Tromsø – the engine in the north
Some places in the north may be almost empty in 50 years, but Tromsø will survive.
All major cities are power centers that set and keep the wheels turning. If we can compare Northern Norway with a car, then Tromsø is the engine that keeps the car running.
If things go badly in Tromsø, the economic downturn will also be felt in the districts of Troms and Finnmark. Because the city has to do with trade. It shows, for example, the name Copenhagen. The city is the place for buying, selling and exchanging goods. And here is a center for research and innovation that is important for the whole country.
More than half of the world’s population lives in urban regions. For the city, one has almost a magnetic attraction. Tromsø is no exception in this way. It is not just education and work that draws. “The modern” is also important. Some places in the north may be almost empty in 50 years, but Tromsø will survive.
It is a lost cause to fight the capital in the north. I believe that more people in the future will choose Tromsø. Therefore, we should start discussing what resources the city has for the districts and work to ensure that cities and countries can cooperate better. Increased urbanization – relocation from the countryside is and will be a major problem. But if people are to live in settlements far from the larger cities and towns, we need a district policy that does not reduce the city’s importance and power. For the districts in northern Norway will not do without Tromsø !.
The government must show that it has faith in the big cities. If it does not succeed, in the long run it can go with our big cities as it did with Babylon, which was once a technical and economic miracle, a major center of culture and science. But new metropolitan regions will emerge. Maybe in Lyngen or Kiberg sometime in the future? For the modern city, as the engine and trendsetter will always be a center of power.
Knut S. Bakken
Retired and Tromsø friend