AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.12.1999, Page 58

english summary
In this issue of AVS, the spotlight
is on the urban regional plan for
the greater Reykjavík area,
which is currently in the works.
Contributors tend to agree that
the main issue in successful plan-
ning is greater co-operation
between the eight municipalities
that make up the greater Reykja-
vík area.
P. 9 - PLANNING THE
GREATER REYKJAVÍK AREA
In his editorial, Gestur Olafsson
focuses on the urban regional plan
for the greater Reykjavík area,
which is currently in the works. In
his view, a complete and co-ordi-
nated plan between the eight
municipalities in the greater
Reykjavík area has been lacking.
He questions who is really respon-
sible for regional urban planning
and concludes that in fact it is the
public at large.
P. 11 - THE HISTORY OF
REGIONAL PLANNING IN
THE REYKJAVÍK AREA
Here engineer Þorsteinn Þorsteins-
son traces the history of regional
planning for the greater Reykjavík
area, touching on the major mile-
stones and conflicts. In doing so he
blends together factual information
and his own personal opinion. He
concludes the article by briefly dis-
cussing the situation as it is today,
including the main problems.
P. 17 - CO-OPERATION - NOT
DISCORD
In this article, Reykjavík’s mayor
Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir writes
about what she sees as the prerequi-
sites for the sensible and efficient
building of the capital area. In her
view, the basic premise is to foster
co-operation, as opposed to the dis-
cord that has been present in the
past. She stresses the importance of
the region for the nation as a whole,
describes trends and developments
in planning and gives her view of
what the major emphasis in plan-
ning for the region should be.
P. 23 - REGIONAL PLANNING
FOR THE REYKJAVÍK AREA
This article by Richard Ólafur
Briem, architect and urban planner,
aims to define just what a regional
plan entails. He describes the new
plan being worked on at present, its
goals, division into sub-regions,
eight separate proposals that it
entails and its execution.
P. 32 - WHAT KIND OF CAPI-
TAL DO WE WANT?
Here Bjami Reynarsson, represen-
tative in the Development division
at the Reykjavík City Hall, writes
about his thoughts on the current
regional plan for Reykjavík. These
include Iceland’s uniqueness, the
development in other countries,
things to note regarding the current
plan, a future vision that goes
beyond the next 20 years, the con-
cept of “exurbanization”, and more.
P. 38 - WHERE DOES THE
CAPITAL END?
In this article, which originally
appeared in Iceland’s daily Morg-
unblaðið, Gestur Ólafsson gives his
opinion that it is time to plan the
area which stretches from Mos-
fellsbær to Keflavík as a whole, and
supports this view with the requisite
arguments.
P. 41 - MERGING MUNICIPAL-
ITIES
School director Kristján Bersi Ólaf-
sson here puts forth his view that
the eight municipalities in the
greater Reykjavík area should
merge. At the same time, he argues,
there should be smaller administra-
tive bodies for individual city areas
which should oversee various social
services, such as child-care and the
elementary schools.
P. 43 - REGIONAL PLAN FOR
THE CAPITAL
Ólafur G. Einarsson, former
Member of Parliament, here writes
some of this thoughts on the current
regional plan, based on his experi-
ence of co-operation between
municipalities in the greater
Reykjavík area and his work in par-
liament. He stresses the importance
of honest co-operation between the
municipalities for effective plan-
ning.
P. 46 - PLANNING - THE
FRAMEWORK OF SOCIETY
In this article, Guðmundur Arni
Stefánsson, Member of Parliament
and former director of the munici-
pality of Hafnarfjörður, calls urban
planning the framework of society.
He discusses subjects such as the
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