It`s about disrupting
the established

Håkon Iversen is Chairman and Partner. He founded NUDA in 2005 as Nordic Urban Design Association. In 2021 he changed the name to Nordic Urban Design Agency.

The intention was to develop urban design towards a more innovative forward-looking tool for shaping cities. Since the inaugural NUDA conference “Cities of Tomorrow” in 2006, his work has centered around the idea of connecting cities, buildings, people, and technology closer together as one whole. Filling the gaps between and pulling down silos. 

NUDA is a network platform, which has been basis for all conferences, seminars, workshops, projects and events initiated. In the period between 2006 and 2011, NUDA was considered one of the most innovative conference providers in the Nordics. In 2012 NUDA became involved in EU and EEA funded projects, expanding the network further throughout Europe.

Since 2017, when Christine Kahrs joined as partner, NUDA have primarily focused on EEA funded projects, providing services through our role as signature partner, network connector and management expertise, though relevant project inquiries are considered consecutively.

From NUDA; skills, network, methods and competence are brought into LINK Arkitektur AS, Infracity AS and Seidr AS through Håkon`s many engagements, and is core basis for where the model Cities, Buildings, People and Technology is implemented.

The Whole

The world is evolving in the wrong direction. Climate change affects the way we plan society, and the time for silo-based development is over. We have to put things in order, and together. Then we achieve sustainability with profit.

Cities

Cities account for over 70% of global CO2 emissions, most of which come from industrial and motorized transport systems that use huge quantities of fossil fuels and rely on far-flung infrastructure constructed with carbon-intensive materials.

Buildings

Buildings in cities generate nearly 40% of annual global CO2 emissions. Of those total emissions, building operations are responsible for 28% annually, while building materials and construction (typically referred to as embodied carbon) are responsible for an additional 11% annually.

People

The worlds population is expected to increase by 2 billion persons in the next 30 years, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050 and could peak at nearly 11 billion around 2100. Cities are growing, buildings are getting higher and more dense as a result.

Technology

Technology is advancing every day and plays an important role in contributing to the growth of several industries like logistics, manufacturing, mobility, top future technologies, IT and also retail sector. Various technologies have developed one step ahead with better innovations to support humans working in their daily based activities. Emerging technologies are providing us the possibility of progress and also improvement to our limited human condition. For more than 250 years we have worked and developed within the four silos. There is no room for that anymore.

A city, its buildings, the people in the city and available technology, must be seen in context to achieve a holistic urban development. In traditional urban planning, these four areas are largely treated as silos, often independently. Therefore, we must connect the gaps between them, and merge them into a whole.