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How can urban, rural, and regional policies contribute to the Vision 2030 of making the Nordic Region the most sustainable and integrated region in the world? Starting from January 2025, we will give you a closer look through a series of events. Our research insight series offers an opportunity to explore how urban, rural, and regional policies can work in synergy to address shared challenges and create sustainable solutions. We will share selected highlights from research and projects carried out by Nordic thematic working groups in 2021-2024. Each event will focus on a different topic. Through different perspectives, they highlight the unique benefits of Nordic cooperation, showcasing how Nordic countries, regions, cities and municipalities are working together to address shared challenges and opportunities through tailored and locally adapted solutions. You can already sign up for: Upcoming sessions later in the new year will address remote work, social inclusion, smart adaptation in rural areas, and climate-neutral cities. Stay tuned for more details! This series provides a platform for dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration among policymakers, researchers and academics, as well as practitioners in the Nordic Region. Join us to learn, share, and draw inspiration for the future of regional policy and practice. Get insights into how Nordic collaboration translates research into policy inspiration and strategies that benefit the entire region.

Remote work is no longer a passing trend; it is fundamentally altering how people in the Nordic Region live, move, and interact with space. With hybrid work now the norm for many, its effects on transportation, housing, urban cores, and rural areas demand strategic attention. As policymakers and planners navigate these shifts, embracing change while shaping sustainable outcomes has never been more critical.  Drawing from Nordregio’s collected research on the topic, this report explores the implications of remote work for planners and policymakers as they navigate the evolving landscape. It focuses on the tools and policies used in Nordic countries after the COVID-19 pandemic to support remote work.   COVID-19: A significant shift in work patterns  The numbers are clear: remote work levels in the Nordic Region surged during the pandemic, and have remained high ever since, exceeding those in the rest of the European Union. Norway, in particular, has seen a dramatic increase, and Denmark reports the lowest levels in the region after the pandemic. Despite this growth, most of the Nordic population still cannot, or chooses not to, work remotely – 58% never work from home in 2023 compared to 73% in 2017. However, hybrid work has become the new normal for a substantial segment of the population, bringing about notable spatial effects.  Changing mobility and settlement patterns  The rise of remote work has influenced migration patterns, with higher mobility observed during the pandemic, especially movements away from major cities. While most relocations have remained within metropolitan areas, rural regions and smaller towns have gained attention as viable alternatives. This “two-way exchange” benefits both sides: while future mobility patterns are unclear, it is possible for remote work to further enable economic growth in urban centres or for rural areas to attract skilled workers and boost local services. Studies reveal local…

Did you know that less than 2% work in another Nordic country than the one where they were born, and only 0.5 % commute over a Nordic border for work? The opportunity to work in another Nordic country has existed for over 70 years. However, the labour market mobility in the Nordic region is lower than the EU average. “Cross-border labour market mobility is extensive in certain areas, for example, the Öresund region. To achieve the Nordic vision, labour market mobility should be facilitated on a much larger scale,” says Anna Lundgren, Senior Research Fellow at Nordregio. To understand the phenomenon better, Nordregio researchers analysed the labour market mobility, opportunities and obstacles in various ways – through publicly available statistics, interviews with people with labour market experience across the Nordics and a workshop including policymakers. “Everyone seems to know the benefits and great possibilities of Nordic labour mobility. The policymakers are also familiar with the main obstacles that relevant stakeholders at the border regions have pointed out for years. Still, a political commitment at the highest levels seems lacking regarding Nordic mobility. In times of crisis, this becomes particularly clear,” says Ágúst Bogason, one of the researchers behind the study. He bases this assumption on the results of close to 40 interviews with relevant stakeholders on both sides of three Nordic border regions. What’s the scope of the Nordic competence mobility? Why do Nordic people choose to work in another Nordic country? The story map “Competence Mobility” examines why people choose to work in another Nordic country and why not. Welcome to explore facts about the Nordic labour market mobility and stories of people experiencing Nordic labour market mobility in Greater Copenhagen, Greenland and Vestfold Telemark. How could policies steer the Nordic labour market mobility? About the project The project…

Nordregio researchers Ágúst Bogason, Anna Karlsdóttir, and Timothy Heleniak presented at the Arctic circle conference on 13-16 October in Reykjavík. They participated in several sessions and shared Nordregio’s research on remote work and arctic issues. Bogason presented in the session “Remote Areas: A Window Of Opportunity” organized by NORA (the Nordic Atlantic Cooperation), with speakers from the Faroe Islands and the islands of Scotland. The researcher introduced the results of Nordregio’s project on remote work and multilocality. According to Bogason, the preliminary results do, in many ways, fit the narrative we heard first-hand from the peripheral areas and remote places: they have vast opportunities. Optimism and innovative solutions are paving the way for a future where traditional challenges of rural communities are being re-defined as strengths and benefits. “Nordregio’s research results suggest that there is optimism among the planners and policymakers in the rural regions that increased remote work and multi-local living can contribute to developing more sustainable peripheral regions. While the results also show an increased willingness of people to move to more remote areas while continuing their work, either remotely or by dividing their time between two or more places. In this way, remote work gives rural regions more possibilities as they can often offer different things than urban areas”, said Bogason. Heleniak presented a publication, “Island hopping: infrastructure development in the Faroe Islands,” in the session “Arctic transport infrastructures and sustainable communities.”  “The building of bridges and especially sub-sea tunnels have linked outer-lying settlements to the capital of Tórshavn, making it much easier to live outside Tórshavn and travel there for work or other purposes. However, the population has become quite car-dependent, as is the case in many periphery regions of the Arctic”, said Heleniak presenting the research. Karlsdóttir participated in a session “The Revenge of Geopolitics:…