Sao Paulo is the richest city in Brazil. It is modern and is in many ways the industrial hub of South America. Close to twenty million people live in the city and its adjoining municipalities, making it one of largest urban areas in the world.
A key element in this issue of Journal of Nordregio is the discussion over the future of the European space, which definitively includes the megapoles of this continent. In the lead article Professor Klaus Kunzmann agues that the periphery is not only the area far or further away from the cities. In fact, the periphery can be the poor suburbs, the banlieues, as they are called in France, just outside the city centres.
Taking this argument to Sao Paulo one could argue that the even the ordinary city street could constitute 'the periphery'. The point here is that if the richest segment of the population moves through this area they are very likely to do so in armoured cars.
In fact many members of the elites already move around the city by helicopter. Each week there are 28 000 private helicopter-trips in Sao Paulo both for business and pleasure. Many of the city's skyscrapers have their own helipad on the roof. Often, according to Jodice, they are built illegally.
Many of the arguments put forward by Professor Kunzmann are based on the plans for the Trans European Transport Network (TEN-T). These are the major transport-strategies for Europe's railways, roads, seaways and airports. It is likely that existing plans will not now be altered extensively. So what then do they look like? For an overview see pp 16-17, while on p8 readers can find a more in depth overview of the likely Nordic and Baltic scenario.
In the article on container usage pp 4-6 we draw attention to the fact that more and more goods, particularly out of the Port of Gothenburg, are moved by rail and not now by road. From an environmental point of view, this is of course good news.
However, not all Nordic authorities are really pushing in the same direction. Norway, in particular, seems to be very sceptical about investing in the railway network – except for national regional trains to-and-from Oslo. This was clearly demonstrated when the Norwegian Nasjonal Transportplan 2010-2019 was published earlier this year.
The point was also made again when the political leaders of Copenhagen, Gothen-burg, Oslo and Stockholm met in Oslo on the 10th April 2008 to discuss the so-called 'Nordic Triangle'. The triangle constitutes the three transport corridors running between the aforementioned capitals.
In the triangle, investment and improve-ments are being undertaken in many places, but this is occurring to a much smaller extent on the Oslo-Karlstad leg. Within the context of currently agreed plans it may even be close to 2040 before high-speed trains will be running regularly here. This will, without doubt, have serious consequences for potential regional developments in this area. However at the new Fehmarn-bridge between Denmark and Germany there could be both high-speed trains and motorways long before this.
In this issue we also provide overviews of the Baltic-Nordic energy grids. Among the Nordic producers and distributors of energy the argument goes that the grids must be expanded. This is needed both within the Nordic countries and to further develop the links with the European continent.
The argument here in part revolves around the production and sale of more energy, although that is not really mentioned outright. Rather the focus in the argumentation is that these extensions will increase the amount of renewable energy exported to the Continent. On pp 9-11 we present the latest developments in this field. In addition, on pp 26-27 Prof. Claudia Kemfert highlights the conflicts which may arise with the EU's desire for future energy policies to be both climate-friendly and competitive.
The official Norwegian position is that they are definitely interested in drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic. The politico-economic background to this stance is perhaps reflected in the fact that Norway's position as a fossil-fuel exporter is declining – down from number three to number five in global terms.
At the end of May 2008 the Foreign Ministers of the five states, Canada, the USA, Russia, Norway and Denmark (Greenland) bordering the Arctic Sea met at Illuissat in Greenland. Reports from the meeting indicate that all five powers want to expand oil and gas production in the area. It is often noted in this context that specialists argue that 25 percent of the world's undiscovered resources of oil and gas may be located in Arctic.
One key question arising from this meeting is the extent to which 'international waters' status areas will be allowed to remain in the Arctic. Russia has thus far been to the fore in this regard and is claiming about a third of the area at present below the North Pole ice sheet. The other four countries have naturally objected, but not on a principled basis. Rather they seem instead to be saying that Russia is simply claiming too large a share.
We hope to delve deeper into this theme in the next issue of Journal of Nordregio, planned for publication in late September.
Odd Iglebaek, Editor