Considering Norway

NORWAY, A SCANDINAVIAN NATION known for the striking natural beauty created by fjords — seawater inlets that can reach over a hundred miles long (formed when glaciers receded after the last ice age) — is a country where nature is celebrated by visitors and locals alike. Because of its vast natural beauty, Norwegians learn about allemannsretten from a young age. It’s common to see preschool-age children exploring the outdoors under the supervision of their teachers. Allemannsretten is a way of life that permeates the culture, with roots in everything from the nation’s culinary tradition to Norway’s history of Arctic exploration, when adventurers like Roald Amundsen competed to be the first to the poles. (For history buffs, Amundsen’s home, named Uranienborg, is located just outside of Oslo and is preserved as it was in 1928.)

Under normal circumstances, exploring a foreign country, especially after an overnight flight, would be arduous. But Norway’s transit systems — even its airports and planes — are built to make experiencing the outdoors as frictionless as possible.

THE NATURE SURROUNDING OSLO is part of its identity, touching everything from the city’s iceberg-inspired Opera House to The Future Library, a public arts initiative created by Katie Paterson that will publish manuscripts 100 years from now by authors including Margaret Atwood and David Mitchell, on paper made from the 1,000 trees that were planted specifically for the project.

With a population of about 650,000, Oslo is Norway’s largest city, and it’s growing fast.

ALLEMANNSRETTEN, though specific to camping and outdoors use, is a manifestation in Norwegian culture that is deeper and more palpable than the current laws, which were established by the Outdoor Recreation Act of 1957.

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