District of Vinderen

Vinderen was district 23 with 19 371 inhabitants (1999) on 10.3 km2. It was an elongated district from Majorstuen to Voksenkollen on both sides of the Holmenkoll metro. The map of the district of Vinderen clearly shows that it was the Holmenkoll metro that laid the foundation for the settlement. This began in earnest at the turn of the century 1900 after the railway had opened from Majorstuen to Besserud in 1898. Three of the most famous places in the Vinderen area are outside the district: Holmenkollbakken, Frognerseteren and Tryvannstårnet.

The district had some old farmhouses on the old seabed: Ris, Grimelund, Vinderen, Borgen and Holmen. With the Holmenkollbanen railway, the settlement came above the marine border (221 m above sea level) and is at Voksenåsen highest in the city, just over 500 m above sea level. The buildings throughout the district from Frøen to Skådalen and Lillevann consist of small wooden houses, although since the 1990s there has been a densification of the area with low blocks.

Several health institutions were located in the Vinderen district: Rikshospitalet, Diakonhjemmet, Vinderen Psychiatric Clinic (under Aker Hospital) and the private Volvat Medical Centre. The district have two business centres, Slemdal and Vinderen; the latter was also home to the district administration.

The Disctrict of Vinderen have the lowest population density in Oslo after the districts of Søndre Nordstrand and Ekeberg-Bekkelaget, and the proportion of young adults and the elderly was lower than the city average. Population growth in the 1990s was much higher than elsewhere in the city due to new peeople moving in. Consequently, there were also relatively many children of school age.

Bydel Vestre Aker
From 01.01.2004 Bydel Vinderen merged with Bydel Røa to form Bydel Vestre Aker.

The area stretches from Frøen to Holmenkollen. Around 550 residents in Marka and Sørkedalen receive their services from the district. The name refers to the oldest farm name in Oslo, Aker, which was located by Gamle Aker church and dates back to the Iron Age. At the time of the merge of the districts, the district had 40,587 inhabitants.

The population of the districts varies from the smallest, Bydel Bjerke with 24,448 inhabitants to Bydel Frogner with 45,640 inhabitants as of 01.01.2005. The districts of Vestre Aker, Nordre Aker, Alna, Østensjø, Nordstrand and Frogner have more than 40,000 inhabitants.
The population density in Oslo varies greatly, from the district of Sagene with 9.28 inhabitants per acre to the district of Søndre Nordstrand with 1.80. Borough

Vestre Aker has 16 594 acres, which is 10.9% of the total area. This gives 2.44 inhabitants per acre, compared to Oslo's average of 3.41.
Of Oslo's 15 boroughs, the boroughs Gamle Oslo, Grorud, Stovner, Alna and Søndre Nordstrand have more than 30% with an immigrant background. In the boroughs of Ullern, Vestre Aker, Nordre Aker and Nordstrand, the proportion of immigrants was less than 15%. Vestre Aker is the only borough with more western than non-western immigrants, 5.5 and 5.4 % respectively, for a total of 10.9 %.
In terms of education, Vestre Aker is in the lead with 53.6 % of the population at university and college level and with the highest average income.

As of 01.01.2004, the district had the lowest proportion of disability pensioners in Oslo, 4.7% of the population aged 18-66. Also in terms of unemployment, the district had the lowest figures, 416 as of 01.01.2004.
The district administration is located at Røa.

Bydelsnavnene
The district of Vinderen got its name from the farm Vinderen, the main building is still located at Tunfaret 11. Vind is probably an older name for Sognsvannsbekken and comes from the "windy", winding stream, the delta just below Vinderenfossen close to the farm. The ending -ern is probably a suffix without meaning (as in Stav-ern and Blind-ern), but in old sources the farm name was most often written Winderen or Vinderen.

The district of Vestre Aker takes its name from the former shire (municipality) of Aker, which was merged with Oslo on 1 January 1948. It was in turn named after the oldest farm in the shire, Aker, which was located by Gamle Aker church. Bydel Vestre Aker is the northwesternmost part of the former Aker shire. Aker herred was originally one ecclesiastical parish, which in 1861 was divided into two, Vestre Aker and Østre Aker. In 1906, Vestre Aker was again divided into two parishes, Vestre Aker and Ullern, which were administrative parishes until 1948.

Source: Oslo byleksikon and the website of Bydel Vestre Aker, www.bva.oslo.kommune.no