On Wednesday, May 29 at 6:00 PM, the magazine NY BOLIGPLAN will be launched. We invite you to an evening focused on housing policy, with presentations from Ketil Moe, Anne-Kristine Kronborg, and Jonas Løland, followed by a panel discussion on housing quality, highlighted by the city council's revision of the apartment standards in Oslo.

"18 square meters sold for 2.6 million," reads the headline. Yet another "success story" from a local Oslo newspaper underscores what real estate agents and developers have been saying for years: there is a demand for more small apartments in Oslo. The market is clamoring for these tiny apartments! What neither the local newspaper nor the market players seem to acknowledge is that it is the homebuyer, and those who cannot afford to buy, who are truly clamoring.

For nearly 40 years, housing production in Norway has been based on supply and demand, with municipalities and housing producers working together to develop a well-functioning housing market, aiming for the highest possible home ownership rate. Looking at the results of this cooperation, the homes that have been built, and the discussion on housing quality, it is clear that many stakeholders consider it "well-functioning" to reduce housing sizes to what first-time buyers can afford. The consequence is a change in the apartment standards and a green light to build more cramped apartments in central Oslo.

Ny Boligplan is an association and a magazine established to revive the concept of housing as a welfare benefit. Established in 2023 to contribute to an informative and critical discourse on housing quality and explore what a housing policy for our time might look like.

The project is inspired by the 1930s magazine PLAN, which laid the groundwork for what later became the foundation for post-war large-scale housing construction and "the Norwegian housing model." Their work clearly demonstrates that each era needs a political and professional debate on how to solve housing issues and define clear frameworks for what constitutes a good home.

In the first issue of NY BOLIGPLAN, we highlight, among other things, the long lines in Norwegian housing policy, discuss what housing quality is or can be, analyze apartment layouts and standards, critique the one-eyed ownership policy, and examine the framework provided by the Planning and Building Act for an active municipal housing policy.

The magazine contains contributions from Johan-Ditlef Martens, Ketil Moe, Alf Jørgen Schnell, Nagy Makhlouf, Karl Otto Ellefsen, Ellen de Vibe, Søstra100, Ragnhild Brochmann, Rolf Barlindhaug, Jonas Løland, Jardar Sørvoll, Oda Ellensdatter Solberg, and Anne-Kristine Kronborg.