Biskopsgården

History

Today you can find the first trace of humans by the hillsides that was once beaches in an archipelago.

The border between Sweden and Norway went through Biskopsgården from the 13th century until 1658, when Bohuslän belonged to Sweden. One of the old yards, Biskopsgården, was used when the Bishop came to visit. Its area stretched up to the mountains over the current Biskopsgården, and it is from there that it got its name.

In 10 years an area along the tram rail was built for 25,000 people.

In the middle of the 1950s, an expansion of Biskopsgården was started. Around 1958, people, such as authors and professors, moved to Biskopsgården. After the labor migration on 1950s and 1960s, Biskopsgården acquired an immigrant character. The proportion of professionals was higher than average, as well as average earnings. During the 1980s and 1990s, Biskopsgården had changed and renewed. Today, Biskopsgården has improved due to reparation, as well as social and cultural investments. On January 1, 2011, Biskopsgården and Torslanda joined together and formed Western Hisingens district. In Gothenburg the number of district has been halved to ten.

Living and population

Biskopsgården has approximately 12,750 dwellings. The majority of dwellings were constructed during the 1950's. In the spring of 2007, a program for new dwellings was approved by the building committee. To highlight the resident’s thoughts and ideas about where they could build new dwellings, a citizen group of 20 people was commissioned by the city-building office together with the district administration. Biskopsgården expected to receive a major injection of new homes in the near future. The famous architect Johan Berggren has said that Biskopsgården has potential to become the new role model, concerning new architecture.

The population of the district is approximately 25,600 (2008). The population has decreased a lot since the 1960s, then the population was above 37,000. The district is close to a large green area and major thoroughfares. The district has a geographical central location, with three tram services that connect the area with the city centre. The trams leaves every five minutes and it takes approximately 15 minutes to travel to the city. Despite this the district is isolated relative to the other places in Hisingen.

Development

Further development of Biskopsgården will need to reduce the isolated nature of the area to more closely integrate it with the rest of the city. The district has gone through major changes during its lifetime. An example on this is that; the ethnic diversity has increased; some of the blocks have been renovated or rebuilt. The Live-good process was started in 1993, a unique development forum, with the purpose of improving the district for the resident. The vision of the Live-good process is to have attractive preschool/school, better marketing, safety, own supply, good housing, and collaboration and accommodation dialogue.

The district has three large business squares, Länsmanstorget, Vårväderstorget and Friskväderstorget that are natural meeting places for the residents. The squares have a variety of small shops. Biskopsgården have large planned neighbor areas used as natural meeting places for residents. Svarte Mosses has a large green area that gives the possibility to have activity meeting-places, such as barbecue places, café, nature pathways, miniature golf, and other sports activities.

Education

In Biskopsgården there are 5 schools, one in each primary area. Ryaskolan. In South and North Biskopsgården there are two properties with housing and daytime activities for older children. There is also two youth recreation centres and one library. There is a very well developed association life, with 80 compounds that are working in the district. About 50 compounds are focused on culture, politics and hobbies, 20 are sports associations and about 15 are pensioners associations.

Business

In Biskopsgården you can find everything from restaurants and barber shops to machine shops and printers. Today there are 966 registered companies in Biskopsgården. However Biskopsgårdens industry association was created in 1977. There is an industry area and a small business consisting 70 companies in the South Biskopsgården. The industry area has looked the same the last 15 years.

Crime

Biskopsgården has during the decade of 2010 been plagued by gang violence including gun murders and car bombs. A lowpoint was on 18 March 2015 when two men shot into a restaurant with a machine gun, killing two and injuring ten. Both the targets and perpetrators were involved in large-scale drug crime, save for a murdered bystander. In the aftermath police installed 15 security cameras in the area which began operation in December 2016.