A map of central Oslo showing some of the areas being replanned.

Early Planning

Oslo's first planning was done by the Danish King Christian IV. After the Old Town burned, he replanned a new city behind Akershus Castle. After this major event, not much planning was done in the area of planning until Norway came under Swedish rule. After Norway had had a taste of independence in 1814 and subsequently formed its own parliament, there was a strong push to build civic buildings in the capital city. Nationalism was growing during this period and the Norwegians wanted a capital city it could be proud of for when it became independent. Consequently this period saw the building of the Royal Palace, the Storting Parliament, the University, the National Theater, and other civic buildings.

Modern Planning

In recent times, much focus has been placed on the waterfront areas and the Old Town. The construction of the new town hall, begun in 1931, marked the first of the modern efforts to revitalize the waterfront areas. For the most part, however, planners continued to think of the harbor as a place for industrial development. Just as damaging, they decided to put a stretch of freeway right along Bjørvika harbor, right where the Old Town used to lie. Beginning in the early 1980s after the industrial functions of the harbor had declined, planners started to turn the harbor into a recreational zone. This was done at Aker Brygge, right in front of the new town hall. Along the west side of the harbor, a restaurant and shopping strip was developed. On the north side the plaza and docks were redone. Today along with the ferries, old style sailing ship, replica Viking ships, and restaurant cruise ships can be found along the docks. In the mid 1990s, the restoration of the Old Town and the Bjørvika area began. The planners want to turn this bleak industrial area into a much greener recreational space. Much work is also being done to excavate the archeological ruins. One of the biggest challenges to the project is the freeway that runs right through the area. It is one of the busiest freeways in all of Norway and very important to the transportation system, however as long is it stands in its current location it effectively blocks off the entire waterfront area from the public. The planners solution is to make the entire freeway through a tunnel under the harbor. Work on this major project is slow both because of how extensive it is and because of the fact that they are dealing with the restoration of thousand year old ruins and fragile artifacts..