greater regional labour markets where economic and time distance make such a development possible; 3) A strategy of retreat for the most extreme cases. New development should only be undertaken in areas where a future strategy of retreat would be unlikely. The author tries to convey a feeling that local problems have to be solved as part of a national strategy, but finds that such a strategy does not exist.