City Of Trondheim Research Articles

The Association Between Cognitive Function and Oral Health in Home Dwellers and Nursing Home Residents: The HUNT Study.

To evaluate the relationships of cognitive function and care dependency with oral health in a Norwegian older adult population. This cross-sectional study included 2623 participants aged 70 and older from the fourth wave of the Trøndelag health study (HUNT4 70+) and the city of Trondheim (Trondheim 70+). Neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) were diagnosed by clinical experts according to the DSM-5 framework. Care dependency referred to nursing home residency. Oral health was assessed by using the Revised Oral Assessment Guide-Jönköping (ROAG-J). Individuals were considered as 'having oral problem' if the score was two or three in at least one of the nine ROAG-J items. Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The prevalence of having oral problems was 19% higher in participants with NCDs than those with normal cognitive function after adjusting for potential confounders (PR 1.19, 95% CI: 1.09-1.29). Further analysis showed a higher prevalence of having oral problems for home dwellers with NCDs (PR 1.23, 95% CI: 1.13-1.33) and nursing home residents (PR 1.32, 95% CI: 1.20-1.45) compared to home dwellers with normal cognitive function. NCDs were associated with an increased prevalence of oral problems in this Norwegian older adult population. The study suggests the need for increasing oral care for home dwellers with NCDs and nursing home residents.

Metagovernance of co‐creation in city–university partnerships: How to avoid being stuck in the middle?

AbstractThis article contributes to public administration research on collaborative governance in partnerships by exploring local efforts to metagovern a multi‐layered interorganizational collaboration between a city and a university. Hence, to further explore the prospect for developing city–university partnerships (CUP) into local platforms for the co‐creation of innovative public value outcomes, we ask: How can metagovernance contribute to aligning different actors and levels in a CUP aiming to enhance public value production? This question is answered based on a mixed‐method case study of cutting‐edge experiences from the City of Trondheim, Norway, where a transformative partnership was formed in 2017. The main finding is that the efforts to metagovern the CUP are deficient as they fail to prevent it from being stuck in the middle with a tactical level that is disconnected to strategic leadership and has limited operational impact. Some remedial strategies are offered, and the future of CUPs is discussed.

Early involvement of stakeholders in mobility-related projects

Early involvement of stakeholders could help identifying potential difficulties and providing input during the development period. The involvement of stakeholders is a key criterion for sustainable urban transportation planning. Stakeholders should be able to express their opinions and concerns while also contributing creative and innovative solutions to transportation issues. Therefore, the study’s goal is to give a voice to stakeholders who are generally mute or are not participating in the early planning stages (non-expert citizens). Semi-structured interviews were conducted over a two-week period, in addition to observations of mobility patterns and street talks. The analysis is conducted in response to the following research question: How early involvement of stakeholders in mobility-related projects might aid in the development of methodologies and strategies for enhanced active mobility with a case study in Trondheim city. The results are presented from three perspectives: active mobility obstacles in the Elgeseter district, active mobility drivers in the Elgeseter district, and viable solutions as perceived from the perspectives of experts and non-expert citizens. Based on the findings, comprehensive planning procedures covering everything from land use to municipal infrastructure design will be required. Such techniques are required to persuade people to use green, sustainable modes of transportation as a lifestyle choice rather than a legal requirement and involving citizens in project development at an early stage can be extremely effective in this regard. The study contributes to our understanding of the factors influencing commuters’ desire to engage in early phase of mobility related projects.

Speculative design for envisioning more-than-human futures in desirable counter-cities

The city has long been regarded as the domain of humans. Residing above the physical constraints of nature, such detached and dualistic anthropocentric perceptions tend to universalize, marginalize and de-politicize the value and possible co-benefits of human/nonhuman nature connections. Recognising a need to re-conceptualise the city as a multispecies space, we analyse outcomes from an interdisciplinary Master's subject that sought to encounter, restore, protect and co-exist with more-than-human species. Students were encouraged to step beyond their disciplinary boundaries to develop innovative strategies that could reconfigure human/nonhuman relationships within the city of Trondheim, Norway. Through their work, visions of alternative, possible futures emerged. Such alternative visions can be powerful: speculation can challenge and transform the linear, dualistic understandings of the city, and shape and redirect innovation practices. This article explores students' visions of multispecies cities to consider their contribution to just and sustainable transitions literature, analysing them with respect to design for sustainability transitions, teaching transdisciplinarity and the concept of the counter city.

The role given to citizens in shaping a circular city

ABSTRACT A circular city (CC) presents opportunities to address the urban nexus of citizens and material flows in a circular economy (CE). Still, the role of the citizen in shaping both CCs and CE is understudied. We start with a conceptual review of how the role of the citizen has been studied for CCs. There, we identify acknowledgment of the citizen as a political actor and subject to behavior change. We further investigate the role given to and expected from citizens in the case of the city of Trondheim in Norway, where the agendas and discourses of CE are already widespread. In this city, the role given to citizens is oriented towards commercial or political activity, with the local government playing a role in enabling citizens’ agency. We conclude that the local government can leverage a more politically oriented citizenship to support the public services and infrastructures needed.

Developing approaches and strategies to promote increased active mobility in urban city neighbourhood

With the world’s population expanding quickly, cities must deal with problems such as traffic jams, air pollution, car accidents, and urban sprawl. Walking and cycling are non-motorized modes of transport that require little infrastructure and don’t utilize any fossil fuel energy. In comparison to motorized modes, they are easily adaptable and inexpensive to maintain for both users and governments. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to identify strategies for greater active mobility through non-motorized modes of transport. Through a document study, methods that can be utilized as incentives to improve walkability and bikeability in the Elgeseter neighbourhood of the City of Trondheim, Norway have been identified. The analysis addresses following research question: “What may persuade Elgeseter district commuters or travellers to modify their behaviour toward more walking and biking?” This study reveals five topics of interest: Identifying existing difficulties in the district, Evaluation of current pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle links, as well as meeting places and open spaces, and identification of opportunities to improve them, How to outline planning concepts, Methods and design recommendations for enhancing walking and micro transportation, as well as The importance of accessibility, safety, and comfort in attracting people to active mobility. The main argument is that a multi-dimensional approach is required to persuade more people to choose environmentally friendly, sustainable modes of transportation as a lifestyle choice, and function better than compulsion. The research presented in this paper contributes to our understanding of the factors that influence commuters’ decision to engage in active mobility in their urban city neighbourhood.

Development of symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder from preschool to adolescence: the role of bullying victimization and emotion regulation.

Childhood oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is associated with adverse outcomes which can continue to impair life well into adulthood. Identifying modifiable etiological factors of ODD is therefore essential. Although bullying victimization and poor emotion regulation are assumed to be risk factors for the development of ODD symptoms, little research has been conducted to test this possibility. A sample (n = 1,042) from two birth cohorts of children in the city of Trondheim, Norway, was assessed biennially from age 4 to 14 years. Parents and children (from age 8) were assessed with clinical interviews to determine symptoms of ODD, children reported on their victimization from bullying, and teachers reported on children's emotion regulation. Oppositional defiant disorder symptoms increased from age 4 to 6, from age 8 to 10, and then started to wane as children entered adolescence. A Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model revealed that increased emotion regulation predicted a reduced number of ODD symptoms across development (β = -.15 to -.13, p < .001). This prediction was equally strong for the angry/irritable and argumentative/defiant dimensions of ODD. No longitudinal links were observed between bullying victimization and ODD symptoms. Improving emotion regulation skills may protect against ODD symptoms throughout childhood and adolescence.

What was Killing Babies in Trondheim? An Investigation of Infant Mortality Using Individual Level Causes of Death, 1830–1907

This paper examines infant mortality amongst newborns in Trondheim city, 1830–1907, working specifically with individual level cause of death data. Findings show that infant mortality in the city started to drop from 1895, primarily as a result of a decline in post-neonatal mortality. At the start of the decline air-borne diseases accounted for nearly half of the deaths, and water-food borne for around one third. The drop was predominantly driven by a decline in these two causal groups, and seasonal fluctuations became less pronounced. Because of the fall in post-neonatal mortality, the relative risk of dying amongst neonates rose towards the end of the period. Although 'convulsions' accounted for 50–70% of all infant deaths between 1830 and 1860, this cause had faded away to near insignificance by the beginning of the 1900s. Here we aim to assess the extent to which this particular aspect of decline can be explained by alterations to official instructions regarding registration and in registration practice itself. This article proposes that the decline in deaths from 'convulsions' can be explained by a relabelling of such deaths into 'congenital and birth disorders' amongst neonates, and a mix of 'water-food borne' and 'air-borne diseases' amongst post-neonates. This argument is supported by the fact that the timing of the decline corresponds with the introduction of cause of death certificates issued by medical practitioners, and which most likely resulted in fewer causes of death being reported by lay informants who could only offer vague symptoms rather than informed diagnoses.

Are Smart Card Ticketing Systems Profitable? Evidence from the City of Trondheim

Electronic ticketing in public transportation based on smart cards is gaining momentum worldwide. It is widely recognized that a smart card system can deliver benefits to both passengers and operators, but due to its complexity, implementation can come at a considerable cost. Therefore, it is likely that a commercial appraisal from the perspective of the public transportation operator alone would reveal that costs are higher than benefits and, hence, economic non-viability. This paper presents the experiences of the Norwegian city of Trondheim, which recently implemented a fully-interoperable electronic smart card system. A social cost-benefit analysis of the scheme is presented, focusing on net overall benefits for the passengers, the bus company, the local transportation authority, and the rest of society. The main conclusion of the paper is that the smart card ticketing system in Trondheim delivers a positive net present value. The paper demonstrates that economic evaluation of smart card ticketing schemes using the principles of social cost-benefit analysis is desirable and possible. Because commercial non-viability may represent constraints to the implementation of such schemes, the findings presented in this paper provide valuable information to those currently working on smart card ticketing strategies.

The population genomic legacy of the second plague pandemic

Human populations have been shaped by catastrophes that may have left long-lasting signatures in their genomes. One notable example is the second plague pandemic that entered Europe in ca. 1,347 CE and repeatedly returned for over 300 years, with typical village and town mortality estimated at 10%-40%.1 It is assumed that this high mortality affected the gene pools of these populations. First, local population crashes reduced genetic diversity. Second, a change in frequency is expected for sequence variants that may have affected survival or susceptibility to the etiologic agent (Yersinia pestis).2 Third, mass mortality might alter the local gene pools through its impact on subsequent migration patterns. We explored these factors using the Norwegian city of Trondheim as a model, by sequencing 54 genomes spanning three time periods: (1) prior to the plague striking Trondheim in 1,349 CE, (2) the 17th-19th century, and (3) the present. We find that the pandemic period shaped the gene pool by reducing long distance immigration, in particular from the British Isles, and inducing a bottleneck that reduced genetic diversity. Although we also observe an excess of large FST values at multiple loci in the genome, these are shaped by reference biases introduced by mapping our relatively low genome coverage degraded DNA to the reference genome. This implies that attempts to detect selection using ancient DNA (aDNA) datasets that vary by read length and depth of sequencing coverage may be particularly challenging until methods have been developed to account for the impact of differential reference bias on test statistics.

Monitoring ocean water quality by deployment of lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) eggs: In situ bioaccumulation and toxicity in embryos

Fish embryos can bioaccumulate and are particularly sensitive to a wide range of contaminants, which makes them suitable sentinels for environmental biomonitoring. However, fish embryos are very rarely utilized in environmental monitoring surveys, possibly due to their fragility and seasonality. In the present work, we assessed the applicability of caged lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) eggs for in situ biomonitoring of exposure and effects of organic contaminants focusing on polyaromatic hydrocarbons and phenolic compounds. Fertilized eggs (1 dpf) were transplanted for 17–19 days at different locations that differed in terms of contaminant load, depths and weather conditions, namely at three stations close to the city of Trondheim (two harbour areas and a one in the Fjord) and three stations at a coastal aquaculture facility. High survival upon retrieval after deployment showed that lumpfish eggs are relatively robust and survive encaging in different environments. Bioaccumulation of organic contaminants (PAHs and phenolic compounds) was measured and potential effects on hatching, development, survival and larvae morphometry were determined. Chemical analyses showed that especially PAHs were effectively accumulated in eggs in contaminated sites, with concentrations of ƩPAHs being 15 – 25 times higher in harbour areas compared to those at the aquaculture facility. A higher incidence of embryonic deformations was observed in the most polluted deployment location, but larvae morphometry revealed no evidence of toxicity related to pollutant body burden. In conclusion, the in-situ exposure method was proven to work well, making it attractive for implementations in environmental monitoring programs.

Façade Integrated Photovoltaics design for high-rise buildings with balconies, balancing daylight, aesthetic and energy productivity performance

Façade Integrated Photovoltaics (FIPV) is a promising strategy to deploy solar energy in the built environment and to achieve the carbon-neutral goals of society. As standing out areas of façade, cantilevered balconies are ideal for FIPV application. However, the balcony shadings can also influence the solar potential on other parts of facades and the interior daylight performance. There is an urgent need for systematic architectural studies to promote FIPV application for buildings with balconies. This research aims to develop a holistic architectural method supporting the integrative design of FIPV for residential high-rise buildings. Firstly, balcony prototypes and position arrangements (aligned, staggered and side) for high-rises were proposed, with Trondheim city in Norway as a case study. Then daylight and solar radiation analysis were conducted through a series of simulations. Based on aesthetic strategies, coloured FIPV designs were proposed subsequently and tested in an online survey. Finally, theoretical energy productivity calculations were conducted. The results showed that side balconies arrangement could provide the best performance in interior daylight and solar energy harvest aspects, and FIPV designs with partial balcony railing areas in complementary hues were the most aesthetically preferred type. The estimated annual energy generated by FIPV together with roof-integrated PV (black) can cover up to 60% of household energy consumption of an 11-floor high-rise. The study provided a novel integrative design method supporting the FIPV application for high-rise with balconies from architectural perspectives, which can balance the performance in aspects of façade aesthetic, interior daylight, and energy productivity.

Understanding Inclusive Placemaking Processes through the Case of Klostergata56 in Norway

Public participation and the placemaking approach are receiving continuously increasing attention and are therefore likely to become, in a near future, the norm of shaping our cities. They are instruments of local democracy, enabling citizens to stake a claim and exercise their influence on the city, repositioning them from recipients to active participants in this shaping. Research has shown that these democratic processes are the best way to ensure better physical environments, while also bringing social development. However, this attempt to shift from government to governance by power redistribution can at times pose a challenge to democracy, by repeating existing power relations between participating actors. If representation is not done right and communities are not equally engaged, the social benefits are at stake and issues of inclusion and exclusion arise. The need for assessment in this field is therefore highly relevant, but little progress has been done in developing measurable evaluation tools.This article is based on action research, following as a case study the process of co-designing Klostergata56, a small, underutilized public space in the Norwegian city of Trondheim. It presents a new framework of evaluating a participatory process, applied to the project to investigate its level of inclusion.Results of the study showed that the process had significant limitations to being inclusive to the expense of marginalized groups, due to unequal participation of stakeholders and differences in levels of nurtured social capital and civic trust. The challenges highlighted by the research make it possible to identify lessons for further processes to be more inclusive. Until such challenges are addressed, participatory placemaking will continue to be a trial-and-error process, therefore bound to repeat, at least to some extent, the inequality patterns present in a society.&#x0D; &#x0D; Read the full article in accessible html-format here.

New Micromobility Means of Transport: An Analysis of E-Scooter Users' Behaviour in Trondheim.

Negative effects of a massive use of cars, such as congestion, air pollution, noise, and traffic injuries, are affecting the cities everywhere. Recently introduced shared vehicles, such as e-scooters and electric bicycles, could potentially accelerate the transition towards sustainable mobility. Although these vehicles are becoming increasingly common and accepted within regulatory frameworks, some local governments are not yet ready to integrate e-scooters into their transport systems. Indeed, the legislation is unclear as it is not easy to determine whether the e-scooter is more like a bicycle or a vehicle. Moreover, it is difficult to predict the impact of e-scooters on road traffic, as well as the type of road infrastructure chosen by e-scooter drivers or the possible interaction of such vehicles with weak road users, such as pedestrians or cyclists. This study showed an analysis of speed and behaviour of e-scooter drivers in the city of Trondheim (Norway) to investigate how to manage this mode of transport. A total of 204 e-scooters were observed on six different roads in the city centre. The speed of e-scooter drivers was measured by a speed tracker (average value 15.4 km/h) and their behaviour recorded by a hidden observer in the field. Gender, age, distance from pedestrians, speed adaptation to the environment, and type of vehicle used were registered for each e-scooter. Through a Binomial Logit analysis, the data obtained were used to analyse the type of road infrastructure preferred by e-scooter drivers. Results showed that the cycle path is more widely used with percentage value from 60% to 90% of users. In addition, the probability of choice depended mainly on the road environment. The aim of this analysis was to assist local authorities in regulating the safe use of e-scooters and developing appropriate policies for their integration into cities.

Sustainable building renovation in residential buildings: barriers and potential motivations in Norwegian culture

Retrofit of existing housing increases the possibility of meeting Sustainable Development Goals. Improving quality of life, minimising energy consumption and increasing productivity in buildings process with the aim of affordable housing (social, environmental, and economic sustainability) set new demands for renovation amongst residential housing in Norway. Most studies to date emphasised on mitigation of CO2 emissions in building sector through building renovations. However, recent studies started evaluating why such renovation plans may not be considered by property owners. This study investigates potential barriers and motivations for Sustainable Building Renovations (SBR) from house-owners’ perspective and discusses the role of urban Facility Management (FM) in promoting SBR. Results from a questionnaire survey with 341 citizens in Trondheim city, Norway, confirm economic issues as the main barrier for SBR with respondents suggesting different forms of financial support to resolve these barriers. Social engagement of citizens with public/private partners and neighbours illustrates the collective motivation for SBR. This requires an intermediary role like urban FM engaging citizens to co-create their needs in urban areas with public/private sectors. The output of this study helps to promote urban FM engaging with SBR targets through renovation of neighbourhoods.

Pixelization approach for façade integrated coloured photovoltaics-with architectural proposals in city context of Trondheim, Norway

Façade integrated photovoltaics (FIPV) is an emerging and essential way to utilize solar energy in built environment. However, there is limited architectural study of FIPV, especially addressing the topic of colour performance. This study developed a theoretical method with pixelated colour design for integrating opaque coloured photovoltaics on building facades. The city of Trondheim in Norway was taken as a case study. Two main façade prototypes for FIPV were derived from Trondheim’s urban context. Typical hues for the two façade prototypes were selected from Trondheim’s urban colour palette, and colour harmony strategies were applied as design guidelines to generate NCS colour combinations for FIPV. Then a series of pixelated FIPV designs was proposed.The aesthetic performance of the proposed pixelated FIPV designs was tested through an online survey among architects, urban designers and laypersons from different countries. A 5-level semantic differential scaling was employed for aesthetic evaluation. The results demonstrated that the FIPV concept was widely supported by participants, while the proposed pixelated FIPV designs were aesthetically preferred and considered as coherent with urban context by the majority of participants.Besides, the energy production efficiencies of proposed designs were calculated. Pixelated coloured FIPV facades showed promising energy production efficiency (theoretically about 85–93% of black PV facades). The overall façade lightness demonstrated a much stronger influence on efficiency than hue.This study presented a promising pixelization method for FIPV design, through which a balanced FIPV performance including pleasing façade aesthetic quality, satisfied urban integration, and high energy production efficiency could be achieved.

Application of the Zero Emission Refurbishment method at a district scale

The intervention measures in historic buildings, if planned and implemented correctly, provide enormous cultural, economic, environmental and social benefits. Moreover, performing the improvements at an urban level, for groups of buildings that hold similar significance and preservation status, would ensure the uniformity of intervention works and result in time- and money-saving than treating each building separately.Nevertheless, maintenance and adaptation interventions in historic buildings have a high level of difficulty. Specific protection statuses and considerable constraints for change lead to additional restrictions that need to be maintained. This added complexity, along with the demanding targets of energy efficiency in the building stock, are among the challenges that need to be faced for the present and future generations.The Zero Emission Refurbishment (ZER) method, applied here as an example to a historic block in the city of Trondheim in Norway, shows the reduction potential of the carbon footprint before undergoing large-scale interventions. The method includes legislative conservative requirements and the environmental impact of the actions to select the most adequate intervention measures. It is flexible and comprehensive and can be applied to diverse built environments. The overall carbon footprint of the intervention measures, linked with the operational energy improvement after the completion of the works, serve as an indicator for the estimation of renewable energy generated from the neighbourhood and therefore, for the transition to a low carbon society by developing sustainable historic neighbourhoods with zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

An urban Blitz with a twist: rapid biodiversity assessment using aquatic environmental DNA

AbstractAs global biodiversity declines, there is an increasing need to create an educated and engaged society. Having people of all ages participate in measuring biodiversity where they live helps to create awareness. Recently, the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) for biodiversity surveys has gained momentum. Here, we explore whether sampling eDNA and sequencing it can be used as a means of rapidly surveying urban biodiversity for educational purposes. We sampled 2 × 1 L of water from each of 15 locations in the city of Trondheim, Norway, including a variety of freshwater, marine, and brackish habitats. DNA was extracted, amplified in triplicate targeting the barcoding fragment of COI gene, and sequenced. The obtained data were analyzed on the novel mBRAVE platform, an online open‐access software and computing resource. The water samples were collected in 2 days by two people, and the laboratory analysis was completed in 5 days by one person. Overall, we detected the presence of 506 BINs identified as belonging to 435 taxa, representing at least 265 putative species. On average, only 5.4% of the taxa were shared among six replicates per site. Based on the observed diversity, three distinct clusters were detected and related to the geographic distribution of sites. There were some taxa shared between the habitats, with a substantial presence of terrestrial biota. Here we propose a new form of BioBlitz, where with noninvasive sampling effort combined with swift processing and straightforward online analyses, hundreds of species can be detected. Thus, using eDNA analysis of water is useful for rapid biodiversity surveys and valuable for educational purposes. We show that rapid eDNA surveys, combined with openly available services and software, can be used as an educational tool to raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity.

Waste prevention, energy recovery or recycling - Directions for household food waste management in light of circular economy policy

Waste amounts are growing with increasing wealth and population. To curb this trend and reduce adverse environmental impacts, food waste reduction has been sat on the political agenda, together with ambitious material recycling and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets.This study analyses the environmental benefits of two waste management systems for household organic food waste, namely recycling by anaerobic digestion (AD) and incineration. Recycling rates, energy efficiency and GHG emissions are reviewed to determine the environmental profile of the downstream systems. The avoided GHG emissions achieved by the respective waste management strategies are further compared with the ones achieved by food waste prevention strategies. The study combines a material flow analysis (MFA) assessing the downstream system with published life cycle analysis (LCA) results for the upstream system. The method was demonstrated as a proof-of-concept case study for the city of Trondheim, Norway.It was found that the recycling of food waste with AD performs better in terms of recycling rates and GHG emissions than incineration, provided that diesel is substituted by biogas. However, the energy efficiency of the incineration process was found to be slightly higher than of the AD option. Nonetheless, relatively small reductions in food wastage (15% and 30%) resulted in large amounts of avoided emissions, outweighing the benefits of recycling strategies. For mitigating climate change, the prevention of food waste clearly stood out as the most effective strategy. Norwegian authorities should focus equally much on household food waste prevention than on optimising food waste management systems.

Cycling Mobility in Slopping Cities: Trondheim and Other Lessons

Soft mobility is on the top of city’s agenda. Several plans are emerging to improve its performance, regarding sustainable, climate-friendly or easy ways of mobility, without using the car. The political decision-makers, urban designers and academics are working upon new approaches of developing these skills. In sloping cities, specially with ancient roots of narrow and winding streets, the bicycle is still a tricky way of transportation, because it can represent a deep changing of previous urban fabric. This paper presents a set of good practices of bicycles use as soft mobility solution in mountain cities. The example is the sloping city of Trondheim in Norway. The interest for this topic lies in the ongoing Doctorate program in Civil Engineering at the University of Beira Interior, having as case study the city of Covilhã. The system is called CycloCable and it’s the first cycle lift for collective transport designed to help cyclists moving easily to overcome urban slopes. The literature review is the main methodological approach, identifying the good practices of CycloCable, which can be used in other cities with similar morphological conditions. The conclusion has revealed that this system increases the number of cyclists, with environmental, economic and social benefits.