Grorud is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

of the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The borough contains the Ammerud, Grorud, Kalbakken, Rødtvet, Nordtvet and Romsås areas. To the north of the borough is the forest of Lillomarka. The borough is the smallest in Oslo, with fewer than 30 000 inhabitants. The area now known as Grorud was mostly farm land until after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, an exception being Grorud proper, where mining was an important livelihood. Granite from Grorud is seen in many buildings in downtown Oslo - with the lion sculptures in front of

Stortinget The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

, the Norwegian Parliament being the most famous example. Textile industries were also a part of the

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

of Grorud, with the river Alna and its waterfalls as power supply. The railway station at Grorud, from 1854, is one of the oldest in Norway and was a hub of the whole Grorud Valley for many years until the arrival of urbanization and the subway. Some of the old farms are still present in the Grorud landscape, although apartment buildings now are a more dominant part of the scenery. Traditionally a borough inhabited by the working class, Grorud has in the last few decades had a great influx of immigrants. The proportion of newborns with immigrant background was per. 2017 at 7

Because of these statistics Grorud is a recurring theme in Norwegian immigration politics.

Politics

As a borough of Oslo, Grorud is governed by the city council of Oslo as well as its own borough council. The council leader is Anders Røberg-Larsen from the Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party and the deputy leader is Alejandro Decap, of the Socialist Left Party. The Green Party has the most seats. The 15 seats are distributed among the following

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

for the 2019-2023 term: * 7 from the Labour Party (''Arbeiderpartiet'') * 2 from the Progress Party (''Fremskrittspartiet'') * 2 from the Conservative Party (Høyre) * 2 from the Red Party (Rødt) * 1 from the Socialist Left Party (''Sosialistisk Venstreparti)'' * 1 from the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

(Miljøpartiet de Grønne)

Notable people

Trygve Lie Trygve Halvdan Lie ( , ; 16 July 1896 – 30 December 1968) was a Norwegians, Norwegian politician, labour leader, government official and author. He served as Norwegian foreign minister during the critical years of the Nygaardsvold's Cabinet, N ...

, First

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

* Willy Bakken († 2010) popular culture writer * Jan Bøhler (b. 1952), politician, member of parliament * Flamur Kastrati (b. 1991), Norwegian footballer, from Rødtvet

References

Gallery

File:Alnaparken with bridge.JPG, Alnaparken, bridge over river Alna, 2008. File:Grorud stasjon1.jpg, Grorud metro station, 2010. File:Grorud senter aerial.jpg, Grorud senter aerial, 2010. File:Grorud school 1.jpg, Grorud school, 2007. File:Groruddammen.JPG, Groruddammen, Alna river, 2013. {{Authority control Boroughs of Oslo Ethnic enclaves in Norway