Løvstakksiden

Løvstakksiden
—  Neighbourhood  —
Country	Norway
County	Hordaland
District	Midhordland
Municipality	Bergen
Borough	Årstad
Population (2008)
– Total	7,965
	As an unofficial area the population can't be fully determined

Løvstakksiden, commonly shortened to Løvstakken or simply Stakken, is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen, Norway, currently it is part of the borough of Årstad. Up until 2000 it was however part of a borough called "Løvstakken" which covered the eastern and western part of the mountain Løvstakken, and consisted of Fyllingsdalen in the west and Løvstakksiden in the east.^[1]

The neighbourhood does not have any official boundaries, however it can roughly be said to compromise the urban area to the north-east of the mountain Løvstakken, or parts of western Årstad. Løvstakksiden is perhaps not considered as a "traditional" neighbourhood of Bergen, mostly because of its location outside the core borough of Bergenhus, even so it remains inside Bergen's urban area, only to be found in the borough of Årstad.

Løvstakksiden also makes up a local parish in Bergen with two churches, Solheim Kirke and St. Markus Kirke.^[2]

History

Løvstakksiden, with the mountain Løvstakken in the background.

Løvstakksiden was at first, in the early 20th century, predominantly a traditional working class neighbourhood. In the 1970s many industrial workingplaces was however closed down, and it could no longer be described as a working class neighbourhood. With many smaller apartments in the area, it became more attractive for senior citizens and low-income families, and other young single people.^[3]

Housing was up until recently cheap, however with the northern parts being close to the university and other schools, an amount of students moved in, thus increasing the rental prices. Løvstakksiden does anyway have a large amount of housing projects, totalling one third of buildings in the area being owned by the municipality, the highest concentration in all of Bergen. When the working class families started moving out of these, the municipality would place more needy individuals in them, many with drug-related problems.^[4]

In the local newspaper BA in the 1990s, the leader of the child protection services, was once quoted with saying that there shouldn't be any children living in the neighborhood. He meant it was too much drug abuse, violence and policeraids there. The residents was after this protesting, saying the whole neighbourhood was being stigmatized, when it was just a part of it that actually had the problems.^[5]

In the later years, the neighbourhood has also been increasingly populated with various immigrants. In 2000 the number of immigrants was 11,7%, more than doubled from 1990 with a 4,1% share. In 1990 the largest immigrant group came from Chile, and in 2000 most came from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq.^[6]

Demographics

In 2000, the neighbourhood was cited with a poulation of about 3,435,^[7] though it could vary depending on what is counted as a part of the neighbourhood, as the area of Løvstakksiden is unofficial, and also for example often reaches somewhat further to the south than in this instance. The areas named "Solheim nord" and "Solheim sør" in the Municipality living standards report of 2008 (identified as roughly corresponding to Løvstakksiden) however had a combined population of 7965 (in turn 5422 and 2543).^[8]

It is also the neighbourhood in Bergen which has the largest immigrant population. In 2000 one third of all arriving refugees to Bergen were placed in the neighbourhood.^[9]

Buekorps

The local neighbourhood buekorps of Løvstakksiden, "Løvstakkens Jægerkorps".

Main article: Løvstakkens Jægerkorps

Løvstakkens Jægerkorps is the local buekorps of Løvstakksiden, started for the first time in 1903. Krohnvikens Bataljon, a now defunct buekorps probably founded before 1854 was however a predecessor of Løvstakkens Jægerkorps.

Education

The main school of Løvstakksiden is the combined elementary and lower secondary school, Ny Krohnborg skole.^[10] Because of the relatively large immigrant population of Løvstakksiden, Ny Krohnborg is home to a large diversity of pupils. In 1998 the share of pupils of minority backgrounds was 34%. In 2005, about 75% of the pupils in the first grade were of a minority background.^[11]

Economy

The average income by inhabitants of Løvstakksiden was in 1999, merely 138,526 NOK, which was clearly lower than the city of Bergen as a whole at that time. In the Municipality living standards report of 2008 the area Solheim nord had an average income of 194,800, while Solheim sør had an average income of 220,100. This was practically the areas with the lowest average incomes of the whole city.

Crime

Løvstakksiden is also home to Løvstakken Nærpoliti, which is a local police agency, the only one in Bergen other than the main police agency. This was moved from Landås in 1999, to Løvstakksiden due to the relative higher crime rates in the area. This was for the first 2 years, until 2001, a very effective move which helped reduce the crime rates, however after this the crime had again started increasing. The main types of criminal activity is in the area of drugs, robbery and violence.^[12]

Municipality living standards report

In January 2009, Bergen municipality released a report of living standards in different parts of the city. The areas of "Solheim nord" and "Solheim sør", which roughly overlap with Løvstakksiden, achieved poor scores in almost every aspect of the report.^[8] Of the 51 areas in the report, "Solheim nord" achieved a total rank of 50, while "Solheim sør" ranked 40.

Economy

Only Fantoft, dominated by student housing, had a lower average income.

Rank Area Income 49. Solheim sør 220,100 NOK 50. Solheim nord 194,800 NOK

Receivers of social security

Solheim nord had 10 times more receivers of social security benefits than the area with the smallest number.

Rank Area Percentage 50. Solheim sør 10.1 51. Solheim nord 14.4

Percentage of residents with a criminal background

Rank	Area	Percentage
1.	Solheim sør	3.0
2.	Solheim nord	2.9

References

1. ^ "Løvstakken. – tidligere bydel i Bergen". Store Norske Leksikon. http://www.snl.no/L%C3%B8vstakken./tidligere_bydel_i_Bergen. 
2. ^ "Løvstakksiden". Den Norske Kirke. http://bergen.kirken.no/?D=1927. Retrieved 21 June 2010. 
3. ^ Mekonnen, 2003, pp. 60-61.
4. ^ Mekonnen, 2003, p. 61.
5. ^ Mekonnen, 2003, pp. 61-62.
6. ^ Mekonnen, 2003, pp. 70-71.
7. ^ Mekonnen, 2003, p. 65.
8. ^ ^{a b} Tufto, Jon (20 January 2010). "Bergens beste og verste strøk". Bergens Tidende. http://www.bt.no/lokalt/bergen/article776058.ece. 
9. ^ Lund, Monica (2003). Kvalifisering for alle. Fafo. ISBN 82-7422-403-5. http://www.fafo.no/pub/rapp/414/414.pdf. 
10. ^ "Ny Krohnborg". Bergen Kommune. http://www.bergensskolen.no/nykrohnborg/. Retrieved 21 June 2010. 
11. ^ "Ny energi rundt Damsgårdssundet". Bergen Kommune Byutvikling. p. 7. http://www.hordaland.no/upload/Kultur/Dokumenter/20071019%20ICOMOS.pdf. 
12. ^ Løvstakken Velforening - Kriminalitetsbildet

Literature

• Germiso, Mekonnen (2003). Løvstakksiden ut av skyggen? En studie av nabolagsoppgradering i Bergen. Oslo: Department of Geography, University of Bergen. http://www.bomiljonett.no/index.php/bn/content/download/2349/11853/file/l%C3%B8vstakken%20ut%20av%20skyggen.pdf.