In recent years cities have been reinforcing safety measures in public spaces and around public buildings to secure them from terror attacks. Here cities have been faced with the difficulty of creating public urban spaces that are safe, and yet at the same time open and attractive for the citizens. Building concrete fortresses and barricades and installing surveillance are effective ways of ensuring safety but can at the same time serve as constant reminders of threats and the fear of new attacks. According to a survey of the Oslo Fashion District, the current terrorism securing of Norway’s capital has resulted in up to 13 per cent declining annual sales in stores, difficult conditions for delivery and transport conditions for the elderly, increased prostitution and crime.

Why are the current solutions in central Oslo – and other cities – not working optimally? And how do large flower beds affect us when we see them in the cityscape? The large concrete flower beds have become the new and more aesthetic concrete bollards. But we all know why they are in the cityscape – to prevent potential extremist attacks. Although the risks of extremist attacks are minimal in most Nordic cities, the visible reminder of the looming threat affects our sense of safety.

The question is therefore, how can cities create a sense of safety and prevent extremist attacks in a way that does not constantly remind people of the potential threat?

Natural Security Supporting the Life and Democratic Values of the City

There is a need and an opportunity in Nordic city planning to create safe, inspiring and attractive spaces where urban safety planning and security go hand in hand with open and democratic public spaces. Nonetheless, creating safe and secure cities is a task filled with dilemmas and interdisciplinary work that requires many opposing considerations. It takes leadership and foresight to ensure the proper balance of social, physical and organisational interventions. Instead of solely focusing on risk reduction and ensuring that security measures do not create nuisances, we should insist that every security measure provides added value for the city.

Integrated security measures are often site-specific and can be camouflaged into the urban environment through terrain, material and design. The measures can be designed as gentle and respectful interventions in the urban environment that not only reduce risks, but also highlight the city’s historical traits and aesthetic values, while providing practical solutions for the economy, traffic conditions, and the climate. This way, we can secure cities in a holistic and integrated manner and increase quality of life, create more urban nature and biodiversity, as well as high sense of public safety for citizens.

The city space serves as a rallying point for citizenship and democratic participation. Therefore, cities must be safe while remaining open and free. Using fully integrated protective measures or so-called ‘security-regulated urban spaces and landscapes’, we can create distance (prevent attacks) without creating a physical barrier in the city’s space.

Our Safe City Action

Keeping spaces liveable and safe

Nordic Safe Cities has launched a new collaboration titled ‘Safe Spaces Task Force’ with the Nordic architecture and urban consultancy firm SLA. SLA takes an approach called ‘natural security’, where security measures are fully integrated into the design, architecture and urban spaces. This new task force is established to engage member cities to rethink how they make their urban spaces safe, secure and liveable.

The Safe Spaces Taskforce consist of six member cities that will, over one year, get insights and sparring on a local urban development project. The task force will base and develop its work around local upcoming or existing projects selected in the member cities and help create more safety and liveability in the cities. During the year cities will get sparring from city planners, architects, anthropologists, experts, and other participating cities to enable trust, safety, and quality of life in public spaces in six Nordic cities and share our learnings with the rest of the Nordics.

The cities engaged in the Task force have identified three overall areas of focus.

  1. An increased feeling of safety in our urban spaces. In Stavanger, Malmö and Aalborg the experience of safety is low surrounding the specific stations and parks. They use the Task Force to identify solutions for enhancing the feeling of safety around the area, that invites for the visitors to use the area.
  2. Safety measures that invites for activities and safety: Here Copenhagen and Oslo are bringing in cases where anti-terror measurements have made people feel less safe and less interested in using the space. Copenhagen and Oslo also invites partners in Safe Spaces Task Force to help change the area from a constant reminder of threads to a positive inclusive public space.
  3. Safe and inclusive social housing. In Kristiansand they are about to double the population in a specific area and diversify the demographic composition. They use the Safe Spaces Task Force to get inspiration to create vibrant and safe urban spaces that facilitates human interaction; feelings of safety and prevents ‘ghettoisation’ in the area.