Vulkan wasn't always this welcoming. Just 20 years ago, this riverside plot in central Oslo was a derelict tangle of concrete and broken windows. Today, it's a compact urban village powered by geothermal energy, cooled with rooftop solar panels and home to community-driven cultural spaces. Designed with a focus on density, design and sustainability, Vulkan is a model for how cities can rethink old spaces to create new futures. And, as I'd learn over 24 hours, it's also a gateway to understanding the quiet innovation at the heart of Norway's capital – a place where liveability is taken seriously.

...

In this sense, it's easy to see Vulkan as the fingerprint of a wider ethos and a grander aim. If a neighbourhood can be built to be fully sustainable, why can't an entire city? If an entire city, why not a whole country? If a whole country, what about our society? Zooming out from Vulkan, it seems that Norway is asking the same kinds of questions.