The document provides observations from field notes taken in the Fantoft neighborhood. It notes that 1) seemingly useless areas like underground machinery rooms have become social hotspots for activities like drinking games. This allows residents to socialize privately without scrutiny. 2) Empty walls are used as informal message boards to advertise goods, services, and messages. This provides communication where formal channels are lacking. 3) Fantoft was designed as residential blocks intended for sleeping, but lacks a real community feel and Norwegian presence, creating a sense of limbo for residents.

1. A case study
Field notes from the ghetto

2. Vertical relationships Horizontal relationships
They are rooted in a sense of belonging and uniqueness: they They involve a sense of equality and commonality: they are in-
emphasize relation to certain exclusive (rather than inclusive clusive. In this context, people feel free and invited to make
groups) such as religions, nationalities or social hierarchies. new friends and come closer to strangers.
They tend to be more common in (but certainly not restricted More often found in European Erasmus students, young foreign
to) adults and families, especially of non-Western extraction. students with scholarships, and children. However, in any case,
a certain amount of effort is necessary to integrate anyways.
Examples: religious related activities (including proselitism,
whose aim is usually to get new people to join), certain holi- Examples: parties, food tastings, photographic exhibitions,
days (such as independence days or new year celebrations), etc. quiz nights, flunkyball, organized hikes, some sports.
It is worth noting that Fantoft, just like Rosengård, is home to a very low amount of locals (Norwegians in this case).
Official sources (such as SiB) quote the percentage of Norwegians in Fantoft at around 30% of the total population but a simple
walk around the buildings will show how little information is actually contained in the “official” statistics.
Of content and form
2 ways to relate

3. Common grounds
The observation
Seemingly useless corners can function as
social hotspots in Fantoft. The underground
becomes the arena for Flunkyball, a drinking
game first brought by German students.
The analysis
Partakers gather in the machinery level to
avoid disturbing other residents, as well as
to avoid public scrutiny. It is also cheaper
and more casual (there is no dress code, you
don’t have to spend money if you don’t want
to, etc.) than established places such as
bars.
The conclusion
As much as public spaces are free to all (at
least in principle), they should offer the
chance for anonimacy and flexible use terms.
Herrgården in Rosengård is a prime example
of this: it has plenty of public space, but
it is all directly connected (one can say
“attached”) to the windows of the apart-
ments, vanishing the theoretical indepen-
dence of public life (when compared to fam-
ily life, where one is subject to the house
and parents’ rules).
The laundry The underground Fantoft Klubb

4. Technology: a fashion victim
Technology can be misleading. When new inventions come out, people can overestimate their real importance or consequences.
Over-reliance on technology, therefore, is a dangerous issue. Now more than ever, new products flood the market permanently in a
process that constantly reduces its own validity: the more gizmos come out, the less time they are good for anything.
The public pay-phones (pictured) and phone booths in Fantoft show a possible end for past technological wonders: nowadays they
are used very seldom, or not at all (for example, this phone was isolated by snow the whole winter, probably because it is all
but useless anyways).
The lesson
To be flexible and not overly optimistic when it comes to technology. Some things will probably always be done by hand.

5. 1
2
1 - Childhood’s End
In Fantoft as in Rosengård, it’s great to be a
child. One day you become a teenager and the lack
of functional adaptability in the neighborhood
shows you the way out of your own community.
2 - Bäst i test
Like in many other European communities, there will
always be place (and need) for a kebab guy. Can
other similarly small businesses follow?
3 - The Monopoly
Fantoft’s commercial spectrum is very narrow. If
you don’t like Safari’s products, you’re free to
walk the 2km road to the next closest business.
This reduces competition and availability for the
residents. Rosengård, with its 22.000 inhabitants,
experiences a similar phenomenon: a major shopping
spot swallowed most of the other shops.
Is there a market for more commerce?
3

6. Though costly, wasteful and potentially dangerous, prank fire alarms are great chances to meet neighbours. Undertaking activi-
ties as part of a larger community can prove an effective method of establishing and reinforcing social networks.

7. A makeshift message board
Empty walls are often used as 2-way communication channels. On them, one can find love messages, rooms to
rent during the summer, inside jokes, cheap cigarettes, hair stylists, African braid-making services, train
tickets to Oslo (or Bodø, as I once saw), bicycles and ovens for sale, and a myriad of other things. In lack
of formal communication channels, people will often trade services or take advertising campaigns in their
own hands, and yes, it’s uncensored.

8. Fantoft is a machine to sleep in:
many years ago, someone sat down at the drawing board, ruler in hand, and decided
that we would have to live in blocks and follow these behaviours. It is like living
in a diagram.
It can be a very happy place to be, or a desert to wander in.
When I am in Fantoft, I see mountains and trees everywhere... I must be in Norway!
But there are no Norwegians in sight...
This is place is a limbo: it is Scandinavia, but it isn’t.
It’s never a nice feeling when people give you a pity look for living there.
Og jeg kan ikke prøve å snakke norsk her!