Lifestyle migration to Norrbotten – all of Sweden is listening

It was packed at Reglab's conference when North Sweden Green Deal talked about the work of bringing new residents to Norrbotten.

Reglab is a forum for regional development. Reglab's annual conference is currently being held in Gothenburg. We from North Sweden Green Deal were invited to talk about how we, together with our 14 municipalities in Norrbotten, are working on recipient capacity and attractiveness.

An active audience asked intelligent questions. Some of them touched on challenges that all regions struggle with to some extent. They dealt with issues such as skills shortages, shrinking municipalities, housing shortages and an aging population. However, Norrbotten really stands out because our challenge is bigger and more societally transformative.

Many people came forward after the draw and wanted to stay in touch to hear how we were doing. They also wanted to know more about the tools and methods we had used along the way.

Changed role

Another session was about the changing role of regions over time. Sometimes the role has been a force for expansion, sometimes for decentralization, sometimes for competition. Now the challenge is about more or less major societal transformation.

How do we then shift from short-term projects to more long-term and strategic work, while at the same time organizing the work according to the EU's project structure? What do we need to change and what can we stop with? How do you combine the collaborative role with being proactive and leading at the same time? The dual task that, in a fancy word, is called asymmetric governance.

Challenging questions

We were 400 people from all regions of the country and six people from Region Norrbotten who were inspired, entertained and exchanged experiences ahead of the major transition we, our municipalities and other stakeholders are in the midst of. Necessary, inspiring and challenging questions have been formulated. They will help us on the bumpy journey ahead - so that the major industrial transition can also become the sustainable societal transition.

Text: Stina Almkvist

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The North Sweden Green Deal is an initiative to realize a sustainable societal transition, in the wake of the new industrial establishments.

The project is run by Region Norrbotten and Region Västerbotten together with a number of other actors. It is financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).