The Research Council of Norway's Working Cities Idea Lab [Byer som Virker idélab] was held January 11-15 2016. The idea lab brought together pre-qualified researchers with diverse backgrounds to develop radical approaches to addressing urban challenges in 2040.

Four projects were funded by the RCN at the conclusion of the week, and we are proud to see that PRIO Senior Researcher Kristian Hoelscher is part of two of these.

Hoelscher will lead the project Learning Flexibility: Knowledge Transfer and the Global South, a project that will run for three years, with a total funding of 7.75m NOK. The project will study:

  1. how cities and citizens in the Global South contend with urban complexity and vulnerability
  2. what lessons can be learnt from this for future challenges in European and Western cities; and
  3. how to deepen two-way South-North knowledge transfer.

The project involves researchers from the University of Oslo, Energiråd Innlandet, SINTEF, and AHO.

Hoelscher also has a role in the project 3C: Co-Constructing City Futures. This project will run for three years, with a total funding of 7.0m NOK. The project aims to facilitate citizen engagement in co-constructing ideas and visions for city futures using unique ICT platforms and case study applications. The project involves researchers from the University of Oslo, PRIO, Statens Vegvesen, NILU, and NTNU.