Uploaded on 2016-08-06 by Aleksander Ødegård

PS! Note that I do NOT own the copyrights to this picture, it was taken from the internet to give an overview of the city only. 1. My five most livable cities: * Queenstown, NZ * Kongsberg, NO * Trondheim, NO * Drammen, NO * Stockholm, SWE 2. The Five most important characteristics of a livable city: * Access/proximity to nature. Meaning being able to go to a forest to ride bicyles, hike, pick berries et cetera. Having lakes or rivers where one can fish or swim. Having some degree of altitude differences where one can get a view over the area. * Business and education conditions. The degree to which one is able to go to school/higher education and/or get employment. * Cost of living. * Climate. More in terms of stability rather than temperature et cetera. * Proximity to skilled medical care (GP`s and specialists). 3. Status and future for Kongsberg: Kongsberg score high on all of the Five characteristics I have presented above. From my house it is less than a five minute walk to the edge of the forest (for instance). The city has both a university college (in which I study) and highly respected businesses, although the job market is though at the time due to the fall of the oil price which has lead to downsizing. The cost of living is well within what I consider acceptable taking into account location, size et cetera. The climate here is also more stable and slightly warmer than in Trondheim where I grew up. The proximity to medical care is really good. For "normal" we have GP`s, dentists and a local hospital with an ER, and for more serious situations the hospital in Oslo is less than an hour away by ambulance. In regards to the five characteristics, there are some changes that I would like to see in order to improve the sustainability. * At the moment there is a slight shortage of medical care, more specifically GP`s. The doctor offices are pretty much fully booked to their capacity, so for thos who move here, there are very few offices/doctors to choose from (mainly bad/old ones). * As I showed in one of the previous tasks/exercises, they are currently building a new ER at the local hospital. However, within the local politics, it has been discussed for quite some time whether or not to close down the hospital and consolidate with a hospital in Drammen, some 30 minutes away. This debate has created a lot of uncertainties within the community and the medical staff employed there. In my mind, the hospital should stay here to ensure the medical safety of the citizens. * The employment rate needs to increase and stabilize more. Today, too much of the industry relies on the oil price. Their focus should to a greater extent start to shift towards sustainable solutions and securing local employment, not only "importing" talent from other cities/institutions.