Swedish Municipalities and the Sustainable Development of ...

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�� – Examples of Habitat-oriented work

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DNR: B 5081–1331/99TITLE: Swedish municipalities and the sustainable development of towns, cities and communities – Examples ofHabitat-oriented workDATE OF PUBLICATION: June 2001PUBLISHER: Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning andSwedish National Committee on Agenda 21 and HabitatEDITION: 1NUMBER OF COPIES: 1 000 copiesCOVER PRINT: Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and PlanningPRINT: Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and PlanningISBN: 91–7147–674-1

SUMMARY: This set of examples describes how some fifty Swedish municipalities are working on planning for thesustainable development of towns, cities and communities. The aim of the publication is to provide inspiration andideas for local work. Sustainable development has ecological, social, cultural and economic aspects. This is whymany different types of projects are presented. Taken together these examples provide an overview of current issuesand planning problems that Swedish municipalities are contending with at present in different parts of the country.

KEY WORDS: sustainable towns, cities and communities, sustainable development, urban planning, urban development,land-use planning, planning, Habitat Agenda, Agenda 21, examples, municipalities.

THE PUBLICATION CAN BE ORDERED FROM:Boverket (Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning)PublikationsserviceBox 534SE - 371 23 KarlskronaTel: +46 455-35 30 50Fax: +46 455-819 27E mail: [email protected] page: www.boverket.se

© BOVERKET 2001

TRANSLATION: Ian MacArthur

COVER ILLUSTRATION: From the top left the municipalities of Gotland, Mark, Malmö, Åre, Kalmar, Arboga, Avesta,Karlskrona, Falkenberg, Nynäshamn and Eksjö. The names of the photographers are given under each picture insidethe publication.

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FOREWORD

Benefiting from one another’s experience and highlighting good examples are centralcomponents in the follow-up of commitments under the Habitat Agenda, theglobal plan of action for sustainable human settlements development adopted atthe UN Habitat II Conference in 1996. We are therefore pleased to be able topresent this report containing examples from some 50 Swedish municipalities.This set of examples complements the Swedish National Report prepared for theSpecial Session of the General Assembly on Habitat on 6-8 June 2001.

The examples illustrate the close links between Agenda 21 and the Habitat Agenda,both of which have a clear social perspective and an explicit democratic dimen-sion. In work at local level the ecological and social perspectives are combinedand participation is the operative instrument. The examples reflect differingapproaches in municipalities in a variety of situations and facing a range of planningproblems, i.e. both larger and medium-sized settlements, on the one hand, andsmall communities and rural areas, on the other. Taken together the examplesprovide an overview of current issues and planning problems that Swedishmunicipalities are contending with in different parts of the country.

The contents of this report are based on the work of the National Board of Housing,Building and Planning. As the central government agency in the field of housing,building, planning and urban development, the Board has long experience ofwork on issues related to sustainable urban and human settlements development.During 2000 the Board has been commissioned by the Government to follow andbring together ongoing Habitat-oriented work in the municipalities. The examplespresented here are mainly drawn from the Board’s conference series “A town ismore than its buildings …” held in late 1999 and early 2000. The county admi-nistrative boards and regional associations of local authorities were co-organisersof these conferences and have helped to select the municipal examples. In addi-tion to these examples this report also contains a follow-up of some of the exampleshighlighted in the Swedish National Report to Istanbul in 1996. This part of thereport describes how work has progressed, what results have been achieved andwhat lessons learned.

It is our hope that the examples presented here can act as a source of inspirationfor local Habitat work, not only in Sweden but also in other parts of the world.

Karlskrona and Stockholm in May 2001

Ines Uusmann Rolf LindellDirector-General Secretary-GeneralSwedish National Board of Swedish National Committee onHousing, Building and Planning Agenda 21 and Habitat

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CONTENTS

This set of examples describes how some fifty Swedishmunicipalities are working on planning for the sustainabledevelopment of towns, cities and communities. Sustain-able development has ecological, social, cultural andeconomic aspects. The municipal examples presented hereoften have the ambition of including as many aspects aspossible. However, each example usually has a particularemphasis. The examples have therefore been grouped in

six themes to clarify this. The six themes are: Democracyand participation, Environment-oriented work, Localidentity and the built environment, Local enterprise andeconomic development, Planning and developmentstrategies and, finally, Local politics. A final section ofexamples reports on progress in a selection of Sweden’snational best practices from Habitat II in 1996.

This is Sweden .......................................................... 7

Democracy and participationFalkenberg municipality ........................................... 8Citizen survey in Falkenberg

Sundsvall municipality .............................................. 10Local environment issues integratedin land-use planning

City of Göteborg ...................................................... 12Bergsjön – a city district on the path to sustainability

Nynäshamn municipality .......................................... 14Change begins in the housing area– the example of Backlura

City of Malmö.......................................................... 16Integration and sustainable development

Environment-oriented workCity of StockholmIndicators for sustainable development ....................... 18Green and living courtyards ........................................ 20

Gotland municipality ................................................ 22Sustainable development on Gotland

Luleå municipality .................................................... 24Sustainable development in Luleå municipality

Pajala municipality ................................................... 26Sustainable development in Pajala municipality

Local identity and the built environmentKalmar municipality ................................................. 28The attractive and sustainable town

Kristianstad municipality .......................................... 30A vital town centre

Ljungby municipality ............................................... 32A town is also its colours

Eksjö municipality .................................................... 34The spirit of the time determines the form of atown, not its identity

Sölvesborg municipality ............................................ 36The spirit of the place – reflections on Sölvesborg

Arboga municipality ................................................. 38How can we handle the qualities of the small town?

Hudiksvall och Söderhamn municipalities ................. 41IT, participation and conservation

Lycksele municipality ................................................ 42Development and conservation in Lycksele

Avesta municipality ................................................... 44Co-operation for a more attractive town centre

Local enterprise and economicdevelopmentDals-Ed municipality ................................................. 46Sustainability in rural areas using IT

Karlskoga municipality ............................................. 48From single-industry community to sustainable town

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Storuman municipality ............................................. 50Planning and development in a mountainmunicipality

Åre municipality ....................................................... 52From land to tourism, from farm to town

Nybro municipality .................................................... 54The Kingdom of Wood, Crystal and Design

Hallsberg municipality ............................................. 56Planning for a competitive town centre

Örnsköldsvik municipality ......................................... 58Infrastructure planning and town centre development

Lund municipality .................................................... 60LundaMaTs – environment-friendlytransport in Lund

City of Uppsala ......................................................... 62Uppsala 2020 – vision and strategy for the city

Jönköping municipality ............................................. 64Urban development vision for Jönköping

Östersund municipality ............................................. 66The university in the heart of the town– an engine for development

Norrköping municipality ........................................... 68The industrial landscape – from a forgottenbackyard to a central development zone

Oxelösund municipality ........................................... 70Infrastructure and urban development

Strängnäs municipality ............................................... 72Planning and building along the Svealand railway

Umeå municipality ................................................... 74The Norrbyskär example

Planning and development strategiesHaparanda municipality and the town of Tornio ...... 76On the border – Rajalla development plan

Kiruna municipality ................................................. 78Sustainable development in Kiruna municipality

Ovanåker municipality ............................................. 80Comprehensive planning and then what . . . ?

Karlskrona municipality ........................................... 82karlskrona.se – our comprehensive plan

Sollentuna municipality ............................................ 84Silverdal – a sustainable urban district

Varberg municipality ................................................ 86Comprehensive planning for sustainabledevelopment

Vallentuna municipality ............................................ 88The comprehensive plan – a tool forsustainable development

City of Västerås ......................................................... 90A sustainable Västerås

Karlshamn municipality ........................................... 92Karlshamn from our perspectives

Borlänge municipality .............................................. 94Urban development in Falun and Borlänge

Local politicsUmeå municipality ................................................... 96Sustainable development in a political perspective

Mark municipality .................................................... 98Sustainable development in a political perspective

Mjölby municipality ................................................. 100Sustainable development in a political perspective

Progress of Sweden’s national bestpractices from 1996All of Sweden shall live – sustainable ruraldevelopment ............................................................... 103

Participatory planning processes– the National City Park ............................................. 104

Rehabilitation of housing areas – the exampleof Kronogården ........................................................... 105

Protecting water resources – Stockholm Water ........... 106

Development co-operation – Computerisationof the Department of Survey and Land Recordsin Bhutan .................................................................... 107

Bibliography ............................................................. 110

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Here is where theexamples comefrom.The municipalities arenumbered in the order inwhich they appear in thisreport.

1. Falkenberg2. Sundsvall3. Göteborg4. Nynäshamn5. Malmö6. Stockholm7. Gotland

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22. Storuman23. Åre24. Nybro25. Hallsberg26. Örnsköldsvik27. Lund28. Uppsala29. Jönköping30. Östersund31. Norrköping32. Oxelösund33. Strängnäs34. Umeå35. Haparanda36. Tornio (Finland)37. Kiruna38. Ovanåker39. Karlskrona40. Sollentuna41. Varberg42. Vallentuna43. Västerås44. Karlshamn45. Borlänge46. Mark47. Mjölby48. Trollhättan

8. Luleå9. Pajala10. Kalmar11. Kristianstad12. Ljungby13. Eksjö14. Sölvesborg15. Arboga16. Hudiksvall17. Söderhamn18. Lycksele19. Avesta20. Dals-Ed21. Karlskoga

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THIS IS SWEDEN

Sweden is the fifth largest county in Europe, nearly 450,000 sq km in areaand extending for about 1,600 km from north to south. The climate varieswidely, and, due to the Gulf Stream, is milder in Scandinavia than in otherplaces on the same latitudes. Forests account for 70 per cent of Sweden’sland area, farmland 6 per cent and urban areas no more than one per cent.Sweden’s population numbers about 8.8 million inhabitants and 3.8 mil-lion households. At the beginning of the 20th century, 30 per cent of thepopulation lived in rural areas. Today the country is 80 per cent urbanised.Roughly one-third of Sweden’s population live in the three metropolitancities of Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö, while one-third live in smalland medium-sized towns or cities and another third in small urbancommunities and country areas.

Sweden became rapidly industrialised and urbanised during the late 19thcentury. Through a fruitful combination of strategic political reforms anddecisions, as well as extensive co-operation with NGOs and far-sightedbusiness leaders, the widespread poverty of the early 20th century wassucceeded by the development of a welfare state. Early industrialisationwas based on natural resources – forestry, steel production and mining.Today 18 per cent of the workforce are employed in the industrial sector, 2per cent in agriculture and 80 per cent in the service sector. Nearly half ofSweden’s industrial output is based on the mechanical engineering industry.Other sectors of great importance are the medical sector and, to a growingextent, IT and communications as well as protection of the environment.

The local tier of government has by ancient tradition had a very strongposition in Sweden. The opening section of the Instrument of Government(part of the Swedish Constitution) lays down that Swedish democracy, basedon the free formation of opinion and on universal and equal suffrage, isrealised through a representative, parliamentary system of government andthrough local self-government. This also includes the right to decide a localrate of taxation and to charge for certain services. The municipalities areresponsible for a wide range of services, e.g. housing, roads, sewage, watersupply, compulsory schooling, social allowances, care for the elderly andchild care.

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FALKENBERG MUNICIPALITYCitizen survey in Falkenberg

Citizen surveyIn 1999 the town planning department in Falkenberg municipality carriedout a citizen survey on the future of Falkenberg with the intention ofdetermining the views of local people on issues like housing and the localenvironment. The background to the survey was work on an areacomprehensive plan for the main town, Falkenberg, including edge-of-town areas. At an early stage in work on the comprehensive plan, informa-tion and ideas about the town were wanted from the public. One aim wasto arouse interest in planning.

Postal questionnaireThe survey was carried out in March-April 1999 in the form of ananonymous postal questionnaire sent to a random and representativeselection of 1 000 residents of both sexes aged 18-70. The questionnairewas sent to municipal residents living in or near the main town. Reminderswere then sent out twice. At the time of the survey an article about thequestionnaire was featured in a local newspaper, Hallands Nyheter.

Secrecy guarantees were given for replies. The high response rate suggeststhat the questionnaire aroused great public interest. Replies were receivedto as much as 76 per cent of the 1 000 questionnaires mailed out. As furtherevidence of the involvement of Falkenberg residents, 53 per cent of thecompleted questionnaires contained the respondents’ own written viewsabout the future of Falkenberg.

Housing, the local environment and developmentThe questionnaire consisted of 13 questions, including four backgroundquestions about sex, age and form of housing. Under a heading on thetheme of Vision for the 21st Century respondents could express their ownviews on both the current situation and visions of the future. Briefly thequestionnaire dealt with the following main groups of questions:

• Qualities relating to housing in different communities

• Qualities related to areas for town and country walks and to park areas

• What is important in everyday life related to housing and the localenvironment

• How well the local environment works in everyday life related tohousing, etc.

• What is important for the future development of Falkenberg

• The potential for staying on in Falkenberg related to work commuting,the future IT society, etc

• Attitude to certain projects being discussed or planned in the municipal-ity.

In Falkenberg large parts of the old towncentre are well preserved. The old stonebridge – Tullbron, or the Toll Bridge – wasbuilt in 1755-61 and acts as a symbol ofFalkenberg. Beside the bridge abutmentare the ruins of a medieval fortress.

The Old Town is a genuine wooden sett-lement characterised by an irregular gridof cobbled lanes with medieval origins. Thetown is mentioned in written records in1310 and its town charter was finallyconfirmed in 1558.

Fresh and salt water meet in Falken-berg. The town lies at the mouth of theRiver Ätran in Kattegatt and this closenessto the sea gives Falkenberg much of itssoul. This municipality in the county ofHalland has around 39 000 inhabitantsalmost 19 000 of whom live in the centraltown.

The town has a big harbour and fishing,based on Glommen harbour, plays animportant role. The main industries aremanufacturing and commerce. Agricultureis also of great importance.

Falkenberg has a number of activitieslinked to the pleasures of the table,including Sia ice cream, the small watermill at Berte, the dairy with its cheeseproduction and the genuine brewery tra-dition. The local economy is developingstrongly and the municipality is a pioneerin the environmental field – partly as aresult of widely noted investments in so-lar and wind power and in biogas.

Few Swedish municipalities can comp-ete with Falkenberg in terms of the num-ber of museums per inhabitant. The largestone is Falkenberg Museum, placed in anold grain store. Exhibits here describe localhistory with an emphasis on crafts andindustry. There are also the “old townmuseum”, a stone and fossil museum, aphotography museum, the comic museumComic Land, the studio of the painterSevrein Nilsson, a country store museumand the Ecological Museum, which isspread over the area of Ätran valley. TheGekås Store in Ullared is the biggest tour-ist destination in Sweden with over 3 mil-lion visitors annually: hardly surprising thatUllared sometimes acts as a signpost forthe whole of Falkenberg municipality.

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Photo: Hallands Civiltryckeri.

Photo: Hallands Civiltryckeri.

Green and vital city with good architectureThe conclusion drawn from the public’s own views was that the design ofthe heart of the town centre is important to everyone. People want a warmand pleasant town that is pedestrian-friendly and vital and has good archi-tecture and plenty of greenery. Questions concerning local economicdevelopment also came up, as people felt it is important to create jobs,keep young people in the municipality and ensure Falkenberg does notturn into a “pensioner town” or a “dormitory town.”

Views from the public:– Keep our small town idyll.– More greenery in the centre. Green the town square and get rid

of the cars.– Less traffic in the centre and turn the centre into a pedestrian

area.– Too many empty premises in the centre.– Too many pubs, pizzerias and cafés in the centre.– Support the development of small businesses.– Tourism is important. Do more to market Falkenberg.– Unemployment must go down.– Invest more in schools, care services and higher education.– More leisure activities for young people.

Planning informationThe purpose of the questionnaire was to provide additional information inwork on the comprehensive plan. The result shows that the method isperfectly adequate for this purpose but that it can also be used as a basis forlocal discussions on urban development between planners, decision-tak-ers, political associations and the public. The method helps to bring for-ward opinions from people who do not usually express any views in thetraditional planning process.

ExperienceThe experience of the Falkenberg study points to a number of concretesuggestion:• Check to see if there are any other questionnaires around

(questionnaire fatigue?)• Check the Personal Data Act• Send reminders• Use the local paper• Don’t ask questions that are too intrusive.

CONTACT:Cecilia Engström,Falkenberg municipalityTel: +46 346 862 60E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.falkenberg.se

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SUNDSVALL MUNICIPALITYLocal environment issues integrated in land-use planning

Intensive environmental workThe new Sundsvall, built after the town fire in the 19th century, wasintended to avoid similar disasters. Sustainability has however beenneglected in many areas apart from fire safety in the continued expansionof the town. Housing development is dispersed, out-of-town shoppingand commerce is tending to take the life out of the town centre, oldindustrial waste has still to be dealt with and the traffic situation in thetown is not satisfactory.

A good environment has now become an important issue for thedevelopment of Sundsvall municipality. Sundsvall is to be a municipalitywith a good environment that is in ecological balance, where people canlive in good health and enjoy nature.

To ensure sustainable development for the town great efforts have beenmade to clean up old environmental sins. In the 1990s the municipality’senvironmental work was very intensive. In 1997 Sundsvall’s Agenda 21was adopted as a guide for environment and development in the coming25 years.

Local Agenda 21This document states that every stakeholder in the community has a dutyto take part in environmental work and to find their own paths to achievethe common goals. This work should be guided by the wishes and ideas ofordinary people, since experience has shown that people become moreinterested when there is an opportunity to influence things. Nine goals areto act as signposts towards a sustainable Sundsvall in the year 2020; theseare goals for knowledge, power, health, housing, nature, consumption,production, energy and waste. The goals that are to guide the other goalsare knowledge, power and health.

Knowledge is need for the ecocycle adaptation of businesses, to reducethe strain on the environment and to create good local environments. Powermust be shared in such a way that everyone receives information and cantake part, cooperate and exercise influence. Sound and healthy environmentsmust be created both indoors and outdoors to provide good conditionsfor health. Together with healthy and drug-free environments a good so-cial network and meaningful employment are fundamental to people’s wellbeing. These goals will guide work on the municipality-wide comprehensiveplan, which has already been started through a range of consultations.

Public participation in the Inner HarbourOn the basis of the Agenda 21 goals Sundsvall municipality is working todevelop and renew forms for democracy and public participation. Fourkey concepts in this work are seen-affected-needed-involved. One interes-

Sundsvall became a town as long ago as1621, but it was an accident that gave thetown centre its present form. On Mid-summer Day 1888 old Sundsvall burneddown and 9 000 people were made home-less overnight. The town was soon rebuiltagain, but this time the main materialchosen was stone. The architectural ideals– parks and avenues – were drawn fromEurope. So the present form and designof the town have their origins in the late19th century.

Sundsvall municipality, which is in theprovince of Medelpad, has some 93 500inhabitants, 50 000 of whom live in thecentral town. Its location in the centre ofSweden and the good communications toand from Sundsvall make the town animportant hub in northern Sweden. Themunicipality is a traditional commercial andindustrial region, but forestry has also hada dominant role. The largest companies areSvenska Cellulosa AB, the Telia Group,Metso Paper, the Post Office Group, AkzoNobel, Kubal and the Swedish Patent andRegistration Office. There is also an im-portant harbour in the central town.

The Mid Sweden University is an import-ant engine in the development of thetown. The University and its Sundsvallcampus are growing steadily and aimingat full university status. Sundsvall spendsmore on culture and recreation than theSwedish average. There are first classfacilities for art, music, theatre, arena sportsand outdoor recreation. Sundsvall has wona number of awards including StudentTown of the Year in 2000, Town Centre ofthe Year in 1999, Pop Town 99 and CulturalMunicipality of the Year in 1991. Sunds-vall will soon be the site of Sweden’s firstinternational casino, Casino Cosmopol.

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CONTACTS:Paul Sjölander, Sundsvall municipalityTel: +46 60 19 13 41E mail: [email protected]

Marie-Louise Henriksson,Sundsvall municipalityTel: +46 60 19 13 98E mail:[email protected]

Home page: www.sundsvall.se

ting example of how the municipality is working on citizen influence is thetransformation of the Inner Harbour in Sundsvall.

As part of work on developing Sundsvall’s Inner Harbour an exhibitionhas been held to present four alternative proposals drafted by architects. Inthe summer of 1999 a questionnaire was linked to the exhibition to giveSundsvall residents the opportunity of saying what they wanted to happento the Inner Harbour. There was a good response to the questionnaire,about 1 000 replies. Cafés/restaurants, a park, a guest harbour and premisesfor entertainment/recreation/culture topped the wish list. Women and menset the same priorities. They also did so for hotels and offices, which endedup at the bottom of the list. When asked to choose between the differentarchitect proposals people preferred the one containing a park and small-scale development.

Work on the Inner Harbour has continued with a programme exhibitionin the summer of 2000, at which the municipality presented a consolidatedproposal for the development of the Inner Harbour area.

Proposed development of the Inner Harbour. Illustration from the plan programme.

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CITY OF GÖTEBORGBergsjön – a city district on the path to sustainability

Ecological city districtBergsjön was built in the 1960s and is in northeast Göteborg, some eightkilometres from the city centre. It is a city district of great natural beautywith just over 14 000 inhabitants, some 65 per cent of whom have aforeign background. Unemployment is high and many residents are livingon social assistance. The district has problems with a large resident turnover.Since the early 1990s a process has been under way with the aim oftransforming Bergsjön into a sustainable city district. The city’s districtcommittee has decided that all activities will have an ecological directionbased on co-operation within the organisation and across departmentalboundaries. A unified perspective that integrates ecology with culture, lifestyles, technology and finance is therefore guiding work on change. In thespring of 1999 the district administration opened an Agenda 21 Office.The Office’s task is to stimulate environmental processes, public health,local organisations, security and crime-prevention processes, physicalrehabilitation and democratic processes. The Agenda 21 Office is an enginein work for change.

A common platformThe aim of the ”Future of Bergsjön” study carried out in 1998-99 was tomake Bergsjön a better and more secure city district to live and work in.The initiators were the district council in Bergsjön and Göteborg’s groupof property companies, Förvaltnings AB Framtiden. One important star-ting point for work was to make use of and develop residents’ own ideas,while also making use of the knowledge and resources of other actors, toachieve environmental improvements. The study, which resulted in a com-mon platform for future work, sets out ten basic points that, taken together,are of importance for successful development in the district – renewal ofthe school, development of the squares, housing areas, roads and publictransport as well as security-enhancing and crime prevention measures.The democratic process must also be developed, as must co-operation acrosssectoral and activity boundaries. This study and the ecological directionpermeate all development work.

Environment-friendly everyday lifeThe environmental action has resulted in positive changes in the city di-strict. Now there are plenty of recycling stations for waste separation andvarious ways of dealing with household waste. Verbal and written informa-tion on waste separation in various languages is supporting this process.One area of rented housing has worked successfully on energy manage-ment. Other areas have worked on low-energy, more efficient outdoorlighting. Göteborg Energi, the city’s energy company, is planning to buildthree wind turbines in Bergsjön. The Bergsjön Environment Calendar andthe Environment Week in May have become important traditions. Everyactivity has an environmental co-ordinator who acts as an engine in

In the Stone Age there was a settlementat the mouth of the Göta River. However,the development of modern Göteborgonly began in 1619 at the initiative of KingGustav II Adolf using Amsterdam as amodel. The town plan was drafted on aDutch model with canals and fortifications.The old moat around the city centre stillexists as a reminder of the city’s defences.

Today Göteborg harbour, which is oneof the largest in the Nordic region, ac-counts for a significant proportion of Swe-dish exports and imports. More than thirtydirect shipping services link the Nordic re-gion with destinations around the worldvia Göteborg. Closeness to markets andexcellent infrastructure are one of theexplanations for the good business climatein the region.

The industrial tradition of the Göteborgregion has laid the foundation for inter-nationally renowned companies like Volvo,SKF, Esab, Astra Hässle, Saab EricssonSpace, Ericsson Microwave Systems andHasselblad. Transportation and whole-saling are, alongside engineering, the mostcharacteristic features of industry andcommerce in the Göteborg region.

Today Göteborg has some 460 000inhabitants. For administrative purposesthe municipality is divided into 21 citydistricts run by district committees. With45 000 students at Chalmers University ofTechnology, Göteborg University and theGöteborg School of Economics and Commerc-ial Law. Göteborg is the second largest uni-versity city in Sweden.

Göteborg is also one of the leadingevent cities in Europe. It has places like theUllevi sports complex, the ScandinaviumExhibition and Congress Centre, LisebergAmusement Park and events like the Gö-teborg Film Festival, the Trad Jazz Festival,the Göteborg Song Festival, the Night ofCulture, the Göteborg Party and the GothiaCup.

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CONTACTS:Britt Kjellberg, City of GöteborgTel: +46 31 61 22 42E mail:[email protected]

Marianne Hermansson,Tel: +46 31 332 87 08E-post: [email protected]

Home page: www.goteborg.se

environment work. Local educational ma-terial on the environment, “Get to knowyour Bergsjön”, has been produced tospread knowledge about the history ofBergsjön. In a next step, the schools areworking with the National Heritage Boardto get to know Bergsjön, their local district,and concrete as a material. In co-opera-tion with the City Traffic Department theyare taking part in the improvement of tramstops, which are going to be enhanced withthe concrete slabs made by the children.

Environmental improvementsin co-operationIn the housing area on Siriusgatan adevelopment process with a swarm of networks and activities has been inprogress since the early 1990s. The physical manifestations of this workinclude the exciting anthroposophy-inspired colouring of the apartmentblocks. The activities include ecological buildings, car co-operatives, a marshpark, an ecological urban farm, recycling stations, composting, herb gard-ens and ecological growers associations. But first and foremost thedevelopment work has generated involvement among, and increasedinfluence for, residents. By working on things that affect everyday life, byseeing ways forward and by seizing opportunities and promoting highlycommitted and motivational residents it has been possible to turn roundthe negative trend in the area. In other housing areas property-owners arenow joining forces to carry out improvements and turn round developmentsalong with residents and other actors. The ecologically oriented improvementof Bergsjön Centre will be started in the autumn of 2001. Siriusgatan is amodel for environmental and development work in the city district.

Labour market measuresWorking at one and the same time on labour market measures, integration,knowledge development and Agenda 21 generates gains for the community.For many years the district administration, Familjebostäder (a city housingcompany), the Association for the Promotion of Adult Education and thelocal Tenants Association have been co-operating on a Recycling House. Atthe Recycling House unemployed Bergsjön residents work in the café, inthe second-hand shop and in various workshops for recycling andcultivation. Six new cultivation areas have evolved. The media workshop,the keep-fit workshop and the labour market co-operative are activitiesunder development.

National government supportSeveral housing areas in the metropolitan regions have similar problems toBergsjön. The government hopes to be able to turn round developments inthese areas by applying a national Metropolitan Policy and providing extraresources. Bergsjön is one of 24 housing areas selected to receive additionalresources in the period 2000-2003.

Among the apartment blocks on Sirius-gatan residents have built up an herb gar-den in co-operation with the RecyclingHouse, Familjebostäder, a city housingcompany, and the Agenda 21 Office. TheGarden, which is run by Sirius Herb Gar-den Association, is one of many cultivatedplots that have evolved as part of theenvironmental programme. Photo: AnnSkärberg.

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NYNÄSHAMN MUNICIPALITYChange begins in the housing area – the example of Backlura

Community workNickstahöjden, usually known as Backlura, is one of the housing areasfrom the Million Homes Programme of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Itconsists of high-rise and low-rise blocks and row housing, built in variousphases between 1970 and 1990. When a refugee reception centre was sitedin the area in 1993, people began to move out. In connection with this, aproject was started to build bridges between residents. Various networksand group activities were started. Initially community work was intendedto be a relatively short-term project, but it increasingly turned into anongoing process that responds to the new needs that arise all the time.

Close co-operationA network of partners was established, between the police, the job centre,sports clubs, the church, various municipal departments and the Parks De-partment. Effective co-operation was established and the participants haddifferent approaches to problems, different tasks and different respons-ibilities. The partners developed the working method jointly without anyinstructions from the top. Today it is primarily the Social Care Depart-ment, the Child and Education Department and Nynäshamnsbostäder,the municipal housing company, that are leading the work. The municipalhousing company was a strong driving partner from the outset and had aco-ordinating role among municipal departments.

The physical environmentOne of the first measures taken was to start working on the outdoorenvironment and greenery. A gardener was hired and a working groupconsisting of various immigrant groups from the refugee reception centrewas set up. Through co-operation with the job centre long term unemployedpeople were involved in concrete work on the area. This resulted in a bigboost for the area: for example a piece on land with a burned-down pre-school was transformed into an activity park.

The participation of young peopleIn the summer young people living in the area, mainly those with immi-grant backgrounds, are hired as summer workers. They take part in workon outdoor maintenance, grass cutting, planting, improving play areas,etc. These summer jobs are often an important part of the young people’ssocial networks, also providing them with their first references for futurejobs. The young people in Backlura are seen as important to thedevelopment of the housing area. They have formed their own youth coun-cil, Backlura Youth Council, which is working to make the housing areaeven better. Another aim of the Council is to provide models for the youngerchildren. The Youth Council gives the young people practical knowledge

People found Nynäshamn an agreeableplace to live as early as in the Stone Age.Rune stones, burial mounds, etc areevidence of settlements from the Iron Age.In Nynäshamn there are some 200 areasof ancient remains.

Nynäshamn municipality with itsaround23 000 inhabitants is like a peninsula inthe southern part of the Stockholm archi-pelago enclosed by water with deep baysthat cut into the landscape. The sea dom-inates the life of the town and the harbouris full of life in the summer. One of thereasons for the foundation of Nynäshamnis that it offers the perfect location for aharbour. At the beginning of the 20thcentury what had been a small fishing vil-lage was transformed into a centre inSweden for ferry traffic to Gotland andRussia. Nynäshamn is still the centre oftraffic to Gotland, but now ships also goto Poland and to the Gotska Sandönisland, a national park.

In the municipality there is housing inboth apartment blocks and single-familyhomes, in the pleasant garden town ofNynäshamn, in the cultural district ofSorunda, in Ösmo with its nearby forest,rich in mushrooms, and in Stora Vika withthe sea and countryside as neighbours. InNynäshamn the distance between housingand the sea is seldom more than 1 000metres. The high-rise housing in theHeimdal area, designed by Alvar Aalto andbuilt in the 1940s, is a familier landmarkfor all seafarers on their way intoNynäshamn harbour.

Many well-known Swedish authorshave drawn impulses from the district withits rich and varied cultural traditions. Au-gust Strindberg, Moa and Harry Martin-son, Ivar Lo Johansson and Lars Widdingare among the important authors whohave lived in the district and been inspiredby it in many well-known works.

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CONTACT:Inger AnderssonAB NynäshamnsbostäderTel: +46 8 520 687 00E mail: [email protected]

Home pages: www.nynasbo.se andwww.nynashamn.se

Backlura. Photo: Patrik Östberg.

of democratic working methods. They choose by themselves what issues toget involved in; for example they have taken over the running of the footballpitch in the area.

ActivitiesIn the autumn of 1997 a care education programme was started in Back-lura, as part of the national Adult Education Initiative. This course, whichis held in converted apartments, has produced results that exceed expect-ations and is planned to continue for some time to come. The coursetrains nursing auxiliaries as assistant nurses. In the period 1997-2000 morethan 200 students have completed the course. Many have continued theirstudies and specialised in care of dementia patients. Following their successfulstudy results many students have applied to university with the aim ofbecoming registered nurses. An extra stimulus has been that one of thethree-storey apartment blocks in the area has been converted into grouphousing for dementia patients while the courses have been running. Severalstudents have been able to watch their new workplace being built outsidetheir windows.

It is important to make use of the knowledge and involvement of residents.Premises have been provided for group activities where people with diffe-rent nationalities meet to sew, bake or take walks while practising Swedishat the same time. They have also laid out an herb garden together.

The aim of these activities is to make Nickstahöjden an attractive dis-trict. Work is organised in three projects: popular education, construction/ecocycles/environmental management systems and energy and resource ma-nagement. The starting point for this work is “people in focus” andsustainable development according to the Habitat Agenda. Much effort isdevoted to changing attitudes; people must be made to see the opportunitiesand to believe in them.

The futureMuch has happened since the project in Backlura started. The process haschanged and developed all the time, but the strategy has remained unchangedfrom the outset. It does, however, take a long time to build up relationsand networks, because most of this builds on personal contacts made whenpeople use the area. The most important aims are more meeting places,commercial service, more local associations and the development of localbusiness.

Greenery, art and designIn addition to work on social processes (the bottom-up perspective) workis in progress on the outdoor environment. The artistic and aesthetic de-sign of the area is bringing new dimensions to living there. A novel andexciting proposal has been drafted together with prospective landscapearchitects from the University of Lund at Alnarp and the National PublicArt Council.

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CITY OF MALMÖIntegration and sustainable development

Crisis in the 1990sMalmö was hit hard by the recession in the 1990s. Structural change inindustry and the economy, the relatively low educational level of Malmöresidents and strong immigration helped to deepen the crisis. The cityquickly had a large proportion of its population outside the labour market.However, the crisis and unemployment had very different effects in dif-ferent parts of Malmö. The effects were worst in housing areas that wereamong the poorest and least attractive to begin with.

SegregationSegregation in Malmö is economic, social and ethnic in character. Thismeans that people with different backgrounds are separated geographicallyfrom one another and live in different city districts. The lack of a sense ofcommunity and of social cohesion is one of Malmö’s major problems to-day.

Structural weaknessesThese problems cannot be explained solely in terms of the recession in the1990s. Malmö’s difficulties are mainly structural and they have existed formore than 20 years. In the Rosengård district the proportion of immigrantshas always been very high at the same time as children account for a thirdof residents. In this district there is no natural way to learn to speak Swe-dish. In addition most children have unemployed parents without accessto the normal arenas in the community. School performance is often weakand the high dropout rate from upper secondary school is alarming.

Work on changeWork on change is in progress in Malmö’s distressed districts based on theview that these districts are development areas. The aim is to increase inte-gration and to focus on the situation of children and young people. Thecity’s policy is to promote increased integration, emphasizing participationand democratic development in particular. This means that to achieve resultseveryone must participate actively. One aim is that working life, housing,culture and meeting places are to be open to everyone.

Integration planIntegration requires reciprocity and is therefore an issue that affects everyonewho lives and works in Malmö. Malmö’s Integration Council has produceda vision of a community with a common language, common legal standardsand common meeting places. Politicians from all the parties representedon the Municipal Council sit on the Integration Council.

As the politicians need a wide range of information in their work theIntegration Council has prepared an action plan to promote integration in

fishing town of Malmhauger. Today thiscommunity has grown and is nowSweden’s third largest city. Malmö, whichwas founded in 1275, has an exciting his-tory and many well-preserved buildings.St. Gertrud is an historic area with lots ofrestored buildings, Malmöhus Castle is theoldest remaining renaissance palace in theNordic region and St Pteri Church, built inthe 14th century, has one of the largestretables in northern Europe. Stortorget,the main square, was laid out in the 1530sand is lined with remarkable buildings. Anequestrian statue of King Karl X Gustaf,the king who saw to it that Skåne andMalmö became Swedish in 1658, looksout over the square.

Today Malmö has some 255 000 in-habitants, but its population is increasingall the time. More and more people arechoosing to live in Malmö, the city of thefuture. The city is in an exciting and dyna-mic development phase and is becominga more and more important centre forsouth Sweden and the Öresund region.A Bridge City is being planned on bothsides of the Sound with new city districtsfor business and housing. A new Malmöis to develop there in good balance andharmony with the old cultural landscapeof Skåne that surrounds it.

The fact that every fifth Malmö residentwas born abroad contributes to a unique,multicultural atmosphere, but also createsproblems in the form of segregation andsome hostility between cultures.

There is plenty to do in the city and awide range of culture, theatre, art, musicand events is available. In the summer of2000 the Öresund Bridge linking Swedenand Denmark was opened, and in 2005the City Rail Tunnel under the centre ofMalmö will be opened. In 2001 Malmöwill host the “Bo01” National Housing Ex-hibition.

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the City of Malmö. The City’s policy for integration also forms the basisfor the local development agreements that have been signed with the natio-nal government’s Metropolitan Delegation.

Local programmesIn addition to action for housing, adult education and schools, the localaction programmes also contain an invitation to residents to work for abetter environment, stronger social networks and greater local democracy.Working together makes people proud of their local environment, whichis, in turn, necessary for a sustainable community.

Here are some examples from different housing areas:• In Holma self-management of housing and courtyards has been started.

This has resulted both in greater integration and in a better localenvironment.

• In Augustenborg residents have made their traffic environment betterand safer as part of an Eco Town project.

• In the inner city area of Seved-Sofielund property-owners have formedan association in which they are working along with residents for a bet-ter traffic environment.

Access to rich supplies of herring was the reason for the foundation of the little

In Augustenborg car ownership is low. A group of residents have therefore startedan “electric car pool”. Members have access to three electric cars that they can rentat a low cost. The electric car pool is one example of the many different projectsbeing run as part of the Ecological Town of Augustenborg. Other examples are thestormwater system of canals, ponds and green roofs, the electric train that is partof the public transport system, the environmental building for waste separationand composting; the restoration of housing facades and a traffic system geared topedestrians. Photo: John Dolecek.

CONTACT:Britta Ström, City of MalmöTel: +46 40 34 10 59E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.malmo.se

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CITY OF STOCKHOLMIndicators for sustainable development

Agenda 21 – an active processAgenda 21 work in Stockholm has focussed on reach-out projects involvingthe active participation of, and a broad dialogue with, the public, businesspeople, researchers, people active in voluntary organisations, city staff anddecision-takers in the city. One of these projects is aimed at developing,monitoring and reporting indicators that support and stimulate processesof sustainable development in Stockholm. How can we make Stockholm abetter city to live in? What issues are important? Suggestions for indicatorshave been developed in various ways, including round table conversations,reference groups, campaigns and seminars. After collation and processing17 indicators have now been presented.

Indicators for sustainable developmentEach of the 17 indicators represents an important area for sustainabledevelopment. As they include ecological, economic, social and democraticissues they can, taken together, give an overall picture of the developmentof the city. Facts, data and measurement series are now being collected andanalysed. Some of the indicators will be based on existing statistics whileothers will be based on new surveys of the public.

Trends must be made visibleThe ambition is to report the trend for each of the 17 areas identified everyyear starting in the autumn of 2000. Is the development of the indicatorpositive, negative or unchanged in relation to a desired and sustainabledirection? What is the rate of development? Will this make Stockholm abetter city to live and work in? The ambition is to report the indicators atcity district level to promote local support and acceptance. This is a way tomake important issues in a district visible and to compare the developmentof different districts.

Indicators accessible to everyoneAll Stockholmers must be able to access the report. Attempts will thereforebe made to establish co-operation with local media. Individual indicatorsmust also be visible in people’s everyday lives; for example, in a food storethe sale of eco-labelled goods can be shown or on a bus people can seewhether the proportion of trips by public transport is increasing or decrea-sing. A home page on the Internet will give additional information andsuggest actions that can lead to changes.

The indicators will be used actively when businesses, schools and organ-isations adopt them and work with one or more indicators related to their

Erik IX, who became King of Sweden in1150, adorns the City’s coat of arms.According to legend King Erik was a gene-rous ruler, a just legislator and a devotedChristian. At the end of the 12th centuryhe was chosen as the patron saint of theSwedes, and over time he became the spe-cial patron of Stockholm.

Stockholm was founded as long agoas the 13th century. Its location at themouth of Lake Mälaren was strategic bothfor Baltic trade and for the protection ofLake Mälaren. After Gusav Vasa hadoccupied the city in 1523 and was crown-ed King, Stockholm became the seat ofSwedish government.

Stockholm is the most populousmunicipality in Sweden with its 740 000inhabitants. For administrative purposesthe city is divided into 18 districts run bycity district committees. The metropolitanregion, known as Greater Stockholm, con-sists of 22 municipalities and has a popu-lation of 1.8 million. The capital area isthe largest industrial region in the coun-try with a multitude of companies andworkplaces. This concentration in Stock-holm has resulted in over-heating,particularly in the housing market and thetraffic sector. The need for land for expan-sion has led to increased density in the builtenvironment and to a transformation ofolder industrial areas into housing areas.

Stockholm with its water and islandsis a very attractive city. A quarter of thearea of the inner city consists of water.These waterways lead direct out to Stock-holm’s sixty kilometre long archipelagowith some 24 000 islands and skerries.Every year hundreds of thousands ofStockhomers and tourists take holidayshere. The very popular and beautifularchipelago attracts many people onexcursions. In the National City Park, whichincludes the Djurgården area, you can en-joy a unique mix of culture and nature.

The successful, long-term environment-al work in the city has led to a series ofconcrete improvements to the natural andlocal environment. As a result of thesesuccesses, along with Agenda 21 work inStockholm, the city has won awards likethe European Sustainable City Award in1997 and the Best Outdoor RecreationMunicipality award in 1999.

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own activities. They can then supplement these indicators with indicatorsof their own to stimulate active, local work for change. The facts and resultsobtained will, it is hoped, lead to discussions, ideas for action and reportsto customers and the public. A network will be formed to provide supportin this work.

Indicators to support the Agenda 21 processEnvironment• Energy consumption per citizen• Amount of household waste per citizen• Amount of heavy metals aggregated in the city• Emission of carbon dioxide per citizen• Number of days with good air quality• Share of public transportation compared to total commuting

Economy• Level of employment• Level of education• Share of eco-labelled foodstuffs

Social development• Proportion of people having asthma• Proportion of people feeling financially secure• Proportion of people afraid of violence• Time children spend with adults as they grow up

Democracy• Proportion of people active in NGOs• Election turnout among first-time voters• Proportion of people who feel they have a stake in society• Proportion of young people, under the age of 25, who feel they can

influence the development of society

The process continuesDuring 2000 Agenda 21 work in Stockholm will focus on spreading theseindicators among Stockholmers and on building support and acceptance.This is long-term work that will continue to stimulate discussions, dis-semination of knowledge and new action. The indicators being used noware neither final nor perfect. As the process and developments continue, theindicators will be supplemented or replaced by others. This is necessary forthe continued process.

CONTACT:Jon Möller, City of StockholmTel: +46 8 508 28 802E mail:[email protected]

Home page: www.stockholm.se

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CITY OF STOCKHOLMGreen and living courtyards

The aim of the project Green and livingcourtyards is to offer residents andproperty-owners help to develop theircourtyards and make them greener, morepleasant and more ecocycle-adapted.Photo: Daina Måsviken.

Greenery and healthFor many city residents their own garden and thecity’s parks are their only contact with nature. Atthe same time, many courtyards in Stockholm’sinner city are drab stone deserts.To alter this aproject has been started with the intention ofrenewing housing courtyards, schoolyards andparkland. All city district administrations in theinner city are co-operating in the project, which iscalled Green and living courtyards. The aim is tooffer residents and property-owners help to de-velop their courtyards and make them greener,more pleasant and more ecocycle-adapted. Resi-dents and property-owners are themselves respons-ible for the changes while the City of Stockholmsupports them with inspiration, knowledge and

contacts. At least 50 courtyards in the inner city are going to be transfor-med into green and living courtyards to help to make Stockholm a moresustainable city.

The background to this work is an awareness that greenery and healthare related but also that people want a greener city, more meeting placesand less traffic.

Changes in life stylesThe long-term aim of the project is sustainable development and changesin life styles in line with Agenda 21. The aim is to bring nature closer tometropolitan residents in their everyday lives. This means more meetingplaces for rest, play, recreation and experiences of beauty. By gaining moreknowledge individuals and groups are to be given the opportunity toinfluence their physical environment and life style in the direction of moreenvironmentally aware behaviour.

Democratic processThe aim of the project is to be achieved by building networks in and betweencourtyards. In the autumn of 1999 a number of inspiration meetings wereheld that were open to everyone who was interested. Then residents beganto work on producing ideas. The intention is that residents and property-owners will be responsible for actual implementation. One important partis the democratic process. No individual projects may be carried out withoutthe support of everyone affected.

The task of the project co-ordinators is to arrange seminars, round-tableconversations and study visits and to stimulate new ideas but also to estab-lish contacts between people active in different courtyard projects. The

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CONTACTS:Nicholas Hort, City of StockholmTel: +46 8 508 10 787E mail:[email protected]

Ebba Jordelius City of StockholmTel: +46 8 508 13 038E mail:[email protected]

Home page: www.stockholm.se

project is part of the city’s Agenda 21 work and is financed by the citydistrict administrations with support from the central city level and fromthe national government’s Local Investment Programme (LIP).

Declaration of intentBefore staring the shared task of altering a courtyard a declaration of intentis written and signed by the property-owner, a representative of residents,the local Tenants Association and the project manager. The purpose of thedeclaration of intent is to clarify the expectations, responsibilities andcommitments of the people involved.

The work is implemented in four stages1. The visionPeople meet and formulate a common vision based on problems, wishes andneeds. To be able to identify potential problems and conflicts and to formunified perspectives good planning tools are needed and everyone must alsohave the opportunity of taking part.

2. Gathering knowledgeOn the basis of the ideas that have emerged in work on the vision peoplecontinue to gather facts and information. The process manager contributesknowledge and gives hints about ways of finding more knowledge. The projectgroup arranges and finances lectures, seminars, study visits, courtyard tours,an information centre, etc. Experts on different areas are involved as required.A special “courtyard group” is organised to keep the process moving forward.

3. PlanningOn the basis of the knowledge acquired and the time, energy and capability ofthe people involved one or more proposals are formulated. The proposals canbe both long term and short term. Then priorities are set and the financialsituation is clarified. All residents and people affected are given the opportu-nity to take part in this important work and, by doing so, to influence develop-ments.

4. ImplementationThe proposals agreed on have then to be realised. Decisions are made on howto carry them out; for instance, if everything is to be done right away or if thework is to be divided up into phases, if the work is to be done by contractorsor by the people involved on their own. The property-owner is responsible forfinal design and procurement.

The participation of children and young peopleThe project addresses schools and pre-schools to create educational school-yard environments where children can play and develop. Children oftenhave a more creative eye that generates ideas to work on. For example thiswork has resulted in the creation of more play space and opportunities foroutdoor play in slightly different forms like regular games and climbinghorses. The children have been a great source of inspiration in the courtyardprocesses, and because they are capable of being more open-minded theyhave found new solutions that adults had not thought of.

The later classes in senior comprehensive school have growing plants ontheir timetables and they have formed a garden group. The pupils drawvisions of how their schoolyard can be designed and then they put thegreenery in place and look after cultivation areas.

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GOTLAND MUNICIPALITYSustainable development on Gotland

Eco-municipalityInspired by the UN Environmental Summit in Rio in 1992 Gotlandmunicipality decided to start its own Agenda 21 work and to become aneco-municipality. A special “Eco Group” was formed and given anorganisational placing in the regional development unit of the municipaldirector’s department directly under the Municipal Executive Committee.The Eco Group is working for more effective co-operation between themunicipality, local business, households and voluntary organisations. Theirworking methods are characterised by a bottom-up perspective, networkbuilding and information and training work. For some years the Eco Grouphas been collecting good examples of sustainable development on Got-land. Energy, tourism, agriculture, waste and water supply are priority areasin the work of the Group.

Eco-safarisPrivate firms have taken up the Eco Group’s idea of organising trips withan ecological orientation, or eco-safaris, for different groups of visitors.On a safari people visit technology companies, administrations and otherplaces that have an ecological profile.

Flowering roadsidesAnother project is about special management plans to creating rich andflowering roadsides. After several years’ work there are now no less than500 different plant species along the roads of Gotland. This good resulthas been achieved by careful management and because the salting of roadson the island ended 15 years ago.

Ecocycle pre-schoolIn Klintehamn the municipality is developing an ecological profile forHolken pre-school. The pre-school’s educational activities feature anextensive environmental programme, including waste separation andcomposting. There is an ecocycle building that houses plants, compostsand the endangered Gotland hens. The pre-school makes its own food,which helps to close ecocycles.

Outdoor classroomRone School is turning the whole school playground into one big outdoorclassroom. It contains plants, compost, wind turbines, pools and lots more.A large part of teaching at the school takes place in the outdoor classroom.

Partly as a result of the Hanseatic LeagueGotland has historically been an importantlink in trade between the countries aro-und the Baltic Sea. Visby, the old Hanseatictown inside the ring-wall, was placed onthe UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995.Past and present come together in thetown as a result of the ring-wall, more than200 medieval buildings, church ruins anda beautiful cathedral. The new regionaluniversity is in the historic town and ishelping to retain a living town centre withroom for both housing and workplaces.

Gotland is in the middle of the BalticSea, ninety kilometres from the Swedishmainland and 130 kilometres from theBaltic countries. The island, which is al-most 180 kilometres long and 50 kilo-metres wide, has a population of 58 000.Just over 23 000 people live in Visby, theonly town on Gotland.

The island offers good local environ-ments and a strong regional identity. It hasa well-preserved tradition of people havingmultiple occupations and it is a favourablelocation for the development of alternativeenergy sources. Given its distinctivecountryside and its rich cultural heritagethere is also good potential to furtherdevelop tourism.

The municipality has 650 000 visitorsper year, mainly from Sweden but alsofrom Germany and other Europeancountries. In 1999 Gotland won a compet-ition for the best tourist destination inSweden. The stream of visitors is perhapsnot that surprising as Gotland also wonthe sunshine league (most hours ofsunshine) in the summer of 1999.

By tradition buildings are constructedwith materials available on the island.Gotland’s limestone buildings, plaster-walled wooden buildings and small plankhouses of oak are examples of buildingtypes with a centuries-long tradition. To-day the stone tradition for urban develop-ment has evolved into construction usingprefabricated concrete components. Thisproduction is also local. The buildings ofthe future in the countryside may possiblybe made of the renewable resource of hay.

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CONTACT:Bengt-Olof Grahn, Gotland municipalityTel: +46 498 26 93 79E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.gotland.se

Photo: Bengt-Olof Grahn

Waste and waste separationVisby Hospital has been selected as one of the greenest in Sweden. Thehospital has succeeded in halving waste quantities by waste separation andcomposting. Work is also under way to reduce water and energy consump-tion.

Water re-use poolsAlmost 5 800 Gotland residents have their wastewater purified in re-usewater pools. Generally there are two bio-pools and three storage pools. Thewater can then be used for irrigation in the dry summer months or bereleased directly to a recipient.

Wind powerAt present there are 130 wind turbines on Gotland. Näsudden, which is inthe southern part of the island, has the largest wind farm in Sweden withmore than 70 turbines. There are also five sea-based turbines and more areplanned. At present wind power accounts for some 15 per cent of totalelectricity use on Gotland. This makes wind power an important part ofthe island’s renewable energy sources. The municipality’s long-term goal isthat Gotland should be completely fossil fuel free.

BiofuelsGotlands Energiverk AB, the municipal energy company, has invested inbiofuels for the production of district heating. At present 80 per cent of alldistrict heating is based on biofuels. On the island there are also threecommercial filling stations for raps methyl ester (RME). Efforts are alsobeing made to start up ethanol production, not least as an important ex-port product. Another project is preparing the space heating of buildingsusing biogas.

Ecological farm productionMany farmers are involved in environmental work and are trying to havetheir production quality assured. Just over 6 per cent of the cultivated areaon Gotland is now approved by KRAV, a Swedish organisation for thecertification of organic production. On the island there are several shopswhere people can buy direct from the farmer. These shops are becomingmore and more important as ordinary food stores in rural areas are closedand the centralisation of retail services in Visby increases.

Living on farms”Living on farms” is an increasingly popular part of the local tourismprogramme. On the whole, new ideas and methods are regarded as importantfor sustainable development on Gotland.

A shared perspectiveThe municipality’s comprehensive plan Vision Gotland 2010 sets out thegoals and strategies required to achieve the municipality’s environmentalambitions.

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LULEÅ MUNICIPALITYSustainable development in Luleå municipality

Eco-municipalityLuleå municipality has been working on Agenda 21 since 1994, when itdecided to join the Association of Swedish Eco-municipalities. In its workfor sustainable development the municipality has set up the goal that Luleåwill be:• A community with an ecological perspective, high quality of life and

good health.• A community that is sustainable and builds on the principle of ecocycles.

Broad participationIn work on the Agenda 21 in the period 1995-97, the approach chosen hasbeen the important issue, i.e. starting up a broad process with lots ofparticipants. Over 6 000 Luleå residents have taken part in courses andmeetings, talked, discussed and submitted ideas. As part of this work peoplehave used environmental guides, produced a children’s book and music,toured with a theatre show, held a vision workshop and carried out round-table conversations. Luleå municipality, acting in its capacity as an employer,has held environmental courses for all staff and politicians. The municipalityhas also decided to set environmental criteria in all purchasing.

Luleå’s local Agenda 21 was adopted by the municipal council in Au-gust 1997. Sustainability indicators have been developed in round-tableconversations to measure how well the goals of the Agenda are being achievedand what progress is being made towards becoming an eco-municipality.The first report using these sustainability indicators was made in February2000.

All Agenda 21 work was evaluated in the autumn of 1996 by means ofa questionnaire to all Luleå households. One result of the survey was that60 per cent of all Luleå residents were aware of the municipality’s intentionof becoming an eco-municipality.

Nature conservation planMunicipal planning includes work on various development projects, suchas the construction of an international freight airport in Luleå and theestablishment of new nature reserves and a new nature conservation plan.In its recently adopted nature conservation plan the municipality has setup goals for future nature conservation work. The emphasis is on the pre-servation of bio-diversity.

Recycling market and recycling centreLuleå municipality has a service, the recycling market, to which householdsand businesses can bring furniture, building materials, bric a brac, etc. forre-use. Households can leave garden refuse, bulky refuse, combustible refuse,packaging, electronics, white goods, etc. at the recycling centre.

Luleå is an old Swedish town founded in1621. The town has grown up where theRiver Lule flows into the beautiful Nor-botten archipelago. Much of the builtenvironment in the town has a waterfrontcharacter.

The municipality has 71 000 residents,some 60 000 of whom live in the centraltown. The town was already an importantmeeting place and trading site in theMiddle Ages. Today Luleå is still a com-munications centre mainly for the trans-port of ore, steel, oil and general cargoesbut also for transhipment between sea,rail and road transport. Luleå harbour isone of the largest is Sweden and is opento shipping throughout the year. Kalix air-port and other infrastructure also make thetown a hub for passenger traffic to andfrom northern Sweden.

With its geographical location Luleå isa natural hub in the Barents region. Thereare direct links to Murmansk and Arch-angel in Russia. At present a number ofdevelopment projects are under way tostrengthen Luleå’s position as a commun-ications centre, not least in telecommun-ications, computing, media and culture.

Luleå’s economy is a mixture of industry,education, research and knowledge pro-duction, public and private services andcommerce. Its industrial firms are at theforefront of international competition. Forexample, Swedish Steel AB and Plannja areleading firms in their industries, and Luleåalso houses Mefos, which is one of thelargest metallurgy research centres in Eu-rope. Norrbotten’s air force wing is anotherhigh technology workplace. High techno-logy and IT are growth areas that themunicipality is strongly involved in, partlythrough its support of research and theestablishment of companies. The univers-ity’s study programmes, with some 9 000students, are of interest to both studentsand business.

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EcoArenaTo illustrate sustainable development in practice an EcoArena is now beingbuilt near the recycling market. The EcoArena demonstrates the growing,storage and processing of vegetables, renovation of buildings, energysolutions, etc.

Pre-schoolsLuleå’s pre-schools are working for the environment in a number of ways.They use cloth nappies and washcloths, they sort and compost waste, theyproduce their own paper and have their own scrap workshop, they producetheir own eggs and have their own vegetable gardens. Agenda 21 has beenbrought to life for the children in a children’s book supported by a musiccassette and a guide.

Child culture centreThe Kotten child culture centre offers pre-school staff courses at whichthey can bring to life various ecocycles in water, air and soil and learn towork with a range of materials. Music, drama, play, song and movement areused to let the children use all their senses to experience environmentalwork.

Luleå environmental schoolLuleå environmental school has been started to inspire, assist and developenvironmental work in Luleå schools. It is the collective name for anenvironmental bus, in-service training activities, an educational networkand Vallen ecocycle school. Every year staff at some of Luleå’s schools aregiven training by the school. About 4 000 pupils visit Vallen every year orgo on excursions in the bus.

CONTACTS:Lena Bengtén, Luleå municipalityTel: +46 920 29 32 30E mail: [email protected]

Bo Sundström, Luleå municipalityTel: +46 920 29 35 41E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.lulea.se

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PAJALA MUNICIPALITYSustainable development in Pajala municipality

Knowledge NetworkA special Knowledge Network has been started as part of efforts to increasepublic awareness. The network consists of eight computers placed in someof the villages in the municipality for the use of local people. The networkis a development from the women’s computer network Liera that has beenbuilt up in Norrbotten. The Knowledge Network is also linked to othernetworks, voluntary and local organisations, municipalities, etc. Links havegradually been established to RuralNet and the Internet.

HealthIt might be thought that a municipality like Pajala would offer excellent

Pajala municipality is set in the middle ofTorne Valley in the North Calotte region andis a border municipality in Norrbotten andLappland with some 7 800 inhabitants, over2 200 of whom live in the central town.Pajala mostly consists of forestland, andsome 30 percent is marshland. The muni-cipal coat of arms symbolises the Bysanthinemetal plate coins produced by the by thelocal mint in the 17th century and the greencolour symbolises forestry. The wavessymbolise the Torne and Muonio rivers.

The first settlers in the Torne Valley wereFinnish burn-beating farmers who largelylived on hunting and fishing. Pajala was stilla large agricultural village in the 1940s.Historically Pajala’s geographical locationhas made it a natural trading centre forproducts from this industry. Pajala Fair,dating back to the 18th Century, is evidenceof this.

Most of the settlements and villages areconcentrated along the river valleys withtheir good agricultural land. One importantdistinctive feature is the large number ofvillages spread across the municipality, 82villages are inhabited today. The “Tornevalley farms”, the cultivated water marshand the rivers are other distinctive featuresof the municipality.

The municipality bears the stamp of itsmulticultural history, during which themeeting of Finnish, Sami and Swedishcultural traditions has shaped the TorneValley identity. The present large municipal-ity of Pajala was formed in 1971 by theamalgamation of the former municipalitiesof Pajala, Korpilombolo, Tärendö and Juno-suando. Ever since the municipality has re-corded constant population loss. At thesame time the roughly 80 villages are beingemptied of young people, who are movingin to jobs in the central town, which isgrowing slowly.

The economy of the municipality isdominated by a very large number of smallbusinesses, a sector in which computer andelectronics firms, in particular, have grownstrongly in recent years. The municipality isthe largest employer and AB Krekula & LauriSawmill and Keros Leather AB are thelargest employers in the private sector. Thereare also several small businesses, includingfurniture and window frame carpenters,reindeer husbandry and processing ofreindeer meat.

Agenda 21The activities of Pajala municipality are based on an ecological perspective,in which public health, cultural, environmental and nature conservationaspects are of central importance. The municipality’s Agenda 21 work ischaracterised by an ambition to increase local people’s knowledge andawareness by informing them about the current situation in these areas.

Environment andhealth co-ordinator

Agenda 21Co-ordinator 3



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Success factors:• In-migration• Employment• Skills and training• ?

Realisation of the intentionsof the Agenda 21 document

Adoption of a localAgenda 21www.pajala.se

Round-tableconversations

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Pajala municipality’shealth council

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CONTACTS:Jonny Lantto, Pajala municipalityTel: +46 978 120 49E-post: [email protected]

Carl-Johan Riblom, Pajala municipalityTel: +46 978 120 49E-post:Carl-Johan [email protected]

Home page: www.pajala.se

opportunities for good public health. But a calm, secure and cleanenvironment is not always synonymous with good public health. Studiesoften point to social factors and their great importance. One of Pajala’smajor problems is unemployment. For very long periods of time Pajala hashad very high unemployment and resultant ill health.

Local economic developmentTo increase participation rates in the labour market great efforts are beingmade to develop the local economy by mobilising initiative in the smallvillages in the municipality. In Pajala there are no fewer than some eightyvillages and small communities spread across the whole area of the municipal-ity. One important objective is therefore robust rural areas that can gene-rate new jobs based on ideas originated and developed locally. The role ofgovernment is to support local development work and business ideas andto remove any obstacles that may exist to new forms of co-operation. Themeasures taken by the municipality include increased use of IT, strengtheningsmall business, increased access to markets and the identification of newpartners.

Rural developmentThe Council of Villages is a non-profit organisation for the co-ordinationand development of the 82 villages in the municipality. The Council wasstarted in 1994 on the initiative of the municipality and it helps interestgroups and village development groups in their work. The Council of Villa-ges also takes part in consultations on a range of issues.

Planning contextFor a municipality like Pajala to survive and develop it is not enough tosupport the initiatives taken by citizens. The municipality also has to developin step with the rest of the world. The municipality must show initiative ina number of areas in order to ensure favourable development. Skills, trainingand willingness to change are necessary. Knowledge intensive industriesand good local environments are therefore key concepts for the municipal-ity. The following planning principles have therefore been adopted:• Future-related and development issues are to have priority in municipal

activities. The formation of a municipal development unit is to be studied.• Municipal planning and activities must build on an insight and a direction

that support the expectations of modern people for attractiveenvironments to live in.

In addition the following sectors of the economy are to have priority:• Forestry is of great economic importance for Pajala municipality as manypeople rely on the industry for all or part of their livelihood.• Tourism has a great deal of potential, in fishing for instance. The naturalenvironment is probably the biggest asset the municipality has. Use is alreadybeing made of this asset, but large parts of it still remain unused.• Reindeer husbandry is probably the oldest industry in the municipality.Modern society has had a significant impact on this industry, both throughnew technical aids and though a range of restrictions. It is important thatreindeer husbandry survives for a number of reasons, including the greatvalue it has as a bearer of culture. Genuine and vital reindeer husbandryalso has great tourist potential.

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KALMAR MUNICIPALITYThe attractive and sustainable town

Unique advantagesThe present profile of Kalmar municipality needs to be strengthened anddeveloped. Work is therefore in progress to market the unique advantagesof the municipality and to highlight its image. The municipality’s culturaland natural environment, its location near the coast and its well-preservedtown centre in combination with its proximity to the island of Öland andthe Kingdom of Crystal are assets that can establish a distinctive profile.

To succeed marketing must have strong local acceptance and support.The municipality is therefore trying to create a shared image of the Kalmararea along with businesses, voluntary organisations, the regional associa-tion of local authorities and regional organisations. It is hoped this willmake the Kalmar area stronger and more successful.

Clear profileTo achieve results it is important to be creative, to have the courage to stickyour neck out, to dare to make changes and to be able sometimes to choosenew approaches. One good example of this is the efforts of the Streets andParks Committee to improve the outdoor environment in Kalmarcontinuously. Their efforts cover everything from an ice rink in the squareand unconventional Christmas trees to dazzling displays of flowers in allthe colours of the rainbow. Other areas in which efforts are being made tobuild up a clear profile are the conservation of the historic town centre,events around Salvebyn (a miniature medieval village for children) and theRenaissance and Medieval Days.

Tourist municipalityOver a number of years Kalmar has developed into a genuine touristmunicipality with plenty of sights and a good local environment. Themunicipality is trying to give this image a more exciting presentation thatcan attract not only residents and tourists but also new business and inves-tors. To be interesting both to tourists and to businesses and individuals agood knowledge is needed of what these groups expect along with opennessto respond to these expectations. Their expectations can relate to such variedareas as more attractive residential environments, well-located workplaces,a wide range of cultural activities, shops, commercial services and goodcommunications.

Environmental profileKalmar is also working to strengthen the municipality’s environmental prof-ile by intensifying work on realising sustainable development. Themunicipality’s aim is to be a reputed international centre for the practicalapplication of knowledge and experience in the environment and in thesustainable development of human settlements.

The Kalmar area is a long-established sett-lement region with a history dating backto the Stone Age. The medieval harbourand Kalmar Slott castle have played adecisive role in Swedish history since theend of 12th century. The castle, a tastefulcombination of fortification and fairycastle, is one of the best-preserved Renaiss-ance palaces in Sweden. Kalmar’s coat ofarms, which originates from a 13th centuryseal, is the oldest in the Nordic region.

Some 59 000 people live in Kalmarmunicipality, including some 31 000 in thecentral town. The central parts of the townare characterised by buildings from earlierperiods. In the 14th century a ring wall,large parts of which have been preserved,enclosed the town. The town has won theEuropa Nosta award on two occasions forits well-preserved urban environment.

Traditionally Kalmar’s economy isdominated by the manufacturing and foodindustries, but the IT industry is also ma-king good progress. Developments oftentake place in good co-operation betweenthe municipality and the university, whosemain specialities are natural sciences andenvironment, IT, tourism and media pro-duction.

The municipality pursues an activeenterprise policy to strengthen Kalmar asa business-friendly municipality and is alsoinvolved in a range of action to strengthenthe tourist industry. Kalmar belongs, alongwith the islands of Öland and Gotland, tothe parts of the country that have mostsun and least rain.

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CONTACT:Bengt Skoog, Kalmar municipalityTel: +46 480 45 04 30E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.kalmar.se

The Teknikum Building. University of Kal-mar. Photo: Britt-Louise Morell.

The major EU project SUREURO, on changes in the Inspektorenhousing area, is one example of new thinking in human settlementsdevelopment. Other examples are Kalmar Dämme, The University’sTeknikum Building, the airport terminal, the Lars Kagg School andinvestments in district heating.

Ecological development has to proceed in step with social, cultural andeconomic sustainability. This makes ecocycle adaptation and good mana-gement of natural resources and energy necessary. Businesses, products andservices have to be attuned to ecology and good ethics.

CompetitivenessKalmar wants to take up a position as a pioneer for sustainable development.This is seen as an important competitive advantage for the municipalityand the region. A competitive economy is one necessary condition for successhere. Another is well-developed citizen influence. There is strong interestin making the influence of children and young people a profile issue.

The four areas the municipality is now working on are: business and theuniversity, local Agenda 21, infrastructure investments and internationalexchange.

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KRISTIANSTAD MUNICIPALITYA vital town centre

IdentityKristianstad’s town centre, the old fortified town, is a place full of life andmovement. The municipality is keen to reinforce the image of a livingtown centre with a clear identity by making use of the following four star-ting points in its urban planning: accessibility, sense of urban space, diversityand urban life.

Accessibility• The fortified town is the only place where almost all needs can be met in

a relatively small area. This is why it is important that it is accessible toeveryone, including disabled people.

• Because of its central location in the town the fortified town is to be thecentre of the whole municipality.

• The rail and bus stations, with their central location in the town centre,are to be a hub for communications in the town and in the wholemunicipality.

• The same terms should apply to the town centre as to a superstore, i.e.good access to nearby parking places.

Sense of urban spaceThere is to be no doubt when you are in the town centre, and when you arenot. The urban space should be clear and unambiguous.• It should be the part of the town that reflects the history of the whole

town and that therefore creates a wide range of impressions.• The qualities of the gridiron town with its streets and open spaces should

be accentuated.• Material-related qualities that are unique in the town should be made

visible.• The urban space should be a secure place to use.• The environment should be improved by reducing traffic and putting

in place well-developed urban greenery.• Sculptures and artistic enhancement should embellish the space and

arouse the interest of visitors.• The urban space should be a stage that people, both young and old, visit

to see and be seen.

Diversity• The existing urban character, created over 386 years and under a variety

of conditions, should be conserved• Existing buildings of both brick and timber provide potential for change

and re-use. It must be possible to meet changing needs by adapting theurban fabric without loss of character.

The heritage from the time when Skånewas still Danish is always making itself feltin Kristianstad. The Danish King ChristianIV founded the town as a fortress in 1614.Kristianstad was the first stone town in theNordic region laid out according torenaissance ideals with a gridiron plan,ramparts and bastions. The town was astronghold against Swedish attacks and animportant source of protection for trans-port routes in the area. The magnificentTrinity Church, sometimes called the mostbeautiful renaissance temple in the Nordicregion and the rectangular grid, still pre-served, are clear reminders of Christian IV.The King’s monogram, C4, still remains theofficial symbol of Kristianstad and is usedin many contexts.

When Skåne became Swedish Kristian-stad lost its importance as a borderfortress. Today the old town is a centre ofcommerce, services and business instead.The town’s role as the main urban centrein northeast Skåne has been strengthenedby amalgamations of municipalities in thesecond half of the 20th century. Withinthe borders of the present municipalitythere used to be 35 independentmunicipalities. A distinctive feature of themunicipality is therefore still the largenumber (about 40) of small and medium-sized communities.

The municipality is the largest in areain Skåne county and it has a total of al-most 75 000 inhabitants, over 24 000 ofwhom live in the central town, Kristian-stad.

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CONTACT:Tomas Teander, Kristianstad municipality,Tel: +46 44 135 347E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.kristianstad.se

Urban life• The centre should be a place for mixed uses, where housing, commerce

and offices are balanced in a sensitive way.• The centre should be a place for experiences where art, theatre, film and

festivals provide impulses, influence and stimulate.• The centre should be a commercial focus in competition with other

commercial centres. This requires organisation, marketing and co-ope-ration between commerce, property-owners and the municipality.

Clean Town Green Town – changes in attitudesClean Town – Green Town is the name of a project started in co-operationbetween the Christian IV Society and Kristianstad municipality. The projectaims to involve Kristianstad residents in their local environment. The mottoof the project is that everyone benefits from a clean, green town. Peoplefeel better when they live in a green and varied environment. They arehappy and more creative. This then provides a favourable setting for child-ren and young people but also for business.

Early on citizens, businesses and local organisations were invited to takepart in active co-operation for a clean and green town. The first phase ofthe project, Clean Town, focussing on the inner town was started in theautumn of 1997. Later Clean Town will be extended to the othercommunities in the municipality at the same time as a gradual transitionis made to the second phase, Green Town.

This project is mainly about changing attitudes and habits and increasingenvironmental awareness. It is therefore a long-term project, extendingover a number of years. The project was presented to the public at the1997 Christianstad Days.

Logo for the project, Clean Town GreenTown Christianstad.

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LJUNGBY MUNICIPALITYA town is also its colours

Facade wall in Lungby paintedby Sven Ljungberg. Photo: Len-nart Aspman.

Broad and active co-operationAn important strategy for Ljungby municipality is to establish close co-operation with various groups of citizens and businesses. By preparing theground for future decisions in its network of co-operation groups themunicipality has been able to make changes without any serious problems.For example, the municipality has now succeeded in implementing a towncentre plan from the 1980s by working together with representatives ofcommerce and business. Work on the town centre has resulted in a widerange of shops, restaurants and places of entertainment. The next step, nowbeing taken, is to work together on a new strategy for central Ljungby.

The built environment inLjungbyThe built environment in the centre ofLjungby is characterised by a mix of bothmaterials and volumes. Large parts of thecentre were destroyed in a fire in 1953. Thennew buildings, typical of the 1960s, wereput up. However, some older buildings stillstand alongside them.

Ljungby is a typical garden town in whichall phases of settlement development in the20th century are well represented. Blocksof flats rarely have more than three storeys,and they are often set in generous greenspaces so that they give the impression ofhaving been built in a park.

The influence of coloursThere are colours everywhere in our every-day lives and they often influence us morethan we realise. If the colours are appealingthey create a feeling of well-being, whilecolourless environments are often perceivedas boring and unattractive and they contribute to feelings of discomfort.We meet the colours of the town in its streets and squares, when travellingin the town, in shops, at school, at places of entertainment, etc.

Identity and characterMany of the buildings in Ljungby have colours and details that give thetown identity and character. People often talk about ”Ljungbergs’ colours”.The expression originates from a family of artists, the Ljungbergs, who

Ljungby sprang up at an old crossroadson the Laga Trail and grew at an earlystage into a market place and centre ofcommerce. In 1936 Ljungby was grantedits town coat of arms. The wave linessymbolise the Lagaån River, the threehammers industry and crafts, while thewand of Mercury symbolises commerceand business. With its 27 500 inhabitants,14 500 of whom live in Ljungby, themunicipality has a strategic location on thecrossing between the E4 European Roadand National Road 25.

The economy is dominated by hightechnology manufacturing industry andgraphic industry as well as by firms with ahigh level of knowledge and research.Almost 70 per cent of the production inthese companies is exported. For example,Ljungby has the world’s leading manu-facturers of trucks and of containers andtrailers for heavy materials handling, Kal-mar Industries, Swetruck, Svedala Com-paction Equipment AB and Ljungby Ma-skin. Companies in the municipality – Elec-trolux-Wascator, Bentone and Strålfors –are also world leaders in other productranges. One very important factor is thebusiness climate that is charactersitsic ofthe region. It is based on the social net-works built up in co-operation betweenmunicipal representatives and business.People meet in a natural way in variousorganisations and in cultural and sportingcontexts.

Ljungby is often associated with theartist Sven Ljungberg and his art museum.The importance of culture for the town isexpressed in the many public art worksand in a cultural reserve, Ljungby GamlaTorg, the Old Square.

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CONTACTIngegerd Andersson,Ljungby municipalityTel: + 46 372 892 63E mail:[email protected]

Home page: www.ljungby.se

The painter Sven Ljungberg. Photo: Lennart Aspman.

have set their stamp on much of the urban environment and of the colouringof the buildings in the town. As master painters, architects and artists theLjungberg family has contributed to the distinctive character of Ljungby:its colours, buildings and designed doors.

The buildings whose colouring Ljungberg has helped to choose are oftenused when choosing colours for other buildings, and this is how the Ljung-berg colours spread. When individual property owners are going to choosethe colour of their facades and doors, they often take walks round the townto find the colour that best matches the “character of Ljungby.” Colouringis an important issue for Ljungby as is makes such a significant contributionto the character of Ljungby, strengthens its identity and adds to theattractiveness of the town. There are now plans to set up a special advisorycouncil on the town environment to monitor these colours.

A building inventory, recently carried out by the Småland Museum, willbe used in a cultural environment plan. This cultural environment plan,which will in turn form part of the comprehensive plan, is intended toenable the drafting of regulations in future detailed development plans thatwill look after this heritage in the best possible way.

Local supportAt present no detailed development plans contain regulations aboutcolouring. The general view is that compulsory plans may actually becounter-productive and result in the loss of some of the colours that giveLjungby its identity. Neither plans nor planners can force – or influence –people to think that certain things are attractive. They can only create asetting and try to safeguard what is unique and appealing.

The best form of local support is already under development; it is thegrowing interest of Ljungby residents in the colours of their town.

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EKSJÖ MUNICIPALITYThe spirit of the time determines the form of a town, notits identity

Historic buildingsEksjö is one of the Swedish municipalities with most historic buildings,and the care of old buildings has a prominent role in the municipality. Thebuilt environment of the Old Town is one of the best examples in Swedenof a well-preserved wooden town, and the National Heritage Board hastherefore classed it as an extremely valuable built environment. The townis one of the few wooden towns in the country not affected by any majorfire, at the site of its foundation. Altogether the town centre contains 56historic buildings. Here developments in, and the architectural history of,a small town can be studied over a period of almost 400 years in the origi-nal late medieval town plan.

Town centre planIn 1995 Eksjö municipality adopted a town centre supplement to itscomprehensive plan. This supplement is intended to guide future townplanning taking conservation interests into account. At present work isunder way on a detailed development plan for the town centre, with thepurpose of regulating the management of buildings and street areas takingcultural heritage values into account. The intention is that it should bepossible to retain these values at the same time as the town accommodateshousing and other activities of the 21st century.

Permit sensitive changeIt is important that residents are familiar with their town and can feel pridein it. At the same time the town must be allowed to change. Simply put,changes can be allowed as long as they are not made at the expense ofcultural heritage values. Like all other towns Eksjö has changed over timein various ways, such as the architecture of buildings but also street surfacesand courtyard spaces, in order to meet new emerging needs. Despite thisthe main features of the town have been retained, and with them its identity.

Architectural heritageArchitectural heritage is important for a number of reasons. As the peopleliving in and using this environment today we must be able to like theplace and feel good using it. We have to look after the cultural heritage wehave been given by our ancestors and hand it on to future generations ingood condition and with the additions we have made. We also have to useresources well and not burden the environment more than necessary. Torealise an ecocycle society, building in the future should therefore be inspiredby traditional practices, as these practices generally employ environment-friendly and resource-saving materials and techniques of high quality.

Eksjö was granted a town charter as longago as 1403. The placed arose as a natu-ral meeting place for trade and legalproceedings. Eksjö Old Town in is a uniquetown district that follows a late medievaltown plan, and many of the buildings wereerected in the 16th Century. As a result ofEksjö’s programme for architectural heri-tage and its determined work on conserv-ation issues the Old Town has been award-ed the internationally respected EuropaNostra Diploma.

The wooden town of Eksjö is locatedin Småland in the south Swedish high-lands. The municipality mainly consists offorest, sometimes giving way to openlandscapes and long-established settle-ments with stone fences. This is the Små-land of Albert Engström and Astrid Lind-gren. The municipality has some 17 000inhabitants, with 10 000 in the centraltown of Eksjö.

Although Eksjö is best known for thewooden houses in the old town and as amilitary town, it also has a vigorouseconomy. The local economy mostlyconsists of small businesses like woodprocessing, production of timber-framehouses, manufacture of metal goods,newspaper distribution and paint and dyemanufacture. The municipality also hasseveral large sawmills. Recently a newresource centre has been started in Eksjö,whose activities include university levelcourses in building conservation.

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CONTACT:Lennart Grandelius, Eksjö municipalityTel: +46 381 362 45E-post: [email protected]

Home page: www.eksjo.se

The built environment in the Old Town isdensely developed and has narrow lanes.Foto: Hans Bengtsson, Eksjö.

Retain and clarify identityCurrent planning work in Eksjö takes account of the actual appearance ofthe town, of how residents have used the town over the centuries and ofhow they are using it today rather than simply applying the general modelsoften used in traditional planning work. The character of the town centreis a synthesis, a conjunction of experiences of the architecture and details ofthe buildings, the relationship between them and their use, the urban pu-blic spaces and the private courtyard spaces. Life in the town forms, togetherwith the town’s typical features, the identity of the town. It is thereforeimportant that the identity of the town, its soul, is clarified so that it is notharmed when wishes for change are to be met.

In work on a detailed development plan the town centre has been dividedinto nine typical features:

• Shopping street • Residential street • Back street • Firebreak street • Alley • Fashionable street • Open spaces • Private courtyard • Semi-private courtyard

spaces spaces

As regulations about sensitivity and protection are not always enough, thesetypical features must be described along with their cultural heritage value.This is relatively easy in the existing built environment. The problemsarise when new buildings are to be “adapted” to the existing environment.

Adapting does not mean imitating or producing a pastiche of the origi-nal. Instead, it is having the ambition and the will to protect the existingbuilt environment from competition. It is using architectural methods tocreate new buildings that are as natural in their forms of expression as thesurrounding buildings. But they have to fit in with existing buildings andthe historical pattern.

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SÖLVESBORG MUNICIPALITYThe spirit of the place – reflections on Sölvesborg

View from Kaninholmen with the Ryssberget hills in the background. Photo: JonteGöransson.

A moderate small townSölvesborg is an idyllic town, whose main square is small and whose twomain streets are small, narrow and winding. A cosy town whose views rangefrom flashes of water and broad sea horizons to intimate open spaces aro-und cobbled streets.

It is a green town, where the wide expanses of the beech forest on theRyssberget hills spread into the built environment. Some buildings announcetheir particular importance while respecting the built environment as awhole: the church and vicarage, the old town hall and, not least, GunnarAsplund’s Law Courts from 1921, the elementary school and the lowersecondary school, the telegraph office and the railway station, the mainhotel and the savings bank, the baths and the poor house.

In recent years an art gallery and a museum, an upper secondary schooland a library, a modern town hall and a police headquarters have beenadded, all designed with an eye to the distinctive character of Sölvesborg.Changes have to be made in the townscape of a town that is alive anddeveloping, but it is important that the town’s original identity is not lostin the process.

The spirit of the placeUrban conservation and urban renewal demand a constant search for the“spirit of the place”, or its ”genius loci”, which – like most spirits – isfleeting and difficult to capture, but which must imbue both new and old.Sölvesborg wants to retain and renew the Swedish small town, preserved in

The town of Sölvesborg has its roots inthe 14th century when it was importantas a harbour and trading town and as aborder town between Skåne and Blekinge.The town was built under the protectionof the fortress that has given the place itsname and that was the administrative cen-tre of Sölvesborg county in Danish times.The town centre has retained its medievaltown plan, but all the buildings except theSt Nicolai town church are from laterperiods. The town plan is one of the bestexamples in Sweden of the regular townabuilt around squares in the late medievalperiod. The town centre, with severalbuildings from the 19 th century, andSölvesborg Castle are national interests forcultural heritage preservation, as is the“New Town”, an unusual example of anavenue plan from the 19th century.

Sölvesborg municipality was formed in1971 by the amalgamation of the muni-cipalities of Gammalstors, Ysane andMjällby and the town of Sölvesborg. Themunicipality has some 16 500 inhabitants,some 8 000 of whom live in the centraltown of Sölvesborg.

Sölvesborg municipality has a longagricultural tradition, including large-scalebreeding of broiler chickens and pigs. Themunicipality has also some 30 per cent ofthe country’s mink industry. On the Lister-landet peninsula there are plenty ofdistinctive fishing villages along Hanö Bay,evidence of a fishing industry, long import-ant but now smaller. Although Sölvesborgmunicipality is now the largest employerthere is a higher proportion of new busi-ness starts in the municipality than in thecounty of Blekinge and in the country as awhole. One in nine Sölvesborg residentsof working age run their own business.

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CONTACT:Jan Lagerås, Sölvesborg municipalityTel: +46 456 163 61E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.solvesborg.se

Sölvesborg’s medieval church. Photo:Jonte Göransson.

The police headquarters. Photo: JonteGöransson.

people’s memories but now rarely found in the world around us. The authorAnders Claesson has characterised the small town as “a world of a friendlyneighbourliness where the country sits right up against town, why not with agarden patch behind the fence, where people care about one another and findpleasure in the small things in life”. This is a good description of Sölvesborg,a town that was Danish for 350 years and has since been Swedish for just aslong. In the town centre the medieval town plan and the buildings fromthe early 19th Century blend to form a friendly neighbourhood and livingcentre.

Stortorget, the main square, has acted as the focal point of Sölvesborgfor 700 years. Traditionally public and commercial services have been locatedclose to the square. The idea is that services like the chemists, post office,shops, eating-houses, the church and parish hall, the town hall, the library,the art gallery, etc should be, at most, only a few minutes walk away.

This principle has determined the location of new public buildings, mostrecently the police station from 1992, which is some 150 metres from thesquare.

The streets issuing from the main square all follow the medieval townplan and are enclosed by interesting public spaces with buildings constructedafter the big town fire in 1801. The cobbles and street-side trees complementthe townscape. The idea now is to make the main square and all the streetsopening on to it a pedestrian area, where cars will have to adapt topedestrians.

The municipality has achieved good results by encouraging more housingin the town centre. The new-built apartments in attics, in courtyardbuildings and in a few new structures are popular. So the small town’s mixof commerce, crafts and housing can be retained.

Conservation without a conservation planThere is no conservation plan for Sölvesborg’s town centre, there is, however,a painstaking inventory of the valuable built environments. The (guardian)spirit of Sölvesborg is expected to indicate what is right and what is wrong.This approach has worked very well up to now and has prevented streetsfrom being widened and interesting buildings from being damaged ordisappearing. Despite the influence of the spiritual world it has probablyoften been a shortage of money that has led to the retention of so much inSölvesborg. Then, when a building has managed to achieve a high enoughage, the architectural heritage stamp can be brought out!

A town is more than its buildings. The whole is more than the sum of itsparts. Every whole is composed of details. In Sölvesborg municipality weare using these truths as our starting point when we improve and developour town.

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ARBOGA MUNICIPALITYHow can we handle the qualities of the small town?

Arboga River. Photo: Kjell-Åke Jansson.

Town centre of national interestWhat is special about Arboga is that large parts of the built environmentfrom previous ages have been allowed to live on. The towns can thereforedisplay most types of built environment found in the development of theSwedish town, such as the medieval town, the wooden town, the stonetown and the functional town.

The medieval town plan and buildings along with the large proportionof preserved wooden buildings are of importance for the European culturalheritage. At national level the town centre is classed as of national interestfor cultural heritage preservation.

A Local Building Code for Arboga town centre has been drafted to makeuse of the values in the town centre. The aim is to identify, protect anddevelop existing values and to formulate a common approach for sensitiverenewal and sustainable development.

Local building codeThe Local Building Code is based on the regulations on respect for existingvalues in the Planning and Building Act. These are supplemented with anumber of annexes in the form of advice and directions as guidance forpractice. The Local Building Code is to be integrated with municipalplanning as part of the comprehensive plan for the municipality.

The mix of various functions and uses that characterises the town centreis to be retained and developed. It is particularly important that its presentrole as a commercial and service centre can be maintained. All changesmade should be preceded by careful, high-quality design work that takesaccount of the Local Building Code.

The town was founded as an exportharbour for the much sought after irondeposits in the Bergslagen mining region.In the 13th century the small trading sta-tion at the bend in the river (Arboga)quickly attracted many of the mostimportant merchants in the Kingdom aswell as the Hanseatic League and theFranciscan Order, which founded a mon-astery on the site.

In the 14th, 15th and 16th centuriesseveral church, national, parliamentary andnobles’ meetings were held in Arboga,including Sweden’s first Parliament in1435.

Arboga has always had a strategiclocation for communications, of particularinterest for company locations. Severalwell-known firms, including Enator, Cel-sius, HiO, VM Data, ABB Distribution, FMVand SECO, have long been represented inthe town.

The municipality has a total of 14 300inhabitants, just over 11 000 of whom livein Arboga itself. Arboga’s town centre isamong the oldest and best preserved towncentres in Sweden with a medieval gridironplan of the north German type.

Sweden’s oldest waterway, HjälmareCanal, was built in 1639. This link betweenLake Mälaren and Lake Hjälmaren passesArboga. In all the canal is 13.7 km longand has nine locks.

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Photomontage of doors in Arboga. Photo: Göran Oldén.

CONTACTS:Per Granlund, Arboga municipalityTel: +46 589 870 69E mail: [email protected]

Göran OldénTel: +46 589 870 74E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.arboga.se

Spreading informationKnowledge of building history is to be increased by informing and inspiringthe public, property-owners, craftsmen and developers. The intention is tobuild up a common view of, and a shared pride in, Arboga’s unique culturalenvironments. This is essential as the various actors in the building processhave different perspectives, which make it easy for conflicts to arise, as thevarious groups do not always speak the same language.

The following activities have been carried out: information meetings,multislide presentations, production of a CD, exhibitions, participation inthe annual national Day of the City event, reference groups, exposure inthe media, participation in the National Heritage Board’s building register,a book on the history of the built environment, a Local Building Code andmaterial providing advice and directions.

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HUDIKSVALL ANDIT, participation and conservation

This is part of the FishingTown in Hudiksvall. A newdetailed development planthat makes both conserv-ation and development pos-sible is being drafted for theFishing Town. Work on theplan has been carried out inclose co-operation withresidents in the area. Ex-perience from Söderhamnand the Öster town districthas been of some help.Aerial photo: Lars Bygde-mark.www.bygdemark.com

Spreading knowledge about and conserving urbanenvironmentsHudiksvall has started a project together with Söderhamn municipalitywith the aim of conserving valuable urban environments by increasing thecultural awareness of property-owners and developers, etc. The project,which is a co-operation project within the EU, is based on participationand a bottom-up perspective. The use of IT and new media are importantfeatures, not least to open up channels to coming generations.

Interactive town tourThe municipalities have involved the media programme of the uppersecondary school in work on a home page and an interactive town tour, forwhich the pupils have each agreed to present one block in the town. Inaddition to the interactive town tour, interviews, information, exhibitionsand seminars are being used to increase knowledge about the urbanenvironment.

MarketingBy using new media the municipalities hope to be able to increase youngpeople’s interest in valuable cultural environments. The tourist businessmay also be able to use the interactive town tour. The sights of the towncan be marketed by showing the town tour on closed circuit TV in hotelrooms.

SeminarsWell-attended seminars on themes like History of the built environment,

Hudiksvall was granted a town charter in1582 as a result of the concentration oftrade and crafts among people in Hälsing-land to the old trading and market placein Hudik village. “Lively Hudik” is a nameprobably coined in the first half of the 19thcentury, when the middle class in Hudiks-vall gained a reputation for their lively andunaffected social life and for their gener-ous hospitality.

The municipality has some 38 000 in-habitants, 40 per cent of whom live in thecentral town. Communications are good;there is a good harbour and the E4 Euro-pean Road passes through the muni-cipality. Rail, air and bus services linkHudiksvall with the rest of the country.

The local economy has its roots in thesawmill movement of the 19th century andthe emergence of the engineering industryafter the Second World War. Half theindustry in the municipality is still basedon forest raw materials, while engineeringaccounts for the other half. The businessstructure is diverse with several leadingexporters like MoDo Iggesund, EricssonCable and Hiab AB.

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CONTACTS:Kalle Bylin, Hudiksvall municipalityTel: +46 650 194 48E mail: [email protected]

Dick Nilsson, Söderhamn municipalityTel: +46 270 750 00E mail:[email protected]

Home pages: www.hudiksvall.sewww.soderhamn.se

SÖDERHAMN MUNICIPALITIES

This is the Öster town districtin Söderhamn. Here Söder-hamn municipality has pre-viously drafted a detaileddevelopment plan that madeboth conservation and develop-ment possible. This plan givesthe Building Committee greatresponsibility in handlingvarious development applicat-ions. The Öster district hasmuch the same backgroundas the Fishing Town in Hudiks-vall in terms of its origins andpopulation. Aerial photo: LarsBygdemark.www.bygdemark.com.

Conservation and A living town have been held in Hudiksvall and Söder-hamn. The seminars formed part of the programme phase in work on detai-led development planning. The next step in this work was to inform thepublic and property-owners about the results of the seminars. The inten-tion is that this participation will not be in theory alone. Participants in theseminars should be able to see their contribution to the final plan.

Information signs about buildingsTo raise knowledge among developers, property-owners and the public themunicipality has been putting up information signs on various buildings.One intention is that people will be able to use these to make their owntown tours. To raise the level of knowledge some exhibitions screens havebeen produced about the original colouring of historic buildings.

Inventory of urban districtsInformation about different urban districts is available on the Internet.Using digital pictures people can study the history of buildings and learnabout local cultural environments, etc. One way the information has beengathered is by interviews with local people.

Virtual town modelIn new construction it is often difficult to determine the impact of aparticular measure on surrounding buildings. One good approach in thiscontext is to use virtual town models. The model generates participationand provides knowledge that increases the chances of a successful adapta-tion.

Söderhamn was granted its town charterin 1620 and has long been the site ofconsiderable trade and fishing. In the 18thcentury the small archipelago town grewand acquired a merchant fleet. Ship-building expanded, but it was the rapidgrowth of the sawmill industry that drovegrowth and the local economy.

The municipality, which has some28 000 inhabitants, is in the middle ofSweden within commuting distance ofplaces like Gävle, Bollnäs and Hudiksvall.

In recent years Söderhamn municipal-ity has promoted economic developmentin order to broaden the labour market andcounter the effects of ongoing structuralchange in forestry and other industries.Engineering and service companies,including computing and electronics, havelargely replaced the once so dominantforestry industry. The largest privateemployer is Emerson with over 1 000employees.

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LYCKSELE MUNICIPALITYDevelopment and conservation in Lycksele

The Lapland identitySustainable development in Lycksele municipality is mainly about tryingto stop out-migration and depopulation. To counteract this the municipalitymust draw attention to the almost unique environmental qualities the areacan offer. As the last part of Sweden to be colonised Lapland has left inte-resting traces in the cultural environment such as a mix of Swedish andSami influences in the built environment. Distinctive values in the culturalenvironment in combination with unexploited natural values are animportant part of a marketing strategy that aims to advance reasons bothfor in-migration and for staying on. In-migration to the area is necessary toretain and develop the existing economy and infrastructure.

Exceptional culture patternBy highlighting the distinctive Lapland identity the Lycksele area can bemade highly interesting and can end the anonymity it has experienced upto now. The whole area has been inaccessible and, as a result, quite isolatedthroughout history, which has encouraged different cultural patterns andbuilding traditions. For instance, around 1900 Lycksele experienced a pe-riod of “show” or “conspicuous architecture” with the construction ofremarkable timber palaces whose free mixture of onion-shaped cupolas,pinnacles, towers and temple porticos contributed to an extremely distinctivetownscape in the town centre.

Lapland is the district of the Sami. Pure Sami design is an architecturalheritage unique to the area. It is found in what are called the “Sami towns”,i.e. the Sami church towns, some of which have been preserved relativelyintact. Elsewhere the Sami presence in Lycksele’s history is best expressedin the heritage district of Gammplatsen.

Loss of identityLycksele is one of many examples of how Swedish towns have failed toconserve and develop their architectural heritage and, with it, their identity.The old two storey timber buildings that used to dominate the town centrehave now largely been demolished. This is an important reason why thetownscape now almost completely lacks coherence. The town centre nowconsists of a fairly unstructured mix of building styles, materials and sca-les.

Planning actionLapland’s loss of identity is a phenomenon that has had most impact onthe central towns. Out in the villages and small communities the pressurefor change is so small that much of the genuine settlement character is stillrelatively intact. Conservation of identity is, however, also under threathere as depopulation often means that the oldest buildings are only used as

Lycksele, or the “Stockholm of Lapland”,as the town is sometimes called, wasgranted its town charter in 1946. How-ever, by the beginning of the 17th centuryLycksele was already the natural tradingcentre for southern Lapland. The town hasa strategic location at the Ume River in Väs-terbotten county, about 120 km northwestof Umeå.

With its geographical location Lyckseleis still an important centre for commun-ications in the area. The E12 EuropeanRoad (the Blue Route between Petrosa-vodsk in Russia and Mo in Norway) thatpasses through the municipality is a mainlink between the coast and the mountains.Lycksele has direct daily air links with Stock-holm, and the town houses the adminis-trative centre for bus traffic in the county.

The municipality has some 13 200 in-habitants, 9 000 of whom live in the cen-tral town. The economy is well developedand differentiated with a core consistingof small and medium-sized enterprises,mainly in the timber and engineeringindustries. Natural resources like ore, for-est and hydropower are important foremployment. Lycksele has now been trans-formed from a traditional agriculture andforestry area into a modern industrial townwith several successful export companies,mainly in the timber and engineeringindustries. The mining industry is also de-veloping favourably, due to the severalnew finds. New computer-intensive comp-anies have been established round thiscore, and in service production the follow-ing companies can be mentioned: BolidenMineral, Assi Domän Texor, HedlundaSnickeri and Hotell Lappland.

Until the middle of the 20th centurythe built environment in the centre of Lyck-sele consisted almost entirely of woodenbuildings. They were timber-frame struc-tures or sometimes plank buildings withcover boarding, and they had seldom morethan two storeys. Post-war architecturehas, however, abandoned this traditionaldesign language, adapting to charact-eristic national fashions of the period.

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CONTACT:Ulf Grundström, Lycksele municipalityTel: +46 950 167 53E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.lycksele.se

Since the white Art Nouveau building (upper centre) was also demolished very littleremains of Lycksele’s distinctive small-town character. Photo: Ulf Grundström.

leisure homes and are not given the necessary maintenance.After the demolition of the only Art Nouveau block in Lapland, as recently

as in the early 1990s, an intensive debate started in Lycksele on urbandevelopment and conservation issues. This resulted in greater awareness ofthe importance of protecting the town’s identity, since Lycksele - as theonly town in the district - is an important part of the district’s marketing.This is particularly true of buildings and built environments most exposedto routes frequented by visitors.

A planned supplement to the comprehensive plan will treat distinctivefeatures of local buildings, material choices, detailed design and the scale ofbuildings with more priority than previously.

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AVESTA MUNICIPALITYCo-operation for a more attractive town centre

EmploymentOne of the most important conditions for sustainable development is theexistence of workplaces. Workplaces attract inhabitants, services and house-building. In the 1960s the steel crisis and restructuring in industrycontributed to job losses at Avesta Ironworks. This led in turn to popula-tion loss, and Avesta lost population to larger towns and cities.

The municipality is working actively to counter this development. Morecompanies have to be attracted to the community and existing companieshave to be looked after, so that they can develop and employ more people.Avesta has a strategic geographical location at the junction of two nationalroads and two railway lines – an important factor in attracting newcompanies. One difficult issue is what balance to strike between differentinterests in the location of new businesses. Conflicts of interest can easilyarise between new jobs and different kinds of disturbances of importancefor environmental and cultural values. These conflicts must be resolved inan appropriate and sustainable way.

Vision projectA special vision project asked all Avesta residents for ideas about how thetown could be made better. A large number of suggestions were received,some have been implemented and others form part of projects still inprogress.

Town centre projectThe project began when the municipality wanted to alter the pedestrianstreet in the town centre. A general touch up of the environment wouldmake the town centre more attractive. The project was implemented in co-operation between the municipality, businessmen and property-owners.This co-operation and the joint financing have resulted in changes inpriorities, and the measures taken in the centre differ from those originallyenvisaged by the municipality.

The Copper Valley ProjectThe Copper Valley (Koppardalen) is the old, central industrial area now infocus for investments in culture, leisure and business development. Herethe municipality wants to implement a major programme to make Avestamore attractive and draw new businesses to the town. Up to 1938 an ironworks smelter, roasting furnaces and blast furnaces were in operation in thearea, and there are important industrial archaeological remains in the area.The idea now is to mix old and new. It is mainly knowledge-based companiesand companies working with IT that are to be attracted to the area. TheCopper Valley is to become a living area, not just for work but also foreducation, culture and leisure.

Avesta is in the southeast part of Dalarnacounty and is part of the Bergslagenmining region. Avesta owes its origins tothe handling of copper that began in 17thcentury and continued until the mid 19thcentury, when it was replaced by iron andsteel industry. Avesta has succeeded inretaining the old industrial town environ-ment with lots of workers housing thatgrew up alongside the works. In the partof the town called Gamla Byn, or the OldTown, there is housing from the 17th, 18thand 19th centuries as well as newerhousing built in connection with the Na-tional Housing Exhibition in 1991.

The oldest works area, which was alsothe origin of Avesta, contains the areacalled the Copper Valley. Avesta Ironworks,which grew up there, is now called Av-esta Sheffield and is one of the world’sleading producers of stainless steel. Themain emphasis of Avesta’s economy is onthe manufacturing industry, steel, timberand paper. Everything is made here frombibles in Arabic to summer houses inwood. Würth Svenska AB sells assemblyparts for the car industry and CollanderSkylt AB makes road signs. The cardboardmanufacturer Stora Enso Fors Bruk AB isanother large industry. Avesta has alocation on the map that provides goodpotential for rapid deliveries as a result ofgood communications.

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The Copper Valley. Photo: Stefan Berg.

CONTACT:Dan Ola Norberg, Avesta municipalityTel:+46 226 64 50 50E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.avesta.se

The Copper Valley Project began as an industrial project intended toattract new industry to the site. It was all about jobs and this meant thatcultural interests took second place. The Copper Valley has a completeindustrial town environment with considerable cultural values and a veryfine set of old buildings. Gradually more and more people have realised theimportance of these cultural values for Avesta. The municipality is nowtrying to use the cultural values of the area to increase the attractiveness ofthe town. For instance, it is planning to set up a museum of industrialhistory on the site, and the old Smelting Works already acts as an exhibitionhall. Attempts are being made to open up visual contact between the CopperValley and the town centre by means of sensitive changes. A footbridge hasbeen built to improve contact between the town centre and the CopperValley. The Copper Valley Project is being implemented as an EU project.

Culture projectCulture Avesta is a project that consists of a number of small and largeprojects which together aim to make Avesta one of the country’s leadingcultural municipalities. Efforts are being made to develop youth cultureand other established cultural activities and also to create new activities.Culture Avesta is also an EU project.

Greater attractivenessAttractive Avesta is a project in which the municipality and leading businessesare co-operating for sustainable development. The reason for the project isthe out-migration trend that Avesta, like many other municipalities, hasbeen experiencing in recent years. The project is about working with thepositive factors that are already in place and about changing attitudes. It isthe responsibility of every municipal resident to think about what imagethey are spreading outside the municipality and to consider what theythemselves can do to make Avesta more attractive.

The town is to become more attractive to young people and to attractnew businesses and new employees. A project group is therefore making aninventory of the present situation in businesses and their plans for the future.The survey creates preparedness for the education programmes that will beneeded in the future. The upper secondary school is working actively onthe design on new programmes in a close dialogue with business. Co-ope-ration is also in progress with the regional university to develop the region.

We have decided is a brochure produced as part of the marketing of Av-esta in order to bring out Avesta’s special qualities and attract people andbusinesses to the municipality.

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DALS-ED MUNICIPALITYSustainability in rural areas using IT

View of Dals-Ed. Photo: Jerry Ericsson, Flyguppdraget AB.

Rural problemsDals-Ed is a small municipality with relatively high unemployment, sharppopulation loss resulting in many vacant apartments and strained munici-pal finances. To break out of the vicious circle that leads to a reduced basefor services either one large new business or several small ones must locatein the municipality.

New businessIn 1998 a large IT company, Sykes, moved to the area. Sykes’ businessconcept is to develop information technology in various companies. Thecompany’s conditions for moving to the area were quick decisions, suitablepremises and grants for new recruitment. In return they promised 430 jobsin the long term. The municipality found a suitable area for expansion anddecided to invest in the project. A building that could accommodate 430workplaces was approved, the Swedish National Board for Industrial andTechnical Development granted funding and construction was started in1999. In January 2000 there were 105 employees.

Re-alignmentAlthough the arrival of Sykes is the biggest single economic event in theentire history of the municipality, it is of great importance that severalsmaller IT companies have also started operations here. At the same time,firms in the traditional engineering sector have also expanded or started upactivities. Some older firms have also begun turning towards new technology.

The border region between Sweden andNorway is rich in ancient remains andlegends. Dals-Ed has Dalsland’s largestcontinuous ancient remains consisting ofsome 60 burial-mounds, several stonecircles and a judgement circle from the lateIron Age.

Dals-Ed municipality lies in a magnific-ent wilderness region with some 400 lakes,a national park and several nature reserves.With 5 000 inhabitants in an area of 728km2 the municipality is sparsely populated.3 000 people live in the central town Ed,which is on a neck of land from the ArcticOcean period.

The municipality has a differentiatedeconomy whose products are exportedmainly to the UK and Germany. Compani-es in Dals Ed also want to enter the Nor-wegian market and they are well locatedto do so, being close to Halden, Sarpsborgand Oslo. The largest companies in Dals-Ed are Sykes, Fehrer AB and Pyrotek Scand-inavia AB. Dals-Ed is part of the Ecologicalregion of Dalsland, and several of itscompanies have a strong environmentalprofile.

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CONTACT:Rune Malm, Dals-Eds municipalityTel: +46 354 190 04E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.dalsed.se

So, to a greater or lesser extent, local business is re-aligning in the directionof more service and IT-oriented activities.

Positive tendenciesThe establishment of new businesses, in this case an international firm, hasmainly positive effects on the municipality. The downward trend has tur-ned round now, and instead the future looks brighter with more municipalservices, new housing, increased commerce and growth in local enterprises.The increased population base also enhances social life in the municipalitywith more activities, events and work in local organisations. Comparedwith the previous population loss of 100-150 people per year, the half-yearperiod from 1 October 1999 to 31 March 2000 showed an increase of 30people. This appears to be a break in the trend. For the first time for manyyears there was an excess of births over deaths. This can be interpreted asindicating more faith in the future.

Expanded labour marketNaturally the establishment of a workplace as large as Sykes is essentiallyvery positive. In the long run it is expected that a third of the people employedin the private sector will be linked to the company. Add to that all the firmsand private individuals who will depend indirectly on that one activity.This could create vulnerability comparable with that of the traditional single-industry community. These comparisons should not be taken too far, butthe need to expand the labour market is still there. The municipality istherefore still working as hard as ever on local economic development.

Housing and service needsThe municipality’s already strained finances have to be able to respond todemands for services of various kinds, infrastructure, housing, etc. Manyof these measures are investments in the future, but they still have to bepaid for. As there is a delay in the receipt of tax revenue from people movinginto the municipality, the municipality’s finances will be put under greatstrain.

AdjustmentAnother important issue is how these major changes affect a smallcommunity. A large number of incomers from all over Scandinavia, mostof them young, will result in both new demands and wishes and in anincreased base for various kinds of services, like restaurants and pubs. Asomewhat new life style is being established. The newcomers wil have to tryto adjust to the present situation and residents of Dals-Ed will have to tryto adjust to a new age. An “us and them” feeling must not be allowed todevelop, it must be “all of us together”. The company and the municipalityare working very hard on these issues, but local associations also have animportant role in the context.

Additional jobsThere are good prospects of an additional 500 new jobs in a five-year pe-riod.

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KARLSKOGA MUNICIPALITYFrom single-industry community to sustainable town

Karlskoga on the shores of Lake Möckeln. Photo: Thomas Örn

The local economy of Karlskoga is more diversified than it used to be andcompanies in the municipality extend over some 80 industrial sectors. Afterhaving been dominated for a long time by the defence and chemicalsindustry, the municipality has seen the establishment of many small andmedium-sized businesses in recent years. The core of the economy, however,still consists of high technology industry. Technical competence is somethingthe municipality wants to develop further in co-operation with theUniversities of Karlstad and Örebro.

RecessionThe municipality has always been relatively dependent on large industrialcompanies and its development has been closely bound up with employmentat Bofors. This meant that Karlskoga was hit hard by the structuralrationalisation in the Bergslagen mining district. A look back atdevelopments in the 1980s shows reduced employment resulting in a po-pulation decline in the municipality and a housing surplus. Several hund-red housing units were demolished in the 1990s and many are still vacant.Just as many have been converted to other uses such as offices or adminis-tration.

Many vacant apartments have been used for a refugee reception centre,but the refugees have had difficulties in finding work in the recession ofthe 1990s. The economic crisis has also affected Karlskoga’s town centreleading to fewer customers and therefore a smaller base for commercialservices.

Although Karlskoga is mentioned inwritten documents in the 13th century, itwas not until 1940 that the town wasgranted a charter. The history of Karlskogais closely linked with mining. The founderof the community, King Karl IX, saw thepotential of iron production, partly onaccount of the system of lakes that linksKarlskoga with a number of other com-munities. At that time the system of lakeswas very important for transport.

In the middle of the 17th centurymining began to increase rapidly, but thiswas followed by a period of crisis in the19 th century. Almost only large works likeValåsen and Bofors survived. Boforsexpanded and was bought in 1893 by Al-fred Nobel who began making cannons.By about 1930 the factory had achieved aworldwide reputation as a maker of guns.

Although Karlskoga is in the provinceof Värmland it belongs to Örebro county.Karlskoga has some 31 500 inhabitants,some 29 500 of whom live in the centraltown. Karlskoga is a green town set inattractive countryside, and it has specialrural traditions and a well-preservedcultural heritage.

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CONTACT:Reino Hedman, Karlskoga municipalityTel: +46 586 614 33E-post:[email protected]

Home page: www.karlskoga.se

Greater attractivenessThe population decline had stabilised slightly by the end of the 1990s andtoday Karlskoga has a more differentiated economy and is not as dependenton a single dominant company. Karlskoga municipality is working to developthe town by adjustments and additions that take account of the weakeningcustomer base. A town centre company has been formed together withproperty-owners and shop-holders in order to break the negative trend anddevelop the town centre.

This work has led to an increase in the attractiveness of the town, or atleast of the centre. What remains now is to apply a corresponding approachto district centres in the town. At the same time as vacant housing is beingdemolished, plans are being made for attractive housing in waterfrontlocations or with lake views.

Development workOne unique asset for Karlskoga is the sand beaches of Lake Möckeln.Programme and development work is under way for the beach zone. Inaddition, long-term plans are being made concerning infrastructure. A futurerail link to Karlskoga is being studied. For the immediate future priority isbeing given to investments in competence development and research toretain and develop the “Technology town of Karlskoga”.

Karlskoga is taking part in the research project The robust or adaptabletown led by the University of Örebro. It is hoped that this work will lead tothe objective of ”the happy town” for which criteria like security, experiences,development and well-being are important.

The researchers are running the project in close co-operation with”practitioners”, i.e. officials in the four trial municipalities, Hällefors, Karl-skoga, Lekeberg and Örebro. Representatives of the county administrativeboard, the association of local authorities and some other organisationsalso take part in project meetings regularly.

As far as Karlskoga is concerned the focus is on the re-alignment of thelocal economy. This is why representatives of different parts of the businesscommunity in Karlskoga and some municipal politicians and officials havediscussed economic development issues on four half days with two of theresearchers as discussion leaders.

Joint work on comprehensive planning has been started with itsneighbouring municipalities in the Environmental Valley, Degerfors andHällefors municipalities.Common issues include environment, infra-structure and growth.

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STORUMAN MUNICIPALITYPlanning and development in a mountain municipality

Communication needsStoruman municipality offers a good housing environment and closenessto a rich outdoor life. The dispersed population, the sparseness, doeshowever, demand good external contacts. An appropriate communicationssystem is important not least for social reasons. The sense of isolation onaccount of the great distances must not become too dominant.

Uman CenterAlong with the municipality’s investments in education at the uppersecondary school, the folk high-school and the university as well as theexpansion of Storuman’s airport and of telecommunications, Uman Cen-ter is to help to make Storuman a node in the inland region for educationand creative work environments. The municipality’s good transport andcommunications opportunities are to be used along with new technologyfor this purpose. The aim of Uman Center is to make Storuman municipal-ity a centre for IT development in the interior of Västerbotten.

Uman Center’s property contains a motel, a restaurant and a guest apart-ment that can be rented by businesses and organisations. The public partof the Center is to contain an exhibition showing what goods and servicesare produced in the area. The intention is to attract more businesses to themunicipality.

But contacts with the outside world must not be only eletronic. Theimportant tourist industry needs good communications, but primarily inthe form of the physical transportation of people to and from the moun-tain area.

Ongoing projectsThe municipality’s planning perspective has been broadened in recent yearsand work is now under way on projects like the Mountain Agenda 21, theMountain Environment Strategy, Cultural environment in Lapland, Showof Strength in Tärna and MIDT, which is a Skandia project. The municipal-ity has also started co-operating with municipalities on the Norwegianside of the border.

In 1741 the first settlers arrived in Luspenvillage, the village that was later to becomethe central town of Storuman municipal-ity and in 1923 the village was given a subpost office and the name Storuman. In1937 the community became an urbandistrict.

The municipal coat of arms shows thesilhouette of the Ryfjäll mountain and isintended to symbolise the characteristicfeatures of the municipality, i.e. mountains,water and forest. The municipality is inVästerbotten county and has some 7 100inhabitants, 2 600 of whom live in the cen-tral town, Storuman. The municipal admi-nistrative centre is in Tärnaby, which has600 inhabitants.

Despite Storuman’s location in thelargest wilderness in Europe, commun-ications are relatively well developed. Thereare direct daily flights to Arlanda, Stock-holm’s airport, and the E12 European Roadpasses through the municipality, as doesthe Blue Route with links to Norway in thewest via the E6 European Road and linksin a north-south direction to Göteborg/Karesuando via National Road 45. The In-land Railway also passes through themunicipality.

Most municipal residents work in thepublic sector and in services, tourism,commerce and communications. Storu-mans Development AB, the municipality’senterprise and development company,works on the location of new businessesin the municipality. The municipality hasits own upper secondary school and runsa four-year programme in environment andnatural resources. There is also a nomadschool in Tärnaby.

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CONTACTS:Ragnar Bergeå, Storuman municipality, Tel:+46 90 77 84 10,E mail: [email protected]

Thomas Karlsson, Uman CenterTel: +46 951 331 20E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.storuman.se

The central town of Storuman. Photo: Carl-Gustaf Gustafsson.

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ÅRE MUNICIPALITYFrom land to tourism, from farm to town

Photo: Mats Olofsson.

The development of ÅreÅre’s development from a small village living off the land and the forest toan alpine centre also offering a wide range of mountain tourism has notbeen free of conflicts. Tourism has brought in new businesses, money andpeople with foreign life-styles. At the beginning of the 20th century theywere “air visitors” and “flower gentlemen”. In the 1920s it was the restorativeoutdoor life that dominated, including mountain trips by school children.In the 1960s downhill skiing became a widespread activity and made itsdefinitive breakthrough with “Stenmark Mania”.

The 1970s Åre ProjectThe theme of the 1970s was ”recreation for all”. National governmentdeclared that Åre was far too important to be left to developers and localpoliticians. Several building plans were stopped and a construction banwas introduced to protect the landscape. The Åre Project was presented in amultitude of studies and in grandiose plans. All were not realised, but theproject did lead to a cable car, a series of lifts and slopes, water and sewageand also an area development plan. The outcome in terms of hotel andholiday cottage beds was less impressive.

Municipal investmentsThe new Åre municipality, formed in 1974 by the amalgamation of severalsmall municipalities, was sceptical about tourism. The government hadmade investments, but there were “no rings on the water”. They decided to

Åre’s history is closely linked with tourism.The village became a tourist resort in the1880s when the railway between Öster-sund and Storlien was built. The firsttourists mainly came for the nature andthe fresh air. Several hotels, guesthousesand hunting lodges were built in the yearsup to the First World War. In 1907 the first“Åre Project” was presented with a planby Per Hallman and a mountain railwaythat still goes from Åre Square to the Fjäll-gården hotel. From the outset summertourism was most important, but wintertourism gradually grew in importance. Thefirst ski tow came in the 1940s and in 1954Åre made its breakthrough as a wintersports resort with the World AlpineChampionships. In the 1970s nationalgovernment implemented a second ÅreProject, which resulted in Åre obtainingSweden’s first and only cable car. The 1984Downhill Ski Race confirmed Åre’s repu-tation as the leading alpine centre in theNordic region.

Åre is a small municipality with just lessthan 10 000 inhabitants, only 800 ofwhom are registered in Åre village. In thepeak season there is an influx of seasonalemployees and up to 25 000 tourists. Themunicipality extends from Storsjön (theGreat Lake) to Norway. It has magnificentundeveloped mountain environments andreadily accessible mountain areas, vastforests and marshes and fertile cultivatedriver valleys. Although tourism in the ma-jor industry in the municipality, there arealso lots of small businesses in areas likeIT and services.

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CONTACTS:Bertil Göransson, Åre municipalityTel: +46 647 161 56E mail: [email protected]

Björn Reuterswärd, Åre municipalityTel: +46 63 57 60 17E mail: [email protected]

Home pages: www.are.se andwww.arelife.se

Photo: Å.R.E. AB

learn from others. Important impulses came from Austria and the USA.The municipality invested successfully in the development of housing co-ops and commerce in central Åre. It took the initiative to a downhill raceslope and received government funding conditional on private investment.The response was enormous. New shops, restaurants and some 2 000 tour-ist beds were built. Åre developed from a village to a small town. Åre becamethe “in-thing” and new businesses were started. The national governmentinvestment resulted in broad development.

Crisis in the 1990sThe property crisis of the 1990s and a few winters with very little snow inthe early 1990s hit Åre hard. But the market has turned round again, eventhough new construction has been slow to react. The is no question now ofa large scale expansion of the number of tourist beds, instead investmentwill be in accommodation of high quality, more services, better skiing, newhigh-speed lifts and snow guarantees using cannon snow.

Municipal planningThe area development plan of the Åre Project quickly became out of date. Acomprehensive plan for central Åre has now been prepared to guide expan-sion and highlight the specific features of Åre – a plan that focuses onconstruction opportunities, culture, traffic and parking. A publication aboutbuilding design and the environment supplements the plan. In this publicationnational romanticism was the source of inspiration to “compete” with theimported alpine style. Next a comprehensive plan was drafted for the ÅreValley to consider development, water and sewage, the alpine ski area, otherrecreation, culture and national interests. A “design programme” was preparedfor signs, lighting and the outdoor environment in co-operation with busi-ness. Finally a municipality-wide comprehensive plan is being drafted.

Future actionThe need for relaxation and real experiences just goes on increasing in thecomputer age. The Åreskutan Mountain along with the village, ”the littletown” with its charm and its services and attractions, ensure Åre goodprospects for the future. However, competition is tough between differentwinter sport resorts. The ski system must be renewed all the time. Åre alsoneeds complementary activities, more commerce, better services and a higherstandard. The village needs to be developed to ensure Åre is “value stable”and attractive throughout the year.

Sustainable mountain environmentLots of people have difficulties reconciling long trips to the mountains,plastic skis, lifts and ski slopes with sound environmental thinking. Butyou can take the train to Åre – you don’t need a car. Åreskutan is certainlyexposed to strong environmental impacts, but the rest of the mountainworld can be spared this. In addition, tourism generates income that can beused for cleaning up and environmental action. Action that is necessary, astourists don’t only expect steep slopes and “plenty to do”. Clean air, cleanwater, fresh nature, open vistas and experiences are becoming more andmore important.

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NYBRO MUNICIPALITYThe Kingdom of Wood, Crystal and Design

Intensive marketingNybro is working hard to increaseits attractiveness. It is doing so bythe conscious marketing of ”TheKingdom of Wood, Crystal andDesign”. Strong industrial brandsand design-intensive companies arebeing used to increase the muni-cipality’s competitiveness. Many ofthe companies operating in Nybroare characterised by a strong brandidentity.

Dynamic meetings between skill-ed professionals and creative desig-ners are an important success factorin the industrial and cultural proces-ses.

Functional combinationof tradition and renewalThe long industrial tradition in Nybro now co-exists with modern industrialdevelopment. The premises previously used by industry have now foundexciting new, functional and modern uses. The centrally located originalbuildings of the well-known companies Ljungdahls and Kährs nowaccommodate offices and housing, in the first case, and an informationcentre and a corporate group management office, in the second.

Meeting placesThe municipality is also working to develop the environment of publicopen spaces using music, cultural events and broad sports activities.

Nybro municipality is seeking to develop the environment of publicopen spaces so that they present a pleasant and beautiful overall impres-sion. Nybro is a mixed-function garden city with greenery and shortdistances. There are rich opportunities for meeting people, not least at oneof the many sports arenas or cultural institutions. Meetings between peopleand the social capital that can be developed through them are an importantpart of a functioning democracy and also promote good economicdevelopment.

Nybro has well-developed co-operation between the municipality andbusiness on common lines of action to increase the attractiveness and

Master glass-blower Erik Pohl and desig-ner Erika Lagerbielke reflecting on andanalysing a joint creation. Photo: King-dom of Glass.

Nybro has a long tradition as an industrialmunicipality. In the 18th century an ironworks was established in Orrefors, and thefirst glassworks was started at the end ofthe 19th century. Many of the glassworksthat used to exist in the area have nowdisappeared, but the ones that are still leftare all the more vigorous. The OrreforsKosta-Boda Group is the world’s secondlargest manufacturer of crystal glass. Otherwell-known glassworks in the municipal-ity are Målerås and Nybro. Undoubtedlythere is something in every Swedish homethat has come from Nybro municipality. Itmay be a crystal piece from one of theglassworks, a wooden floor from Kährs,notepaper from Ljungdahls or somethingelse from the many well-known comp-anies.

Nybro’s urban environment is charact-erised by small-scale Art Nouveu-inspiredbuildings with some large timber villasfrom its spa period. The town is built aro-und its communications; the waterways,roads and railway that all cross each othernear Salutorget, or the market square. InNybro there is no “out-of-town” shoppingbut plenty of ”outdoor” shopping, therebycontributing to a vital town centre.

Nybro is a typical industrial municipal-ity, in which manufacturing employs some40 per cent of the workforce. The mainindustries are timber, paper, glass andengineering. Tourism is of great import-ance for the glass industry in the munic-ipality. It is estimated that the glassworkshave one million visits annually. Given itscentral location in the Kingdom of Crystalit is natural for Nybro to invest in tourism.Just less than 20 000 people live in Nybromunicipality, 12 500 of them in the cen-tral town.

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Nybro square with its lively market and a sculpture in the foreground. Photo: Nybromunicipality.

CONTACT:Nils-Erik Gustavsson, Nybro municipalityTel: +46 481 452 09E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.nybro.se

competitiveness of the municipality.

Municipal planning aims to safeguard and develop the unique features ofthe town. One example is building inwards by filling up sores in thetownscape. Another aim is to do more to promote the town as a green lungand to offer attractive housing environments close to central waterways.

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HALLSBERG MUNICIPALITYPlanning for a competitve town centre

Railway station with a glimpse of the Travel Centre in the background. Photo: JaneSahlin.

Flourishing town centreIn the late 1980s Hallsberg municipality prepared, in broad co-operationwith municipal residents, a proposal for a renewal programme for “aflourishing town centre”. A four-leaf clover symbolised the work. The fourleaves of the clover symbolised retailing, specialist retailers, large-space spe-cialist retailers and culture. The stalk of the clover is housing in the city. Aparallel three-leaf clover completes the image. It includes the developmentof the sports ground, expansion of the town park and the construction of alake. The two clovers form the starting point for renewal work in Hallsbergand they are to be integrated in urban planning and municipal activities.

New street spaceA new street space has been put in place in order to make the centre moreattractive. It consists of a small-scale street with a six-metre carriageway.New low lighting, tree planting, parking provision and separate pedestrianand cycle paths are other measures taken.

Ecological parkIn 1997 work started on the building of an ecological park in the centraltown. A pool is to act as a natural sewage treatment plant, the river is beingbroadened to ensure effective reduction of nutrients, and thousands of treesaplings have been planted in co-operation with local residents and schoolpupils.

Hallsberg municipality is built around therailway and its importance as a nationalhub. The municipality has the largest andmost modern marshalling yard in northernEurope. Hallsberg’s location on the railwayand close to the E 20 European Road andNational Roads 50 and 51 make it theperfect place for logistics companies. Itsproximity to the expansive Mälar regionalso provides good potential for positivedevelopment in the transportation field.

In other respects the economy of Halls-berg is very diversified. The food industryis substantial and includes Lithells AB. Themunicipality has the largest drawing-pinfactory in the Nordic region, Svenskahäftstiftsfabriken, as well as companies inthe engineering, timber and graphicsindustries.

Hallsberg municipality is in the provinceof Närke and has 16 000 inhabitants,some 8 000 of whom live in the centraltown, Hallsberg.

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CONTACT:Hans Lindberg, Hallsberg municipalityTel: +46 582 685 180E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.hallsberg.se

In this way conditions for biological diversity have improved rapidlyand the eco-system has reached better balance. The park has created goodconditions for the plants and animals, which have quickly establishedthemselves there. The park also acts as protection from the flooding thathas previously caused problems in low-lying parts of the town of Hallsberg.The ecological park also helps to make the urban environment moreattractive and it has become a recreation area for town residents.

Planning to promote economic developmentHallsberg wants to lay a foundation for favourable development in theirown municipality through planning to promote economic development. Ifthis collides, for instance, with the interests of neighbouring municipalitiesit is up to national government, through the county administrative board,to initiate discussions under legislation on inter-municipal interests. Thishas happened in Örebro county concerning out-of-town shopping, and ithas been a way for different interests to have their voices heard.

Commerce as a driverNew housing, a new traffic network, better public services, more cultureand more commercial services are intended to help to increase themunicipality’s attractiveness. Hallsberg is well placed to develop good linksbetween different kinds of commerce. A new shopping centre has givennew companies the opportunity to expand and take market shares. When alow price shop for convenience goods opened near the town centre it gaveHallsberg residents the opportunity of better service at the same time as itlaid a foundation for an attractive centre in which existing commerce wasstrengthened and the range of shopping opportunities was improved.

However, some commercial actors obstructed the municipality’s effortsto benefit from the population base for commercial services in the localarea. Delivery refusals or decisions not to locate in the town have beenelements in a strategy to protect established commerce in nearby out-of-town shopping areas.

Stronger local commerceAs a result of the project local commerce has become aware of the customerbase locally in the Hallsberg area, but as yet it has acted with some caution,particularly in the provision of rarely bought items. To further strengthenlocal commerce and its competitiveness a town-centre manager has beenhired in co-operation between commerce, property-owners and Hallsbergmunicipality. The task of the town-centre manager is to develop market-ing, increase competence in existing commerce and stimulate greater co-operation.

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ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK MUNICIPALITYInfrastructure planning and town centre development

Railway important for the development of NorrlandWhen the main railway line was built in Norrland in the late 19th centurya route 30-100 km from the coast was selected, partly for reasons of defencestrategy. Although the railway was placed some way from the majorindustries and urban centres on the coast it was of great importance for thedevelopment of Norrland, and it is still a very important artery for theSwedish economy. It does, however, have a number of shortcomings andto remedy these an additional track is being added to the main rail line.Several studies have shown that it is most profitable to build the new track,the Bothnia Line, along the coast where the main towns and industries are.Rapid and reliable transportation is becoming ever more important forefforts to increase competitiveness all the time.

Ongoing planningThe Bothnia Line can create favourable conditions for co-operation betweenthe municipalities affected, not least by making daily commuting possiblebetween the various labour markets. The Norrland coast will be the thirdlargest rail passenger corridor in Sweden.

Greater transport opportunities for goods andpeopleAt present the Bothnia Line is the major planning issue in Örnsköldsvik.Its route through the municipality was preceded by extensive studies ofvarious alternatives and repeated consultations between the municipalityand the National Rail Administration. The route now selected creates twostations locations in Örnsköldsvik, one at the Inner Harbour in the centreof town and one just north of the town.

Planning now in progress deals with the new town district in the InnerHarbour and the linking of the station to the town centre, the university,parking, public transport, etc.

The town of Örnsköldsvik is in the HögaKusten, or High Coast, area, which is thehighest stretch of coast in Sweden. About56 000 people live in the municipality,31 000 of them live in the central town.

Several industrial sectors are represent-ed in Örnsköldsvik, although manufact-uring industry and the engineering in-dustry dominate. The economy is stronglyexport-oriented and accounts for a signific-ant part of the net value of national ex-ports. MoDo, Hägglunds and Avesta ABEare examples of large export companies.Kvaerner Chemetics and SAS BookingCentre are examples of the service comp-nies in the town.

The High Coast is also called the Ar-tists’ Coast on account of the very largenumber of active artists. Örnsköldsvikinvests heavily in artistic enhancement ofpublic buildings. The municipality alsocontains the Skuleskogen National Parkand a number of nature reserves.

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CONTACTS:Tommy Dickens,Örnsköldsvik municipality.Tel: +46 660 884 22E mail: [email protected]

Håkan Heldner,Örnsköldsvik municipality.Tel: +46 660 884 26E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.ornskoldsvik.se

The route of the Bothnia Line through thetown of Örnsköldsvik. Maps from themunicipality and the National Land Survey.

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LUND MUNICIPALITYLundaMaTs – environment-friendly transport in Lund

Traffic questionsThere is great interest in traffic questions in Lund, partly as a result ofindustrialisation in the 20th century, when Lund grew strongly. The trafficflow in the town centre increased rapidly, and in the 1970s it reached thesame level as on the motorway outside Lund today. This eventually led tothe closure of the core of town centre to through traffic and the provisionof pedestrian streets in the centre.

Reduced carbon dioxide emissionsOne important objective is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The trafficsituation was studied and an environment-friendly traffic plan was preparedin co-operation between Lund municipality and Trivector AB. The projectwas called LundaMaTs. It is a major project intended to adapt transport toecologically sustainable development. An environment-friendly traffic sys-tem involves taking account of what nature and people can tolerate. Thisapplies to the production, use and final disposal of vehicles and infra-structure.

Increased environmental awarenessThis involves a large number of measures that have environmental effectsbut it also involves increased awareness leading in time to more environment-friendly behaviour. In order to be able take action you first need to knowsomething about the traffic situation and to clarify traffic flows. The studyon how to achieve an environment-friendly adapted transport systemconsisted of three parts: an assessment of the present situation, a descriptionof objectives and an action plan.

A unified perspective and co-operationLundaMaTs is largely about applying a unified perspective in this workand using consultations and co-operation as important instruments. Aunified perspective paired with determination can turn around an unsustain-able traffic situation and make it sustainable. Acting alone, however, themunicipality has limited opportunities, so co-operation at various levels isnecessary to be able to achieve the environmental objectives. This workdemands the participation of a large number of actors, including regionaland municipal agencies, companies, associations, etc.

It has, however, turned out to be difficult to interest the public. Publicmeetings and many information opportunities were held to establish a

Learned people have long wrangled aboutwhen Lund was actually founded. For along time it was thought that Knut theGreat founded the town around 1020, butarchaeological finds have shown that theDanish Viking King Svend Tveskaeggfounded the town in 990. Lund is builton a medieval street grid and has a distincthistoric and cultural heritage characterwith several well-preserved old buildingsand environments. The cathedral thatadorns the town’s coat of arms wasfounded in the 11 th century.

A wide range of culture is available inLund, including several museums and spe-cial events. There are museums withcollections of historic objects and withvarying exhibitions. The many galleries inthe town show works by contemporaryartists, and outdoors there is a wide rangeof public art. Student life at the universitygives the town a multicultural and youth-ful profile. Lund has 130 nationalities anda median age well under the nationalaverage. Today the municipality has justover 98 000 inhabitants, some 75 000 ofwhom live in the central town, Lund.

Lund has the first science park in Scand-inavia, IDEON. The science park promoteshigh technology development work inSwedish businesses, in close co-operationwith the university. Today the park houses150 companies whose activities rangeover areas like chemistry, biotechnology,medicine, computing and electronics,telecommunications and environmentaltechnology. The town has long had asubstantial industrial sector in which thelargest company groups are Tetra Laval,AB Åkerlund and Rausing, Gambro AB,Astra Zeneca AB, Ericsson Mobile Com-munications AB and Axis CommunicationsAB.

Lund municipality is investing heavilyin the development of a sustainablecommunity. One aspect is reducing thenegative environmental impact of trans-port. This is why LundaMaTs, a special planfor how Lund can adapt its transport sys-tem to the environment, has beenprepared. The public transport project theLund Link is an important part of this plan.

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CONTACT:Stig Gustavsson, Lund municipalityTel: +46 46 35 58 15E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.lund.se

Logo for the Cycle Town Project.

dialogue. A planning council with ten representatives of different interestgroups was appointed.

Environment-friendly transportThe work was directed towards improvements within five themes: the cycletown, corporate transports, land-use planning, technical development ofvehicles and the development of public transport. Work on Agenda 21 andLund’s Comprehensive Plan 98 was in progress at the same time so therewere considerable opportunities for co-ordination.

The Cycle Town ProjectIn Lund the cycle is a frequently used mode of transport. Half of all trips inthe town are by cycle. This is why making the town as cycle-friendly aspossible is an important link in urban development. The Cycle Town Projectwas started to improve infrastructure and give priority to cycle traffic. Acircle with a radius of five kilometres was drawn round the town centre,and within this area it is to be possible to use cycles for most trips. This isexpected to reduce car trips by three per cent to 2005.

The Lund LinkThe Lund Link is an important project in LundaMaTs. There is considerablecommuting to Lund from other municipalities. Cars account for the majorpart of this commuting, which creates problems due to congestion, emissionsand accidents. Public transport should therefore be able to account formore trips to work areas than it now does. The Lund Link is also animportant part of the vision of an integrated public transport system insouthwest Skåne. First bus transport will be expanded, but this expansionwill be designed and carried though in a way that enables the subsequentintroduction of modern trackbound transport without expensive majoralterations.

If the Lund Link is realised as planned it will be unique in the Nordicregion. Few places have bus or tracked traffic separated from other trafficover such a long continuous distance in an urban environment.

The Mobility OfficeThe Mobility Office is an organisation that aims to provide informationabout sustainable transport in the municipality. The Mobility Office runsvarious kinds of public activities as part of LundaMaTs. The office is alsoresponsible for advising individuals, companies and organisations that wantto make their transport environment-friendly. This can involve everythingfrom simple advice about how to use public transport to more extensiveassistance. The Mobility Office also offers education for various targetgroups.

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CITY OF UPPSALAUppsala 2020 – vision and strategy for the city

In the spring of 1997 work began on a comprehensive plan for Uppsalacity with the presentation of a discussion document Three Perspectives onUppsala in 2012. Many stakeholders were invited to make their viewsknown, including local business, voluntary organisations and public bodies.The views and proposals submitted led to a draft Vision and Strategy for theCity of Uppsala. The draft has been circulated for comments, revised on thebasis of these comments and resulted in the programme Uppsala 2020 –Vision and Strategy for the City. The view of the future presented in thisdocument is that Uppsala will be:• An attractive knowledge city• Big enough to have room for diversity, but not so big that the city is not

comprehensible and lacks the social networks that provide a basis fordemocracy, participation and acceptance of responsibility for fellow hu-man beings and for the environment

• A sustainable city that promotes sustainable development.

Uppsala 2020 – Vision and Strategy for the City has several important aims.It is to act as a programme for the comprehensive plan of the city. It is alsoto provide support in the preparation of the city’s overall budget andinvestment plans and in the revision and preparation of the city’s variousplans and programmes. In addition, it will provide a common platform forco-operation between residents, local organisations, businesses and themunicipality.

Sensitive transformationThe comprehensive plan will deal with how to develop the physical structureof the city and how Uppsala can develop in the spirit of the vision. Theintention is that the city will grow through small changes and be transfor-med gradually. Green areas will be made into parks and all city districtswill be given additional functions so that they are like small towns. A strategymust be developed that requires consistent action by the city and agreements

Uppsala is a city with a long history as apolitical and religious centre but also as alink between Norrland and south Sweden.Work on shaping the present city centrebegan in the early 13th century, one ele-ment was the construction of the Cathed-ral over a period of 200 years. The needto train priests contributed to the forma-tion of Uppsala University. It is the oldestuniversity in Scandinavia and was foundedin 1477. Today it has some 34 000 students.

Uppsala’s identity is closely bound upwith the historic environment around theFyris River and the Uppsala Ridge. Historic-ally the town was clearly divided into twoparts ”east and west of the river”, withthe academic and ecclesiastical town onthe west bank and commerce and industryon the east bank.

Uppsala today is a dynamic commerc-ial municipality focussed on knowledge,ideas and entrepreneurship. The majorcompanies are Beijer & Alma, Biacore, Bio-Phausia, Diös, Pricer, Pharmacia & Upjohn,Amersham, Pharmacia Biotech, Fresenius,Kabi and Slotts. Two growing branches areinformation technology and medicine.Extensive research is being carried out atthe universities in a number of areas ofinterest to business and entrepreneurship.

Uppsala is also a typical services city.There is a large public sector with organi-sations like the National Food Administra-tion, the Geological Survey of Sweden, theUniversity of Uppsala, the Swedish Univer-sity of Agricultural Sciences and the Na-tional Veterinary Institute.

With its 187 000 inhabitants Uppsalais the third largest municipality in Sweden.Many people have been inspired by thecity: authors, artists and scientists, in-cluding August Strindberg, Gustav Frö-ding, Karin Boye, Carl von Linné, Dag Ham-marskjöld, Ingmar Bergman, Kerstin Ek-man and Gösta Knutsson.

ThreePerspectives

onUppsalain 2012

Vision andStrategy forthe City of

Uppsala

Uppsala2020 –

Vision andStrategy for

the City

ComprehensivePlan for the

City ofUppsala

Other plansand

programmes

Platform forco-operation

betweenvarious actors

in the city.

Consultations Consultations

The process

Vision and strategy

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CONTACT:Carl-Johan Engström, City of UppsalaTel: +46 18 27 12 80E mail:carl-johan.engströ[email protected]

Home page: www.uppsala.se

with a number of parties. However, the first step is a dialogue with the localpeople.

The vision deals with three areas:The role of the city: With its two modern universities Uppsala is capable ofdeveloping into a knowledge city. The universities are co-operating withindustry, and this has already resulted in new products and services. Thistype of co-operation will be of great importance in the future. Uppsala’sgeographical location, close to Arlanda airport, on the E4 European Roadand the main northern railway, is a stimulus for growth. Uppsala mustwork as a city for everyone regardless of age, gender, origin or disability.Everyone has a responsibility for security and a good atmosphere in theUppsala of the future. This requires a dialogue with various actors in thecity. Only then can the changes be realised.

How to develop the city: Lots of people want to live in Uppsala. Thepotential for building new housing is, however, limited by factors like noisepollution, existing nature reserves and the new route for the E4 EuropeanRoad. New housing can be built in the city by complementing the existingurban fabric. Some undeveloped land can be built on, while other land canbe freshened up and transformed into attractive parks. The districts of thecity must be complete and provide workplaces and services as well as homesof various sizes.

The city centre: In an environment-friendly city it must be easy to walk,cycle and use public transport. Car traffic must therefore adapt to the needsof pedestrians. The inner city is the face that Uppsala presents to the worldand it is therefore important that is attractive and retains its unique culturaland historic environment. The inner city should act as a meeting place for allUppsala residents and offer a wide range of restaurants, culture and activities.More housing can be brought to the inner city by converting offices intohousing, by converting attics and by some new construction. This will alsoensure that people use the inner city day and night, enhancing security.

Uppsala today. Uppsala the way we can make it.

Housing can be added to areas mainly containing offices and other uses.

Housing can be built on untended and less important green spaces – at the sametime as parts of the green space are made into parks.

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JÖNKÖPING MUNICIPALITYUrban development vision for Jönköping

Attractive town centreThe overall impression made by a town, the urban environment and life inthe town are increasingly seen as factors for quality of life and development.The most important factor is the town centre itself, as a central meetingplace.

Urban development visionFrom this starting point Jönköping municipality has prepared an urbandevelopment vision for the central parts of the town. The aim is a vigoroustown centre in a vital region. This requires action in support of the diversitythat characterises a good town: a centre that people can live and work inand visit. The vision contains three parts:• Strategic development, integration and implementation of projects, care,

events and marketing.• Housing, municipal activities, education and research, commerce and

services, culture, entertainment and tourism.• The beauty and form of the town, accessibility, lighting, street space,

parks and greenery, the town and the water, the town’s meetings placesand passages.

As part of work on the vision, seminars have been held on a number ofimportant subjects. Representatives of business, commerce, municipal de-partments and other agencies are among those invited to the seminars.Young people have been involved in every seminar to generate ideas. Oneimportant dimension has been to find ways to benefit from the developmentpotential of the university. Work on the vision is one way for politicians todevelop the town and the town centre in the right direction. Given therapid rate of change in society, dialogue and discussion on how the town isto develop has to be kept alive and be in progress all the time.

Fundamental ideas:• The town centre will be sustainable in social, environmental and economic

terms.• The town centre will be the natural meeting place and ”living space” for

everyone regardless of age, gender or origin. It will be secure and safe to useat all times of the day and night.

• The town centre will have a diversity of housing, workplaces, education,culture, commerce, entertainment and other activities.

• The town centre will have high quality in architecture and the design ofpublic open spaces.

• The town centre will have good accessibility for everyone.• The town centre will provide a sustainable and profitable setting for the

development and operation of various activities.

Jönköping is one of the oldest towns inSweden. Magnus Ladulås granted a towncharter to the small trading place on theashore of Lake Vättern at the end of the13th century. To a great extent the townis shaped by the three lakes Vättern, Rock-sjön and Munksjön that create a uniquetownscape together with the many parksin the town. The town plan of Jönköping’stown centre is a combination of a gridirontown and a linear town. Gränna, Visingsö,Huskvarna and Taberg are popular placesto visit in the municipality, especially in thesummer months.

Jönköping’s location and its excellentair, car and rail communications give themunicipality a strategic position in south-ern Sweden. The town is known as a lead-ing centre for transport and communicat-ions and as a centre for commerce andexhibitions. The Elmia Exhibition Centre isan internationally renowned organizer ofTrade Fairs and fairs in the environmentand agriculture and forestry sectors.

Jönköping municipality is one of the tenlargest municipalities in Sweden with apopulation of 117 000. The town of Jön-köping, which is the administrative centreof the region, has some 52 000 inhabit-ants. Most employment is in care servicesbut many inhabitants also work incommerce, communications, manufact-uring and primary industry. The well-known corporate groups Electrolux, ABBand Saab have considerable activities in themunicipality. Other large companies areMunksjö, Viking Sewing Machines AB,Stora Enso Packaging AB and IKEA.

In the municipality much is being doneto develop higher education. The Univer-sity of Jönköping is owned by a foundationand offers teacher training programmes,an international business school and aschool of engineering. Jönköping also hasone of the country’s leading colleges ofhealth sciences. There is education andresearch in economics, law, technology,teaching, communications science andvarious care professions.

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CONTACT:Bertil Gustafsson,Jönköping municipalityTel: +46 36 10 57 88E mail:[email protected]

Home page: www.jonkoping.se

The vision is summarized in a number of fundamental ideas and ofaction points.

Actions:• Safeguard and look after the existing qualities of the town centre.• Strengthen existing, and develop new, interesting meeting places and passa-

ges.• Develop the existing potential to expand the town centre and link it with

water.• Upgrade the ”living space” in the town centre.• Look after the architecture and content of industrial areas now in active use.• Build new housing in attractive locations, both on the waterfront and in

town centre blocks to enrich life in the town.• Continue to give the university and student life good opportunities for growth

and integration.• Strengthen and develop the structure of the gridiron town and try to give all

the blocks in the town centre a balanced mix of uses.

The ambition is for the centre to be competitive and attractive and to prov-ide housing, municipal activities, education, commerce, recreation andculture of high quality. This work covers both physical issues and questionsof an organisational nature. The ambition is to move forward by means ofvarious kinds of projects towards implementation in accordance with themain theme of the vision From ideas to actions.

Project workParallel projects have included the University, the Travel Centre and theHarbour Park. The municipality is the driving force for the implementationof the urban development vision, in consultation with local business as faras possible.

Living discussion and co-operationUrban development is a continuous process demanding a holistic perspectiveand co-operation. Trusting and long-term co-operation is needed betweenthe municipality, property-owners in the town centre and operators of privateand public activities. The co-operation covers ideas, planning, finance andimplementation. Municipal residents are also given considerable opportun-ities of exerting influence through interviews and consultations.

A new plan, called Town Plan 2000, has been drafted on the basis of thevision. The plan does not act as a detailed regulatory instrument of thetraditional kind, but is a programme that can include new construction.The design programme identifies streets, blocks and parks. It is a town planthat is inviting and involving and that sees change in the town as a qualityrather than a limitation.

Jönköping has applied for and been awarded the chance of holding aSwedish Housing Exhibition in 2005. Further work on the urbandevelopment vision is closely linked with work on the Housing Exhibition.The Exhibition will focus on the integration of housing in the town centreand it will be held in co-operation with both actors and residents in thetown.

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ÖSTERSUND MUNICIPALITYThe university in the heart of the town – an engine fordevelopment

Sustainable planningÖstersund has an attractive and vital town centre with a mix of commerceand housing as well as good public transport. This is the result of consciousplanning focussed on:• avoiding out-of-town shopping centres and keeping shopping in the

town centre• mixing housing and other uses• creating a good urban environment by looking after and renewing

buildings, streets and parks and• ensuring people use the town, day and night.

One way of ensuring people use the town centre is to make sure that themajor workplaces like the hospital and the university are in central locations.This also minimizes transport needs and provides the best possibleconditions for taking a cycle, bus or train instead of a car.

Central universityWhen the Mid Sweden University needed new premises a number ofalternative locations were discussed for the university. In the meantime itwas announced that one of the regiments in the town was to be disbanded.The area left by this regiment, the A4 artillery regiment, was only a blockaway from pedestrian streets, the bus terminal, etc. At the same time thearea is unique as it borders on an open passage, consisting of the old militaryexercise area and of a green space. Placing the university there would makeit close to housing, services and good communications while also provi-ding scope for future expansion. Activities in the town centre, likerestaurants, cafés and shops, would benefit at the same time as life andmovement would be generated for a large part of the day and night.

A comparison between the central A4 area and an alternative locationsome three kilometres from the town centre pointed to several interestingadvantages of the location in the town centre. The assumption was madethat a limit for day commuting to the university could be set at a trip ofone hour in each direction. On this basis it turned out that communities70 to 80 kilometres from Östersund were within this commuting distance.Reaching the alternative location would take twice as long, since changingtransport modes to take the local bus from the town centre consumes sucha lot of time. The central location also offered better access to housingwithin walking and cycling distance. The conclusion was that the universityshould be placed in the centre of the town, both in a sustainabilityperspective and for the sake of a vital town centre.

For many centuries Frösö was an importanttrade, religious and military centre.However, the town of Östersund was notfounded until 1786. As the only 18thcentury town in the country, the towncentre’s original street layout with levelnarrow streets along the hillside and evennarrower uphill lanes is still relatively intact.Storgatan, the main street, is lined withwell-preserved buildings from the early 20th century, the major growth period of thetown. Individual buildings of great inte-rest include Rådhuset (the Town Hall) andthe Telegraph Office, both from 1912.With its diversity of shops and restaurantsÖstersund town centre is a dense and livelymeeting place and commercial centre.Some 45 000 of the municipality’s 58 500inhabitants live in the central town, whichconsists of Östersund, Frösön and Torvalla.

Östersund sits in the middle of Jämt-land as a natural central point for a verylarge hinterland. The town has a uniquelocation on the slopes overlooking Stor-sjön (the Great Lake) in a fertile agriculturaldistrict and looking out towards the Oviks-fjällen mountains. The town is surroundedby large recreational areas and has a longtradition as a sporting town, particularlywinter sports for obvious reasons.

Tourism is a natural part of the localeconomy. Many visitors come from bothsouthern Sweden and Tröndelag in Nor-way. Apart from this the service sector andhigh technology industry are the dominantsectors of the economy. Östersund is alsoan important garrison town, with the I5Infantry Regiment, the F4 air wing and theArmy Technical School.

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CONTACTSiv Reuterswärd, Östersund municipalityTel: + 46 63 14 39 35E-post: [email protected]

Home page: www.ostersund.se

The Mid Sweden University – in the heart of the town, but still with space to grow.Illustrator: Anders Sunesson.

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NORRKÖPING MUNICIPALITYThe industrial landscape – from a forgotten backyard to acentral development zone

The industrial townNorrköping’s textile industry experienced a sharp up-turn when the cottonand woollen mills were mechanized starting in the 1850s. Norrköping grewrapidly when the mills needed labour. The wealth created was re-invested,part of it in a metropolitan-style townscape and beautiful parks. The greatart and industry exhibition of 1906 turned into a manifestation of Norrkö-ping as a modern and successful town.

But success did not last for ever. The textile crisis after the Second WorldWar hit Norrköping hard, when the companies there could not deal withforeign competition. The last textile mill closed its production in the 1970s.Despite the re-location of government agencies in Norrköping in the 1970spopulation in the town has largely remained stagnant since then at around120 000 inhabitants. As recently as in the 1990s Ericsson’s closures have ledto new strains.

The legacy of the industrial town is clearly seen in Norrköping.Unemployment has been higher than in comparable towns and the level ofeducation is low. Abandoned factory buildings have dominated the townscape,particularly at the rapids in Motala River.

The sustainable townDespite its industrial background Norrköping has good prospects ofdeveloping into a sustainable town. It is of good size and the distancesinvolved make it possible to live a relatively car-free life in the town. Onlya few shops and other important visitor attractions are in external locations.New supermarkets are not permitted outside the urban settlement. Norr-köping has retained its trams and this environment-friendly mode of trans-port is now being expanded. At the same time investments are being madeto encourage cycling.

In the experimental Ekoporten building and the rehabilitation of theNavestad area the municipality is trying to transform housing areas in anecological direction. There is a great deal of Agenda 21 work and schoolsare among those strongly involved.

Re-use of the industrial townThe re-use of the industrial landscape is a good example of sustainableurban development. The area was already identified as being of nationalinterest in the 1970s, and in 1981 the City Museum opened its premises ina block that the municipality felt was of such cultural heritage value thattook charge of the buildings itself. After a long process in which themunicipality bought and renovated the beautiful Strykjärnet Building theMuseum of Work was also able to start operating in 1991. Holmens Millheld an architectural competition when paper production was moved outin 1986. This led to increased interest in the possibilities of using the area.Holmen Builders bought the mill properties and have made considerable

Norrköping grew up around the rapids ofMotala River. The place is mentioned as atown in 1284, but was not given a towncharter until 1384. Louis de Geer’s moveto Sweden in the 17th century led to thedevelopment of Norrköping as an indust-rial town. The economy of the “Manches-ter of Sweden” was long characterised bythe textile industry, which grew up withits wool-spinning mills and cotton mills upalongside Motala River. Many factorybuildings are still in place and are re-minders of the industrial prosperity of thetown. In the mid 19th century 70 per centof Sweden’s textiles were manufacturedin Norrköping. Today the industrial build-ings no longer fulfil their original functions,as the last loom fell silent in the 1970s.The aim now is to preserve the old indust-rial area and to bring new uses to thebuildings.

After having been a distinctive com-mercial and industrial town Norrköpinghas developed into a municipality with abroad and differentiated economy. Themunicipality houses companies like Hol-mens Paper AB, AssiDomän, Acro (designcentre for silicon chips) and WhirlpoolSweden AB. With its geographical locationNorrköping has become a natural site forlogistics and transportation. The E4 andE22 European Roads and the nationalroads to Örebro and Norrland cross here.The main railway line between Stockholmand Skåne also passes through the town.Norrköping also has one of the largestharbours in the country and its airport isthe third largest in Sweden for internatio-nal passenger travel. The municipality hassome 122 000 inhabitants.

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CONTACT:Jörgen Haslum, Norrköping municipalityTel: +46 11 15 13 16E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.norrkoping.se

Drags Prison on the left and the University on the right: Photo: Per Wichmann

The Strykjärnet Building at the Motala ri-ver. Photo: Per Wichmann

investments in up-grading the buildings and the outdoor environment.The new Louis De Geer Concert and Conference Centre opened in 1994in the converted factory buildings.

In the early 1990s a group of businessmen started the computer andknowledge centre ProNova, which has turned out to be a great success anduses the whole of Gryt’s factories. In the second half of the 1990s CampusNorrköping was added. Linköping University is now locating a major partof its expansion in the Industrial Landscape in Norrköping. The location isvery attractive as well as being central. The Campus brings new life to thetown centre and is an important component in the Norrköping of the future.

From the outset the major problem was how to be able to re-use all thelarge factory buildings. It can now be seen that this is possible and there arefar-reaching plans for the continued strong expansion of the university, busi-ness, culture and housing in the area. To make the unique environment moreaccessible new walkways (including one in an old water main) have beenprepared along the river. Most of the old buildings have now been up-graded,many with the assistance of architectural heritage expertise.

A step towards the sustainable townWith the re-use of the industrial landscape a unique cultural environmenthas been saved. Unused buildings and land can be brought into use. Theriver and its rapids can be re-claimed as an asset for the urban environment.The inner city is being given more life and is becoming more and more likethe dense, mixed-use European urban ideal. The arts, learning and enterprisecan inspire one another and create exciting meetings between different cultures.It is hoped that the attractive environment will attract the best students,researchers and entrepreneurs.

The new activities in the area will be readily accessible due to the centrallocation of the area. More jobs in the centre mean that many people canwalk, cycle or take public transport – leading to fewer car trips. For studenthousing the municipality has promised a maximum walking distance of sevenminutes to the Campus. After having been a forgotten and run-down back-yard, that Norrköping residents were ashamed of, over the past ten years theIndustrial Landscape has become a fascinating meeting place and adevelopment area that the municipality is proud of.

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OXELÖSUND MUNICIPALITYInfrastructure and urban development

View of the harbour. Photo: Bo Björklund.

Communication hubInfrastructure in Oxelösund is well developed and the town has a goodgeographical location. There are good road links to Nyköping, where thereare links to the E4 European Road and the southern main railway. Raillinks to both the north and the south are good, and after the expansion ofthe Götaland Railway the travelling time to Stockholm will be very short.The railway between Oxelösund and Bergslagen is an important asset forthe substantial goods traffic.

Oxelösund’s harbour is the only deep harbour on the east coast. It hasconsiderable capacity both for conventional cargo and for Ro/Ro traffic.The harbour has specialised in coal, ore and steel and has substantial storageareas and excellent rail and road links.

Population declineThe problem for Oxelösund is its falling population. The decline in recentyears is mainly due to a narrow economic base, large falls in employmentand a shortage of attractive housing.

Re-routing of motorwaySeveral projects are under way to resolve these problems. The number ofnew jobs is to increase in order to strengthen Oxelösund’s role as a trans-port and logistics centre. The harbour will be expanded to increase capa-city and satisfy the steel industry’s need for transport and also to promote

With its natural links to the sea the archi-pelago town of Oxelösund has a historydating back to the Viking Age. Old Oxelö-sund was long a pilot and fishing com-munity, but in the 20th century the towndeveloped into a modern industrial com-munity based on the iron industry andharbour operations. The municipality’scoastal location offers good potential foroutdoor recreation.

Manufacturing industry dominates thelocal economy strongly and employsabout half the economically active pop-ulation.There is a long tradition of ironworking in particular, with Swedish SteelAB as the predominant employer. Oxelö-sund Harbour AB is another large em-ployer. About 1 000 ships per week call inat the harbour and there are new develop-ments all the time. The next step beingplanned is a ferry link between Oxelösundand Klaipeda.

Oxelösund was granted a town char-ter in 1950 and recorded its peak popula-tion growth in the 1970s. Then the muni-cipality has 15 000 inhabitants, but sincethen there has been some decline and themunicipality now has some 11 000inhabitants.

In the heart of the town is St. BotvidsChurch, a very special church buildinginspired by the navigation marks along thecoast. The name comes from the patronsaint of Södermanland fishermen, St. Bot-vid, said to have been killed on the Söder-manland coast around the year 1100.

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CONTACT:Björn Johansson, Oxelösund municipalityTel: +46 155 381 20E mail: [email protected]

Hemsida: www.oxelosund.se

the tourist industry by providing new ferry services. The expansion of theharbour will be combined with a re-routing of the present motorway thatgoes though the town centre to the harbour.

Waterfront housing and expansion of the harbourMoving the motorway to the west makes it possible to expand, and increasethe density of, the town centre. Access to a new area of land providesopportunities to develop Oxelösund as an attractive community withwaterfront housing. The new traffic routes will make the harbour easilyaccessible at the same time as heavy transports will disappear from the towncentre.

Modern housing stockAlthough it needs to increase its attractiveness Oxelösund already has oneof the most modern housing stocks in the country. The urban settlement iscompact and distances are short. The street system is well developed and ofa high standard. In connection with planning for housing special measureshave been taken for pedestrian and cycle traffic. Today Oxelösund has acompletely separate network of pedestrian and cycle ways totalling 38.4km. It is easy to take the pedestrian and cycle ways to the centre withouthaving to use streets with motor traffic.

Improvements in the town centreGreen passages as filters for air and land-based pollution is a co-operativeproject run by local associations in Old Oxelösund, the municipality, Swe-dish Steel AB and Oxelösund Harbour. As part of its Agenda 21 work themunicipality wants to reinforce the hard-pressed green spaces in the town.These may be areas adjacent to the harbour, storage areas alongside heavypolluting industry and built-up areas as well as places in the town centre.The result is expected to be better air and increased access to attractive andvaluable areas.

Oxelösund Harbour is responsible for site preparation involving the rest-oration of areas used for the deposit of filling material and scrap, miningresidues and as temporary parking areas. Oxelösund Harbour expects towork in close co-operation with residents, the municipality and business.

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STRÄNGNÄS MUNICIPALITYPlanning and building along the Svealand railway

Small town character”The municipality will develop into a dynamic idyll offering both afunctioning local economy and housing close to Lake Mälaren”. The leadingidea of this vision is to develop the small town character that Strängnäsalready possesses but also to enhance the character of the small communitiesin the municipality. Housing, services and workplaces are to be integratedas far as possible. By altering the built environment and by increasing itsdensity a better balance will be established with the natural environmentand the landscape.

Restoring the urban patternAs the existing communication routes form the backbone of the municipal-ity it is important to develop locations with good accessibility for everyone.The re-routing of the Svealand Railway led to two new sites for stations,one of which is in a central location Strängnäs. This new station has releasedan attractive area in the centre and made infill development possible in theold track area. This creates the potential for new housing in central locationsthat can make use of existing services. As a result the re-routing of therailway will help to increase the attractiveness of Strängnäs.

Regional partnershipCo-operation between different actors is important for the realisation ofthe vision. Coalition for Sörmland is a broad partnership in the county thatworks for sustainable development and that is used to prepare regionalstrategies. Important areas at present are the creation of new jobs and thedevelopment of urban and housing environments. The second of these hasto do with quality development in the planning of new housing and thepresentation of good examples of land-use planning and architecture. Thiswork makes use of the Vision 2025 ideas competition on the future ofSörmland held by the county administrative board and the municipalities.The competition, held in 1996, helped to increase interest in urbandevelopment and architecture among local people.

Quality developmentLiving in Sörmland is another joint inspiration and quality developmentproject in the county intended to demonstrate the importance ofsafeguarding and making use of good settlement structures and Sörmland’sdistinctive environments. The project is about public transport, integratedurban functions and architectural design. Living in Sörmland is workingon the design of new town districts intended as models. The idea is to

Strängnäs was granted its town charter inthe 1280s, but was already mentioned asa cathedral city in 1120. In the Middle AgesSträngnäs was one of the most importanttowns in Sweden. It was here that GustavVasa was elected King on 6 June 1523,the origin of Sweden’s national day. As aresult of its strategic location Strängnäsbecame an important market and legaltown at an early stage.

The municipality is in the Mälar Valleyabout 45 minutes from central Stockholm.It has 30 000 inhabitants, 11 000 ofwhom live in the central town of Sträng-näs. The municipality has a highly diff-erentiated economy with a very largenumber of small businesses. It has advanc-ed enterprises like drugs companies, in-strument and electronics industry andconsultancy companies but also traditionalindustries. The largest private employersare Åkers International AB, Gist-Brocades(penicillin) and Hemglass i Sverige AB. Inthe public sector the National DefenceForces are the largest employer.

In a recent study ”The Small Town ofTomorrow” Strängnäs has been identifiedas one of 40 towns for the future inSweden. As a result of its location close toStockholm and its high educational levelSträngnäs was the town thought to havethe best potential for economic develop-ment.

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CONTACT:Magdalena Lindfeldt,Strängnäs municipalityTel: +46 152 293 36E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.strangnas.se

Photo: Strängnäs municipality

Photo: Strängnäs municipality

develop the local tradition on site, to create beautiful environments and touse ecological techniques and materials. The model is the garden city princip-les of moderate scale, gardens near housing, traditional street systems andlow rise development.

At present the municipality is working on two geographical areas in whichit intends to move on from vision to action. The areas have been selectedcarefully in the sense that the landowner and developer is directly involvedin planning and quality development. The idea in both areas is to createattractive environments rooted in the local cultural heritage but alsoreflecting current trends in architecture and planning. The objective is thatthese pilot projects will have qualities that will then enable them to be usedas models by other municipalities, developers, architects and planners.

One of the areas is called Brobyholm and is located alongside the RiverRåcksta at Åkers Gun Factory, a Europa Nostra award winner, and the newroad to Läggesta. The other area is called Marielund and is in MarielundBay between Åkers Gun Factory and the small town idyll of Mariefred,close to the approach road to Mariefred and within walking distance of thestation at Läggesta.

Nordic traditionsThe proposed development at Marielund builds on the body of experiencein Nordic traditions and consists of small blocks with narrow streets thatcontrast with the larger interiors of the blocks. An attempt to combine thecosy street spaces of the small town with the opportunities offered by coun-try life for cultivation and additional building. A design programme hasbeen drafted that uses the buildings in the area of cultural heritage interestas its starting point. Although the new buildings are simple, they will bemade attractive by drawing on the potential offered by the existing naturaland cultural environment.

Historic characterIn Brobyholm the project focuses on the community’s beautiful locationalongside the river. One important starting point for the project has beenthe history that has shaped the place through the industrial community ofÅkers Gun Factory. Together with the county administrative board and theNational Heritage Board the municipality has therefore placed Brobyholmin its historic context to generate understanding for the “soul of the place”thereby giving the area an identity. Inspiration for the new developmenthas been drawn from previous uses.

Architectural eventsDuring the Swedish Year of Architecture in 2001 events and manifestationsare planned about architectural values and their development in themunicipality. The aim is to generate public involvement for the futuredevelopment of the built environment and to highlight the importance ofcultural and historic roots and identity.

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UMEÅ MUNICIPALITYThe Norrbyskär example

Unique sawmill communityNorrbyskär is a group of islands about 40 km south of Umeå. These islandstell an interesting story about how a sawmill community was built up fromscratch in less than ten years only to disappear just as quickly, almost 60years later. The sawmill community was built on an American model as aunique model community of 22 buildings. In 1894 the first, carefullyselected sawmill workers and their families moved to Norrbyskär. The nextyear the sawmill was fully under way and it was to become the largestsawmill in Europe, with its peak in the 1920s. At that time 1 400 peoplelived on the island whith seethed with life and work.

Eventually this model community was also hit by rationalisations andcutbacks, and in 1952 closure was a fact. The sawmill era was over. De-population and out-migration from Norrbyskär increased, and in the mid1970s all public services were closed and the last sawmill families left theisland. Many industrial buildings and homes were demolished while otherswere sold as private leisure homes. Norrbyskär was forgotten and the flowof visitors shrank to a trickle.

Cultural heritage valuesThere are considerable cultural heritage and museum values on Norrby-skär. The remaining, unique buildings and cultural environment are largelyunaltered since the 1920s. These values must be preserved and protectedfrom future development. When MoDo planned to demolish the lastindustrial buildings in the mid 1980s the Norrbyskär YMCA (Young Men’sChristian Association) took action to stop the demolition. The Mo ÅngsågFoundation was formed in 1988 by Norrbyskär YMCA and its aims are to:• Protect and develop the cultural heritage values.• Build a museum about life and work in the sawmill community.• Save and renovate the Steam Engine Building and other cultural remains.

Camp schools and coursesNorrbyskär YMCA is a non-profit organisation that has been running sum-mer camp activities on the island since 1953. In the 1980s camp schoolswere added to these activities and today the organisation runs operationsconsisting of some 15 buildings with a total of 140 beds and a wide rangeof cultural activities. These are mainly aimed at children and young people,but courses, conferences and activity days are also organized for adult groupsand companies.

Although Umeå is mentioned in recordsfrom the 14th Century it was not until1588 that King Johan III granted the towna charter. The King’s aim was to gain bet-ter control of the Sami lands and toorganize trade in the north. Umeå is themost populous municipality in northernSweden with just over 103 000 inhab-itants, 67 000 of whom live in the centraltown. Umeå’s population is relativelyyoung, and it is growing strongly.

It is typical of the local economy thatmany of the most successful companiesare small or medium-sized. These includeVolvo Trucks with one of the world’s mostadvanced plants for cab production. Thereare also expansive companies in bio-technology, medicine, information techno-logy, environment and energy like AstraHässle, Bionative and other rapidly grow-ing companies specialising in computergames and pop music. Several of thesecompanies are the result of co-operationbetween research and business,

Since Umeå University was inauguratedin 1965 Umeå’s population has doubled.The University and the Design, Art and Bu-siness Schools offer their 24 000 studentsprogrammes in all education sectors. TheSwedish University of Agricultural Sciencesis also represented in Umeå.

Umeå is multicultural and hosts inter-national events including the Umeå FilmFestival, the Umeå Jazz Festival, and theUmeå International Chamber Music Festi-val. The town also hosts the NorrlandOpera, the Umeå Symphony Orchestra andinnovative pop music.

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CONTACT:Björn Halling, Umeå YMCATel: +46 90 12 37 00E mail:[email protected]

Home page: www.norrbyskar.se

Norrbyskär. Photo: Staffan Norstedt.

New investmentsNorrbyskär, which was an industrial community only a few decades ago, isnow an idyllic summer island with some 40 000 visitors every year. Theaim of the investments now being made is to increase the number of visitorsto 60 000 per season. The investments include renovation of quays, newhistorical information signs, a basic exhibition and an educational lands-cape on the scale of 1:3 known as ”Little Norrbyskär”.

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HAPARANDA MUNICIPALITYOn the border – Rajalla development plan

CONTACT:Håkan Sundqvist, Haparandamunicipality Tel: +46 922 156 03E mail:[email protected]

Home page: www.haparanda.se

Cross-border co-operationOn the border between Sweden and Finland the two communities ofHaparanda and Tornio have formed a border-free Swedish-Finnish union.This cross-border co-operation has developed and deepened increasinglysince the mid 1980s. In 1987 the co-operative organisation ProvinciaBothniensis was formed with the aim of, developing, expanding andenhancing co-operation between the towns. Today this co-operation extendsacross almost every area of local government activity; the towns have joinedup their district heating systems, they have a joint sewage treatment works,joint investments in rescue services, a joint comprehensive school andlanguage school and a common upper secondary school programme (theEuro upper secondary school).

When Sweden and Finland entered the European Union this co-opera-tion was given additional impetus and in the spring of 1995 Haparandaand Tornio proclaimed themselves to be a new common town, Eurocity,with 35 000 inhabitants and 2 000 businesses. Cross-border co-operationis now focussed on joining up the physical fabric and the activities of thetwo sister towns.

Cross-border town planningOn the border – Rajalla is about town planning across the national borderbetween Sweden and Finland. The Northern region of the Swedish RoadAdministration and the Finnish Lapland Road District are taking part inthis project. Their co-operation has given the two towns a uniquedevelopment potential. The aim is to join up the towns into a functioningunit that safeguards and develops their common resources for long-termeconomic and social development. The project is intended to raise awarenessof the two towns and to develop the region into a European centre.

Cross-border planning cultureThe Toma Project is aimed at producing a new land-use plan for the TorneValley. The plan involves opportunities for co-operation in land-useplanning, contacts and networks, common visions, ideas and knowledgeabout the municipalities’ planning systems and planning contexts, etc.

This is a pilot project to develop cross-border regional developmentplanning. The project has a European perspective and is being carried outin co-operation between Haparanda and Tornio, the Lapland Land SurveyBureau and the LINFO centre, a regional co-operation body in Norrbot-ten county for the development and co-ordination of geographical infor-mation technology. The aim is to create an effective strategic and controlinstrument for sustainable development and a document for growth,competitiveness and employment. The plan will form the foundation forthe municipalities’ comprehensive plans.

Haparanda municipality is on the Finnishborder in Norrbotten county. Haparandawas previously known as Karl Johan Townbut was given its present name when itwas granted a town charter in 1842. TheTorne River, which marks the border bet-ween Sweden and Finland, flows throughthe municipality. Haparanda and Tornio onthe Finnish side have become sister townsand the border between them issometimes called “the most peaceful na-tional border in the world”. A sense ofclose companionship has been retainedfor decades as a result of the good com-munications and border trade.

Haparanda municipality has 10 500 in-habitants, 7 000 of whom live in the cen-tral town. Haparanda, which was grantedits town charter in 1842, has a long tradingtradition. It has long had border trade thatis still of great importance for the localeconomy. In recent years Haparanda hasdeveloped into an interesting meetingplace in northern Europe close to Finlandand northwest Russia. In addition, Hapa-randa has a harbour with substantial capa-city for year-round traffic. The region hasseveral other harbours, on both the Swe-dish and the Finnish sides of the border.Air traffic is another important transportsystem, not least for business. The muni-cipality has a modern airport less than 20minutes by car from Haparanda – theKemi/Torneå Airport on the Finnish sideof the border.

The good access to industrial land andpremises and to a young and well-educatedworkforce has attracted many newcompanies to the municipality. The largestinclude ASSI och Norrfrys AB. Smallerengineering companies and the graphicsindustry are also represented in themunicipality, as are newly started ITcompanies like Digidoc and Telenordia.

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CONTACT:Heikki Pirilä, Tornio municipalityTel: + 358 16 432 506E-post: [email protected]

Home page:www.tornio.fi

AND THE TOWN OF TORNIO

The Bothnian ArchThe Bothnian Arch is a coastal area that stretches from Brahestad to Piteå.It is a densely populated area with some 470 000 inhabitants. The BothnianArch is also the name of an EU Interreg IIc project expected to run from1999 to 2001. The project is divided into three subprojects: Vision andstrategy, Communications and tourism and Environment. The participantsin the project are the coastal municipalities in Sweden and Finland, thecounty administrative board and the Finnish regional councils affected.Other partners are Lybäck in Finland, Murmansk and the Karelian regionin Russia.

The aim is to use regional planning to create a common vision of thefuture of the region and a development strategy to strengthen the civic lifeand economy of the Bothnian Arch. Issues include the correct use of landand water resources and the safeguarding of the cultural heritage and natu-ral resources. The project is also intended to stimulate better co-operationto make the regional economy more diverse and competitive. Active co-operation is intended to strengthen the competitiveness needed to attractother actors to locate in the Bothnian Arch. Another purpose is to identifythe position of the region in the EU and to establish the concept of theBothnian Arch. The project includes a study of conditions for the forma-tion of a Euroregion.

Communications projectThe North Bothnian Railway is a new railway planned between Umeå andHaparanda. The route, which is some 400 km long, consists both of newtrack and of the up-grading of existing rail sections. The project is a majorcommunity development project one result of which may be a durablecommon labour market.

Tornio and Haparanda share a long his-tory. In the Middle Ages Tornio was oneof the most famous market places in theNorth Calotte region. The town wasfounded in 1621 and grew rapidly into acommercial town with a strategic locat-ions as the “Gateway to Lapland”, andfor centuries trade from Lapland has pas-sed through the town to world markets.Commerce is still important and theharbour is expanding all the time. At pre-sent the construction of a container har-bour in the Tornio/Kemi area is being dis-cussed. Today the regional airport has allthe facilities needed for international airtraffic.

Tornio has some 23 000 inhabitants,most of whom work in the manufacturingand service industries. The largest em-ployer is the Outkumpu Steelworks, whichhas 1 900 employees at present. In thenext five years the company is going todouble production, and this requires aninvestment of SEK 5 000 million. LapinKulta is the second largest brewery inScandinavia and employs some 200people. The tourist industry is beingdeveloped in co-operation with Haparan-da and other municipalities in the TorneValley. This work builds on existing assetslike the archipelago, the river valley, thegeographical location and the culturalenviroinment. Tornio has a good reputa-tion as a cultural city, but has long beenbest known as an important educationalcity.

The aim is to join up Haparanda and Tor-nio. Photomontage: Haparanda muni-cipality and the town of Tornio.

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KIRUNA MUNICIPALITYSustainable development in Kiruna municipality

The first settlementMining is not the kind of activity that can be associated with sustainabledevelopment. However, the new community to be built up in the earlyyears of the 20th century on a completely undeveloped mountain aroundthe mine operations was planned as a model community. There was to bea town plan adapted to the local climate and terrain and with good housingfor workers and their families. It was not to be a shantytown, that kind oftown developed readily at that time at newly opened mines. The specialgeographical conditions so far north of the Pole Circle had also to be tack-led. Skilled architects were used for planning and housing construction. Atramline was laid out for the transport of workers from their homes to themine area.

Concern for the town and its inhabitantsThe settlement structure that then began to take shape, has proved capableof standing up to the continued development of the community. Aconservation plan was adopted in 1984 to guarantee the conservation ofthe old housing areas, several newer buildings and the original climate-adapted town plan from 1900. These values are now of national interestfor cultural heritage.

In a supplement to the comprehensive plan dealing with the centraltown of Kiruna, adopted in 1994, these ideas have been adapted to fit themuch larger urban area that has developed since 1900. This structure, witha compact town set in the landscape, favours sustainable development.The siting on a low mountain slope gives the central town a milder climatein the winter than the surrounding low-lying swamp areas and river valleys.Trips out into open countryside are shorter, as are distances in the town.

The pedestrian and cycle system has been expanded and kick-sled pathsand parking areas have been provided. One ambition, according to thesupplement to the comprehensive plan, is that the separate town districtsshould function independently by having simple local services and schoolsand that activities that cause disturbances should not be permitted in thehousing areas. The design of the buildings to take account of low insola-tion and snow and wind conditions is also dealt with.

Kiruna town centre has been altered to cut traffic to a quarter, resultingin significant reductions in air pollution. The one-way system introduced,leading traffic downhill, has also contributed to the reduction in air pollu-tion. Cars are not completely prohibited on narrower streets, but pedestrianshave been given more space.

Pedestrians have priority in town planning and small open spaces shelteredfrom the wind have been provided, for example. The idea is to make use ofall the opportunities provided by the different seasons, as envisaged in the

When mining in the area was to start inthe early 20th century the town of Kirunawas built on completely undeveloped land.Hjalmar Lundbohm, who was managingdirector of the mine, wanted to make Ki-runa into a model community and he usedthe foremost architects in the country in amajor community development project. In1908 the decision was taken to form anurban district, and in 1948 the wholecommunity was granted a town charterunder the name of Kiruna.

Kiruna is also a young town in terms ofthe population’s age. The median age is39.4 while the corresponding figure forthe whole of Sweden is 40.2. There are25 000 inhabitants, 20 000 of whom livein the central town of Kiruna. The muni-cipality is the largest in area and the north-ernmost in Sweden. Despite its peripherallocation communications are good. Therailway is the artery of the ore industry withits ice-free harbour in Narvik as an import-ant asset. Other transport needs are metby the E10 European Road and by airtraffic.

Mining is still the basis of the wholemunicipality’s existence. In recent decades,however, intensive efforts have been madeto reduce the one-sided dependence oniron ore. Apart from LKAB other largecompanies in Kiruna include Mekan Indu-stri, Satellus, Sema Group, Metria andRadiotjänst. Kiruna has long been of inte-rest to environmental and space research,and the first natural sciences research sta-tion was built in the Kiruna Mountains in1903. The municipality now has one ofthe world’s largest space research organi-sations, the European Space Agency (ESA),Tarfala glacier research station, the Swe-dish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) and theSwedish Space Corporation with its Es-range rocket and balloon base. CampusKiruna with a space and environmentuniversity will also open in early 2001.

Tourism is another important industry.Kiruna has a magnificent landscape withpopular tourist destinations like Kebne-kaise, the Riksgränsen border settlement,Abisko and the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi.Reindeer husbandry is still one way of ma-king a living. These industries are some-times combined with hunting and fishing.Kirina also has a distinct multiculturalcharacter. Sami culture mixes here with theagrarian culture of the Torne Valley.

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CONTACT:Anita Skans, Kiruna municipalityTel: +46 980 70 407E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.kiruna.se

original climate-adapted plan. The idea of glassing inthe centre has therefore been dismissed up to now. Insteaddiscussions are in progress on how to use snow for playand other activities and on the design of sculptures thatwork in both the winter and the summer. The lightingof the town for the dark period is also important. Theaim is to retain as much as possible of the town centre’sattractiveness compared with the peripheral centrealongside the future route of the E10 European Road.

Another measure that has helped to reduce air pollu-tion in Kiruna is that a large part of the buildings in thetown now have district heating. On cold days in thewinter columns of smoke used to be seen rising over thetown from every building. Now all that is seen are thetwo smoke columns rising from the district heating plant.

The town’s surroundingsThe town’s contact with the magnificent landscape isimportant for people’s well-being. One ambition is thatpeople should not have to take the car to get out into thecountry. Footpaths lead from the housing areas out tolarge, continuous recreation areas. Illuminated tracks thatmake exercise possible in the darkest part of the year areprovided on all points of the compass. Snowmobile trackshave been provided around the town in places where they do not disturbskiers or the reindeer industry. A reindeer trail has been included in a detai-led development plan to ensure the survival of the reindeer industry.Exhausted mine areas are being re-used as recreation areas (a golf course,slalom slopes, etc), for small businesses and for wind turbines. There areplans to move the E10 European Road, which now passes through thetown, outside housing areas but to keep a central route for the road byproviding over- and underpasses for pedestrian and cycle traffic.

The remainder of the municipalityThe municipality-wide comprehensive plan deals with the value of largeuntouched areas. Much effort has been devoted to finding alternatives tothe cyclically sensitive mining industry, which is going decline in the longterm. In this context the large untouched areas and Kiruna’s geographicallocation are an asset for the development of the reindeer industry, research,space activities, tourism and local residents’ own outdoor recreation.

A separate snowmobile track plan was adopted in 1996 and constructionis under way at present. Channelling snowmobile traffic generated by bothtourists and residents is essential to protect the countryside. The Environ-mental Code prohibits the use of any of the rivers in the municipality forhydropower. The development of wind power will therefore be consideredin the coming review of the comprehensive plan. There are several suitableareas for wind power development in Kiruna.

Adaptation to the climate is an importantstarting point for planning in Kiruna.Climate-adapted planning deals withissues like benefiting from the potentialand values of the different seasons. It canalso include the creation of sunny outdoorplaces sheltered from the wind. Photo:Anita Skans.

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OVANÅKER MUNICIPALITYComprehensive planning and then what . . .?

Early start to the processComprehensive Plan 2000 for Ovanåker municipality was a long-term projectthat took three years to complete. The municipality’s first comprehensiveplan was published in 1990 and much of it is still relevant. Making anearly start on Comprehensive Plan 2000 gave plenty of time to develop keyissues in project form, alongside the planning process.

Environmental considerations, ecocyles andresource managementThe main thread running through the work consists of more attention tothe environment, ecocycle thinking and resource management. Other issuesdealt with are appropriate and sustainable settlement structures, caring forand developing natural and cultural environments and increasing citizeninfluence.

Advantage OvanåkerThe renewal project Advantage Ovanåker is an important step in shapingthe municipality’s objectives and strategies for future development. Themain aim is to stem the loss of population and increase the proportion ofwomen and young people by making the municipality more attractive. Amore differentiated economic base is to strengthen the labour market andimprove weak municipal finances. By providing well-developed commun-ications, attractive housing environments and a better range of culture andleisure activities the municipality intends to turn round developments fora positive future.

Given the changes made to legislation, it is the comprehensive plan thatcontains the municipality’s guidelines for its future activities. The emphasisin the plan is on managing and developing natural resources in the form ofuntouched nature, focussing on the Voxnan River. The open agriculturaland cultural landscape is to be conserved and built environments of natio-nal interest are to be highlighted. The plan stresses that nature conservationvalues are to be taken into account when natural resources are used.

Agenda 21 integrated in the documentThe municipality’s Agenda 21 document is part of the basis for thecomprehensive plan. Questions concerning resource management, environ-mental considerations and ecocycle thinking have permeated the entireplan and are not confined to a separate section.

Cultural environment projectAlongside work on the comprehensive plan Ovanåker municipality hasbeen running a culture environment project that achieves a number of

Ovanåker municipality is in southernHälsningland. The Voxnan River, the best-preserved river south of Lapland, runsthrough the municipality. The area is clas-sed as of national interest for nature con-servancy, and it offers a unique and fan-tastic wilderness with much to see andexperience. The undulating landscapecontains a rich selection of well-preservedfarmers’ manor houses, which are largebuildings with magnificent entrances andporches as well as beautiful murals. Thesehave become something of a special fea-ture of the Voxnan Valley.

The municipality has some 13 000inhabitants, 7 000 of whom live in thecentral town, Edsbyn. Population is fallingevery year, but the rate of out-migrationhas decreased significantly. The muni-cipality’s aim is to increase the level ofeducation through the upper secondaryschool, adult education and co-operationwith the University of Gävle/Sandviken.Apart from the urban communities ofEdsbyn and Alfta the municipality has avery rural character, and 80 per cent of itsland area consists of forest.

By tradition Ovanåker is a municipalitywhose local economy has long beendominated by forestry, wood processingand the engineering industry. Nefab,Edsbyverken, SP Fönster, Alfta Rehab Cen-ter and CC Systems are the largest comp-anies in the municipality today.

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CONTACT:Arne Stenberg, Ovanåker municipalityTel: +46 271 570 39E-post: [email protected]

Hemsida: www.ovanaker.se

Cover illustration for the municipality’scomprehensive plan. Photo: Ovanåkermunicipality.

aims. Several built environments of national interest in the municipality havebeen inventoried and documented. Property-owners have been inspired totake well-adapted maintenance measures. The cultural landscape and itsbuildings are being highlighted and made visible in various contexts. As thefirst municipality in the country, Ovanåker has entered the entire text andpicture material (almost 2 000 buildings) in the building register of the Na-tional Heritage Board. The overwhelming part of the documentation will beavailable to the public via the home page of the National Heritage Board.

Theme meetings, village organisations ochinformation newspaperOne effort in work on the comprehensive plan has been to increase publicparticipation. This has been done by arranging theme meetings on topicalsubjects at which themes like built environment, culture, tourism, leisure,fishing and nature have been discussed. Active village organisations andthe municipality’s information newspaper have been other channels forconsultations.

Continuing workThe guidelines and action alternatives presented in the Comprehensive Plan2000 will guide the municipality’s future activities. Work will continuewith a nature conservancy inventory, additional studies to deepen thecomprehensive plan and special area regulations under the Planning andBuilding Act for built environments of national interest.

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KARLSKRONA MUNICIPALITYkarlskrona.se – our comprehensive plan

The Europolitan office building. Photo: Joakim Johansson.

Karlskrona’s regional importance and functionKarlskrona was founded as the main base of the Swedish navy in 1680 andis the capital of Blekinge county. In the mid 1980s the city’s economy wasin crisis and a succession of businesses closed. The military was in declineand the shipyard was also in crisis. The turning point came in the late1980s when the municipality focussed on knowledge-based companies,including Europolitan and Ericsson Software Technology. The new regio-nal university was also given an IT profile. The university has establishedintimate co-operation with business and many of the students are workingin projects in local companies.

On 10 August 2000 Karlskrona municipality received its World Heri-tage nomination from UNESCO, thereby achieving international statusand attention with the new development opportunities this offers. Thisevent can be said to constitute a gateway between the military significanceand growth of the historic town and the emergence of the town of thefuture.

By long-term efforts over recent decades the municipality has built up anew platform for education, business, tourism and communications toreplace the industrial base now in decline.

Today Karlskrona is one of the few regions in Sweden to enjoy positiveand durable employment growth in future-oriented branches. This createsnew needs to plan central areas for urban development while safeguardingthe qualities of the town.

Karlskrona is a modern IT town with anhistoric heritage still to be seen every-where. Ever since the city was founded in1680 by King Karl XI – with the intentionof making it the new military capital –baroque buildings, churches, military mes-ses, wooden buildings and the importantnaval port have combined to form aunique environment. The very well preser-ved 17th and 18th century environmentsof the naval port are unique in the worldas Sweden has had a long period of peace,and Karlskrona has been selected as theninth Swedish site on the UNESCO WorldHeritage List. The town itself is built on 33islands and lies in the heart of the Blekingearchipelago.

There is broad support among the61 000 inhabitants of Karlskrona muni-cipality for increased co-operation with theBaltic countries. The Baltic Trade Center isa network that works for growth throughinternational business and commerce withthe Baltic countries.

For several centuries Karlskrona was acentre for Sweden’s investments in arma-ments for war and defence. The KarlskronaNaval Shipyard was Sweden’s largestindustry at the end of the 18th centuryand was the dominant workplace in themunicipality well in to the 20th century.After the Second World War other largecompanies located in the municipality,including Ericsson (telephones andswitchboards), Dynapac (road-makingmachines), Uddcomb (nuclear powerequipment) and Luma (light bulbs andfluorescent lamps). The late 1980s andearly 1990s saw further differentiation andrenewal of the labour market. Nationalgovernment activities like the NationalBoard of Housing, Building and Planningand the Swedish Coast Guard were locatedin Karlskrona, as were new industries likeÅkermans and ABB.

In the 1990s a growth network – Tele-comCity – was created to increase growthopportunities in the rapidly growingtelecom industry. The telecom industry isvery knowledge-intensive and needs ahighly trained workforce to be able togrow. The municipality has thereforeinvested strongly in higher educationmainly in the IT field.

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CONTACT:Claes-Åke Kindlund,Karlskrona municipalityTel: +46 455 30 31 02E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.karlskrona.se

Since the 17th century military activitieshave been of very great importance forKarlskrona. Today education, tourism andbusinesses of the future like telecommun-ications are important industries. Photo:Joakim Johansson.

Specialized futureSweden needs specialised regions as a base for the knowledge-based companies of the new age. Together business andknowledge environments create a breeding ground for newbusiness ideas that are viable in global competition. Theenvironments that attract and can retain globally compet-itive competence and which have a well-developed capabilityfor interaction will be the winners. These insights are one ofthe cornerstones of Karlskrona’s future:• The attractive living environment.• The growing economy.• The best knowledge.• The open attitude.

Drafting the new comprehensive planAs a result of Karlskrona municipality’s work on a new comprehensive planthe municipality initiated along with the Urban Environment Council ofthe National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, Blekinge TechnicalUniversity, the County Antiquarian and Blekinge Museum a joint series ofseminars on strategic issues and objectives for a new comprehensive plan.The main questions in the comprehensive plan “karlskrona.se” deal withthe care of the World Heritage, halving resource use, doubling quality oflife, regional development and implementation issues.

Basic principlesThe comprehensive plan is to focus on the planning of the urban fabric andthe town centre, themes which are to be seen as supplements to themunicipality-wide plan. This focus contrasts with the previous comprehens-ive plan, which devoted much space to rural issues and the planning problemsof smaller communities. In these areas ”karlskrona.se” will work with policiesinstead of guidelines for individual areas.

Particular attention will be given to large development areas that cancomplement the town in the future. This applies to both the oil harbourand the Pottholmen island. In every instance planning has links, strong orweak, to the development of the World Heritage Site, and this gives thiswork a special dimension.

Development planIn the 1990s the municipality has focussed on three development areas forfuture employment. These are Telecom City, the Meeting Place of the Balticand Destination Karlskrona.

So far Telecom City has been most successful of these and is creating, inits own area alone, 500 jobs every year. This is why it is natural thatdevelopments in the telecommunications industry form the starting pointfor the municipality’s plans.

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SOLLENTUNA MUNICIPALITYSilverdal – a sustainable urban district

The vision that Sollentuna builds its work on is that the municipality is tobe a place where people like to live and work – people should be able bothto work and to enjoy satisfying leisure in the municipality. High qualityhousing should make every town district attractive and give it a characterof its own. People’s feelings for the district and its cultural heritage shouldbe strengthened.

Garden cityThe central ideas in work on sustainable development in the town districtof Silverdal, or Silver Valley, are to create a living social environment. Thisis to be done by mixing workplaces and housing but also by adapting thedistrict to the cultural values of the area and to its green wedges. The inten-tion is to build the district around a central park, to provide appealingopen spaces in the streets and squares and to build on a moderate scale inline with garden city principles.

Environment and resource managementEnvironment and resource management are other important starting pointsfor sustainable development in Silverdal. The municipality’s intention is toadapt the district to ecocyles, for example by promoting far-reaching resourcemanagement and planning for limited car use and good public transport.

ParticipationSollentuna municipality is keen for local people to participate in the pro-cess of change. This contributes to understanding and a sense of communitybut also helps raise interest and involvement in municipal activities. Themunicipality’s objectives and visions are important instruments in this con-text. The information policy produced by the municipality is an aid to thedemocratic process. The policy says that information shall be providedbefore, during and after the political decision process in matters ofimportance.

Sollentuna’s comprehensive plan identifies four important perspectivesfor a sustainable community. Work on the renewal of the Silverdal districthas been based on these perspectives.

Social sustainability• All people have to be needed and to have a meaningful task.• Integration of people with different backgrounds and life situations

should be assisted.• People should have a sense of belonging and feel secure and they should

be able to meet and mix with one another.• The local environment should promote physical and mental health.

Sollentuna municipality is in the provinceof Uppland and the Stockholm region. Itconsists of an undulating rift valley lands-cape with pine-forest covered heights andcultivated clay plains or lakes in hollows.The northwest part consists of the pro-tected environment of the Järva area withits valuable nature and recreation values.The many ancient remains show thatpeople have settled, cultivated land andtraded here for more than 1 000 years.There are visible examples of early culturessuch as grave-fields, ancient castles, moundsof stones and rune stones. Among theglories of Sollentuna are the always-topicalSollentuna Exhibition Centre and the tra-dition-rich environments of Edsberg Castleand Bergendal Manor. The area has a longhistorical tradition.

With its location just north of Stock-holm it only takes a quarter of an hour bylocal train to travel from Sollentuna Cen-tre to the heart of the capital. This prox-imity to Stockholm has contributed to aconstant population growth since the early1980s. At present the municipality hassome 53 000 inhabitants. The municipal-ity is small in area and almost the wholepopulation lives in the built-up areas.

Solluntuna’s location in the Stockholmarea has also influenced the local economyand the considerable amount of in- andout-commuting. Public administration andservice companies dominate the economy.

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CONTACT:Erik Barkman, Sollentuna municipalityTel: +46 8 57 92 16 29E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.sollentuna.se

Ecological sustainability• Finite resources should be re-used or conserved.• Substances that are foreign or harmful to nature and people must not be

spread.• Bio-diversity must be conserved.• Resource turnover should be effective and be regarded as fair.

Economic sustainability• The local economy should be differentiated.• International contacts and exchanges should be sought.• There should be full employment, i.e. everyone should be able to earn

their living.

Organisational sustainability• It must be possible for everyone to take part in decision processes in the

community.• Local influence, responsibility and empowerment must be possible.• Exchanges of experience and new thinking should be stimulated and

made possible.• The community should be accessible to everyone.

ImplementationThe plans for Silverdal are far advanced and will be realised in the nearfuture. In all the area will accommodate some 1 000 dwellings and premisestotalling 100 000 m2 in a science park. The park will have a strongenvironmental profile in the niches of Environment/IT and Environment/Buildings. A special organisation is now being built up to support theestablishment and development of business in the district. The whole di-strict is to be an attractive place for people to live and work in.

Sketch of a block in the Silverdal urban district. Important starting points in theplanning of Silverdal have included garden city principles, the integration ofworkplaces and housing, ecocycle adaptation and good public transport provision.Illustration: Kjell Forshed

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VARBERG MUNICIPALITYComprehensive planning for sustainable development

A regional perspectiveThe overall aim of the muni-cipality’s work on its Comprehens-ive Plan 2000 is sustainable de-velopment with good localenvironments, good educationalopportunities and better com-munications. The town of Var-berg is to be the municipality’shub providing considerable com-mercial and public services andcomplemented by five high-stan-dard service communities. Thisstarting point places the muni-cipality in a regional perspective,chiefly in the areas of economicdevelopment, employment andstudies.

Sea contact and integrationAs the town centre is close to water, planning is to highlight this and ensurethat most people are within a reasonable distance of the sea. Housing andother uses are to be integrated as far as possible. There are plans to place therailway in a tunnel and older harbour areas will gradually be made accessible.When that happens new blocks for housing, commerce, studies and otheruses will be developed in the centre of town. The natural meeting-place isto be the town centre, with a travel centre in a central location to enhancethis function.

Urban environment programmeThe structure of the town is based both on the small-scale renaissancegridiron plan from Sweden’s period as a Great Power in the 17th centuryand on a 19th century grid with avenues. A programme has been drafted tobring out the architectural, cultural, historical and urban qualities of theinner city. The programme shows how the town can be developed andchanged without its soul being lost.

Green corridorsThe Comprehensive Plan 2000 is to highlight the importance of the greenstructure for the town. Priority will be given to green corridors in the ur-ban environment that lead out into the countryside and outside the towna green “ring zone” will be created.

In Varberg you can almost hear the wingsof history. Memories of times past can beidentified in the form of ancient remains,stone age settlements, stone circles,mounds of stones, and the impressive sym-bol of the old Danish town – the fortresswith its origins in the 1280s. This forti-fication, which was once an importantsupport point in Nordic politics, now hous-es the county museum, whose attractionsinclude old dungeons, the well-preservedBocksten man and the ”button bullet”said to be the bullet that killed King KarlXII.

Varberg begins where the waters of theKattegatt reach land and then stretchesfor 60 km along the coast of Hallandcounty. The municipality is bordered withbathing coves and long sandy beaches thatform an open coastal landscape. Thecoastal zone is densely populated, whilethe inland forest tracts are more sparselypopulated. The municipality has some52 000 inhabitants, but in the tourist sea-son the number is much larger. The towncentre is characterized by the small-scalegridiron plan from the 17th century. Therest of the settlement consists mainly ofprivate houses and small areas of blocksof flats with plenty of greenery betweenthe buildings.

Varberg has old traditions as a spa townand the buildings from this period can stillbe seen. At the beginning of the 19thcentury people from the upper classescame here to take the healthy spring water.King Oscar II, Gustaf Fröding and Vernervon Heidenstam frequently visited thetown to take cures like seaweed baths. Thetourist industry is of great importance tothe town throughout the year.

Conditions for business in the town areexcellent, and its location in the middle ofthe west coast is ideal. There are a largenumber of companies in many differenteconomic sectors. Vattenfall AB Ringhals,Södra Cell AB Värö Bruk and Monark Cres-cent AB are among the large companieslocated in the municipality. The servicesector is expanding rapidly. Transport pro-vision for cars, rail and boat are very good.For example, there is a ferry link with Grenåin Denmark.

The Town Centre

Legend:Ëxisting settlementProposed settlementExisting industry/commerceProposed industry/commerceRailway

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CONTACT:Göran Johansson, Varberg municipalityTel: +46 340 881 81E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.varberg.se

Development potential of the town centreAccording to the plan commercial development will be located, as far aspossible, in the town centre and be given sufficient scope there to expandand to promote good competition. At the same time as the plan indicatessuitable locations for supplementary retail development in the town centre,it also points to suitable locations for convenience stores in urban districts.The town centre is also to provide development opportunities for publicand commercial service, culture provision and housing. The town and otherurban areas are to be given good conditions for an effective main networkof public transport by establishing continuous separated routes within thetown and between the five service areas and the town. Pedestrian and cycletraffic are to be given priority and provision for these transport modes is tobe improved between the urban districts and the town centre.

Central travel centreThe hub for rail and bus travel will be a travel centre, for both trips in themunicipality and regional public transport, placed in a central location.The harbour and the ferry link to Denmark are important, mainly for localbusiness, and will therefore continue to be given good developmentopportunities. The interplay between various public investments, urbanstructure and settlement development is closely linked to the accessibilityof public transport and the travel centre. To achieve the municipality’sobjective – a sustainable local environment – a good interplay is needed intime and space between various public investments. In this context the up-grading of the West Coast Railway to a double track is of considerableimportance, both for commuting to and from Göteborg and other nearbycentres and for longer trips. An up-grading to a double track in the townhas been studied and the solution proposed is a tunnel under the town.This will make it possible to retain the central location of the station whilemeeting environmental criteria in a reasonable way. The location questionwas considered in the comprehensive plan through an in-depth study ofthe urban area.

When the ferry traffic is moved, land areas will be released for the development ofother uses: education buildings, offices, commerce, housing, etc. Photo: Sven-ErikPeterson. Montage: Town Planning Department.

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VALLENTUNA MUNICIPALITYThe comprehensive plan – a tool for sustainable development

Building support and acceptanceIn Vallentuna work is in progress on a new comprehensive plan. The planis intended to be an instrument for sustainable development. To achievethis, objectives and guidelines have been integrated in all the planningwork. To be effective the instrument has to have the acceptance and sup-port both of the municipal organisation and of inhabitants.

Specific objectivesThe objectives set up for sutainable development must be comprehensibleand useful to both official and citizens. National objectives must thereforebe translated into regional ones to provide starting points for local objectivesor guidelines in the municipality’s comprehensive plan. This workingmethod can be illustrated using the national environmental quality objective”A good built environment”. It has been broken down into regionalobjectives and corresponding local guidelines in Vallentuna’s comprehensiveplan.

Vallentuna is in a well preserved but vitalcultural landscape in the Stockholm regionthat is characterised by agriculture andstock breeding over several thousandyears. The municipality still has the distinctfeel of a farming community. The districtis very rich in ancient remains. It is amongthe municipalities in Sweden with mostrune stones and has 165 known rune in-scriptions.

Settlement in the urban communitieshas grown up relatively slowly, mainly sincethe 1950s, which means that their ”annualrings” are clearly seen. The built environ-ment is on a small scale with medium dens-ity and lots of greenery. Most housing isprivate houses and no buildings are morethan four storeys in height.

The municipality has an area of 360km2, making it about twice the size of theCity of Stockholm. Vallentuna municipal-ity adjoins Sigtuna and Norrtälje to thenorth, Upplands Väsby to the west, Täbyto the south and Österåker to the east.Vallentuna’s location some 25 km northof central Stockholm, has contributed toconstant population growth since the1960s. The municipality has a relativelyyoung population. It has 25 000 inhabit-ants, some 18 000 of whom live in thecentral town of Vallentuna. The other ur-ban communities in the municipality areLindholmen, Karby/Brottby and Kårsta/Ekskogen. The proximity to Stockholm hasalso shaped the local economy, which isdominated by services and commerce andconsiderable out-commuting.

Plans in readiness for different types of areasVallentuna’s comprehensive plan gives special attention to the question ofwhat areas can be used for additional settlement development taking intoaccount sustainability and the use of existing infrastructure. But the planalso describes how the municipality will deal with transition areas and howto support economic development through better preparedness in planning.

There are relatively few jobs in the municipality. Existing business willtherefore be safeguarded and supported. The intention is to breathe morelife into the towns and communities in the municipality at the same timeas work trips can be shortened. To counter functional separation in towns

15 Swedish environmental quality objectivesNo 11. A good built environment

Regional environmental objectivesA good built environment requires all new building

development and infill in existing development to be plannedso that nearby green areas remain readily accessible and retain

their function for recreation and health.

Local guidelinesPark near housing, at least some 50m2 per inhabitant.

Local green space within 300 mLocal green space linked to areas for country walks

Green corridors between green spaces.

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CONTACT:Kristina Berglund,Vallentuna municipalityTel: +46 8 58 75 81 11E mail:[email protected]

Home page: www.vallentuna.se

detailed development plans permit the establishment of businesses inhousing areas. By specifying conditions for different types of businessestheir needs can be met at the same time as work areas are given a satisfactorylocation in relation to environmental and other criteria.

Active processAn active process with many participants is needed to make thecomprehensive plan an effective instrument for sustainable development.The process is actually more important than the final outcome, as the aimis to make all actors aware of a holistic perspective and to raise the qualityof urban development by doing so. In work on the comprehensive plan anactive process has been achieved in several ways.

Environmental profiles have been produced for the entire municipal orga-nisation in connection with Agenda 21 work on the basis of the munici-pal executive committee’s objectives for sustainable development.

A common view of the future, a vision, has been drafted in parallel withwork on the comprehensive plan.

A series of exhibitions and consultations have been held on environmentalissues. The consultation proposal was presented in detail at an exhibitionand the public were invited to Open Houses there. Political parties,committees, boards, local associations, business people, etc were invitedto showings at different times to enable discussions based on each group’sspecific interests. Assignments done by school classes on the developmentof the municipality have also been presented at the exhibition. The resultwas a broad debate that generated plenty of impulses and ideas for futurework.

Category

Offices, neat smallindustry, crafts

Small industry,service workshops

Industry

Workplaces inhousing areas

Needs

Close to public transportand centre services.Attractive location intown. Good advertisinglocation. Contactintensive.

Relatively central location.Good car access. Near pu-blic transport. Good adv-ertising location. Possiblesafeguarding zones.

Good car access.Preferably near publictransport. Safeguardingzones. Possible advertisinglocation.

Home near business.Near public transport.Good car access.

Type of business

New build, small andlarge businesses.Staff intensive.

Start-up environments.Surviving. Cheap. Newbuild, small businesses.May be transport-intensive.May be polluting.

New build small andlarge businesses. Trans-port-intensive. Polluting,e.g. noise.

Start-up environments.Living cheaply. Distancework. New build, smallbusinesses.

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CITY OF VÄSTERÅSA sustainable Västerås

Starting pointsThe comprehensive plan for the urban community of Västerås sets outgoals and strategies for the development of the city. These goals are thentranslated into proposals for a physical structure and an approach to guidesubsequent planning for the change, renewal and development of the city.This plan is designed to provide readiness for different developmentalternatives. It is intended to be flexible and robust.

Quality of life and sustainability are the overall goals of the planningwork. Sustainability is to be ecological, economic, social and cultural, andan important part of planning work is to describe what these foursustainability factors mean in Västerås. The planning approach is that thesustainable Västerås will be characterised by participation, closeness, balancewith nature and competitiveness.

ParticipationBeing able to influence our living environment is part of good quality oflife. Participation, information and dialogue are therefore important in allthe planning work. One important part of the work process is developingmethods to involve Västerås residents in various ways and the aim is tocreate many opportunities for meetings and discussions on the future ofVästerås. Information is accessible in various ways, including the Internet.

ClosenessCloseness involves cycling distances, being close to work, being close toservices and cultural and leisure activities, closeness between people andaccess to many different meeting places.

Balance with natureBalance with nature means land and water use that strengthens the carryingcapacity of nature by protecting water and developing biodiversity. Balancewith nature also means sustainable material flows in the city. This includesusing less resources more efficiently, using the right things, reducingemissions to air and water, having sound indoor environments and reducingwaste quantities.

CompetitivenessThe sustainable city of Västerås must be competitive and attractive. Keyconcepts for the City on the Lake Mälaren are a vital city centre, a regional

In 1990 Västerås celebrated 1000 yearsof settlement. The city is mentioned in the12th century as the seat of a bishop andfrom the mid 14th century there was asheriff appointed by the King. Västeråsbecame an export harbour at an earlystage for iron and copper from the Berg-slagen mining district, making it an im-portant town in the Mälar Valley. TheParliament that abolished Catholicism washeld here in 1527, and it was here thatJohannes Rudbeckius founded Sweden’sfirst gymnasium, or grammar school, in1623.

The town’s real expansion began in thelate 19th century when ASEA, now ABB,moved to Västerås, which was transfor-med from a school and merchant town toan important industrial town. New districtshave been added successively and havegrown like tree rings out from the old towncentre. Most of the present city of Väs-terås has been built in the past fifty years.The city centre was subject to radicalprogramme of urban renewal in the 1950sand 1960s.

With 125 500 inhabitants Västerås isthe sixth largest municipality in the coun-try. The Mälar Railway, Sweden’s largestinland harbour, with considerable contai-ner traffic, and an international airportmake the town a natural centre for trans-port and travel in the Mälar Valley. TodayABB is part of a worldwide group of hightechnology companies. Although ABB hasgreat influence on much of the localeconomy, Västerås is also city of small andmedium-sized companies. This was wherethe ICA grocery retail group was foundedand there are lots of media businesses. InKopparlunden (the Copper Grove), a citydistrict that can draw on more than 100years of industrial tradition, the VästeråsTechnology Park is now growing up withknowledge-based and technologycompanies in co-operation with educationand research at Mälardalen University. Thisgrowing university is housed in modernpremises near the city centre and now hassome 13 000 students at its main campu-ses in Västerås and Eskilstuna.

Västerås is usually called the most cycle-friendly city in Sweden. Some 30 percentof Västerås residents cycle to and fromwork.

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CONTACTS:Göran Dangemark, City of VästeråsTel: +46 21 16 10 80,E-post: [email protected]

Ingrid Legrell Crona, City of VästeråsTel: +46 21 16 15 58,E-post: [email protected]

Home page: www.vasteras.se

In Kopparlunden (the Copper Grove), atown district that can draw on more than100 years of industrial tradition, the Väs-terås Technology Park is now growing upwith knowledge-based and technologycompanies in co-operation with educationand research at Mälardalen University.Photo: Lars E Persson

centre of commerce, a rich cultural life and good communications, i.e. acity that attracts people and businesses. The main strategies being tested inplanning work are to:• Build the city inwards• Mix housing and other uses• Strengthen the role of water and vegetation• Establish a new way of looking at traffic.

Planning strategiesIn the densely developed city transport needs are reduced and land is saved.This generates closeness between people, housing and other uses. Integratinghousing and other uses makes the city both more interesting and safer touse. Water and greenery help to give the city character and provideopportunities for outdoor recreation. The environment gets cleaner at thesame time as plant and animal life has a better chance of developing.

In planning work the various demands on land in the city will be analy-sed using these planning strategies. The impacts of the plan will be describedin terms of the ecological, economic, social and cultural aspects ofsustainability. One part of work on the comprehensive plan is an analysis ofthe transport system using a new way of looking at traffic. How can theexpectations of Västerås residents for security, good environment, goodaccessibility and low congestion as well as good design of the streetscape bereconciled in a low-density urban landscape?

Young people in planningA public participation project targeted on young people was carried out in1999. The aim was to involve young people in urban development issuesand to find out how they see the future of Västerås. An additional aim wasto interest teachers in planning and to integrate the subject in the schoolsyllabus.

The school project resulted in lots of positive experience. It has providedinsights about the possibilities for young people to take part in urbanplanning. In close co-operation with the City Planning Department theyoung people have prepared proposals for how to make the urbanenvironment more pleasant. The pupils worked within a clear frameworkwith set conditions on design questions like what they wanted the squareand centre to look like, how more meeting places can be created and howto make green spaces appeal to everyone. The pupils then reported theirwork to classmates, city officials and politicians. Co-operation betweenplanners and school staff has been very good. The project has also led toincreased contact between teachers in different subject areas.

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KARLSHAMN MUNICIPALITYKarlshamn from our perspectives

New planning processKarlshamn municipality feels that the traditional way of working on stra-tegic planning must be re-assessed. It is not enough to base a comprehensiveplan that will steer development in the municipality solely on considerationsof land- and water-use. It is important to include other starting points like:

• local people’s and politicians’ views about a good community• putting people in the centre• quality of life, well-being and security• looking after what we have while gradually adding new build and• greater attractiveness.

Karlshamn municipality has started a new form of process in comprehensiveplanning using these strategic issues as starting points. All municipal de-partments take part in this work, as do citizens groups and business in thevarious geographical parts of the municipality.

Developmernt and marketingVision Karlshamn is a development and marketing project that forms partof comprehensive planning. The aim is to point out Karlshamn’s strongsides and to try to develop them. The target group is inhabitants andcompanies already in the municipality but also people and companies thatmay be interested in moving to Karlshamn. The project, which was carriedout in 1999 and 2000, consists of five subprojects:

• Workplaces. New technology is changing many workplaces anddemanding greater competence and creativity.

• Terminal. Stronger central role in the growing trade across the Balticwith modern technology and transport informatics.

• Competence. Knowledge-based companies in combination with newhigher education programmes in the fields of contracting, mediatechnology and intelligent transport systems.

• Housing. Attractive waterfront housing with everything in reach. Theaim of the project is to market Karlshamn as a residential location.

• Experiences. The focus is on nature and technology and the aim is todevelop ”experience companies” and to shape a ”visit profile”.

When King Karl X Gustav was looking fora base for his navy his choice fell on thesmall fishing village of Bodekull with itsdeep and well-protected harbour. In 1666Bodekull was given the name of Karls-hamn in honour of the King. Karlshamnhas long been an important seaport andlink with other countries.

Karlshamn Harbour is a hub aroundwhich much of the activity in the muni-cipality circles. The harbour is the seventhlargest in the country and is developinginto an international harbour, industrialand logisitics centre.

Karlshamn municipality extends fromthe forests of Småland to the islands inthe furthest reaches of the archipelago.The municipality has 31 000 inhabitants,12 500 of whom live in the central town.The local economy in Karlshamn is domi-nated by a number of well-known inter-national companies with substantialexports like Södra Cell AB, IFÖ Sanitär ABand ABU AB. Karlshamns AB is the largestindustry in the municipality and is thelargest vegetable oil factory in northernEurope. Carlshamn Mejeri is another well-known company whose dairy productshave a very clear environmental and healthprofile. There are also a number of smallbusinesses specialising in transportation,engineering and commerce.

At the harbour is a monument to thegreat Swedish emigration in the mid 19thcentury to the huge country in the west.Here you can see Karl Oskar and Kristinawho are depicted in Vilhelm Moberg’sgreat immigrant epic novels. In Karlshamnyou can also visit the childhood home ofAlice Tegnér, the premier composer ofSwedish children’s songs. There is also aSwedish Punch Museum showing every-thing about the production of Karlshamns”national drink”.

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CONTACT:Stefan Karlsson, Karlshamn municipalityTel: +46 454 811 11E-post: [email protected]

Home page: www.karlshamn.se

Search companyFor each of these areas a project manager has been appointed to studyopportunities and problems. The results will then underlie the work of themunicipal administration on planning and regular activities.

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BORLÄNGE MUNICIPALITYUrban development in Falun and Borlänge

Arken arkitekter AB won the architecturalcompetition for the Valley of the Future.A work area with a traditional street sys-tem is transformed into a gridiron townwith ponds and parks as features intendedto give the area distinctive environments.When the area is fully developed up to10 000 people will be able to work in theValley of the Future.

The Valley of the FutureFalun and Borlänge have prepared a joint comprehensive plan. Co-opera-tion has since continued with the development of environmental indicatorsand the Future Valley Project. This project is about building a campus, anarea where technology, people, research and ideas meet. The campus willhouse the university and government agencies along with student housing,pubs, shops and hotels. This integration will promote contacts betweenstudents and business.

New planning methodsThe winning entry in an architectural competition presented ideas abouttransforming the old industry area structure with blocks and streets laidout according to the functionalist planning model into a gridiron towninspired by the Roman Empire. A central park space, the Campus Park,links several of the most important buildings. The park also imparts characterto the area and makes it easier to walk between the different buildings.Some new types of building that make effective use of land, energy andmaterials are planned. They are also easy and quick to build.

Borlänge has 47 800 inhabitants, some40 000 of whom live in the central town.The good transport opportunities havemade Borlänge the county centre forcommerce and transport. Borlänge is anode for both rail transport and majornational road traffic. It also has the DalaAirport with 12 daily departures to Stock-holm and Europe.

Borlänge has a varied economic base.It includes heavy industry like Swedish SteelAB Tunnplåt and Stora Kvarnsveden. Smallbusiness is represented by the EnterpriseCentre for small businesses and high tech-nology by the Technology Valley where ITcompanies, researchers and students fromDalarna University College meet. Borlängealso houses the main offices of thegovernment agencies the National RoadAdministration and the National Rail Ad-ministration. In recent years great effortshave been made to develop Borlänge as apostindustrial community with the FutureValley urban district as its spearhead andmaterials research and intelligent transportsystems (ITS) as its specialities.

Environmental-mindedness runs througheverything in the municipality from comp-anies to child care. Borlänge won theKing’s Environmental Award in 1992 andwas designated the Environmental Muni-cipality of the Year in both 1998 and 1999.All the hotels in the town have environ-mental certification and there is waste se-paration throughout the municipality. Bor-länge is also a pioneer municipality in theimplementation of the UN Convention onthe Rights of the Child in all its activities.All decisions taken by the municipality areconsidered in a child perspective.

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CONTACT:Arne Ludvigsson, Borlänge municipalityTel: +46 243 741 77E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.borlange.se

Looking back from the year 2020I am pleased to be invited, at the age of 71 to this conference in Avesta on thisbeautiful February day in 2020.

As part of my preparations for this talk I looked through some documents in thetown hall archive in Borlänge. It’s always useful to try to form a picture of the spiritof the times 20 years ago. What did people regard as important issues? What didthey want to highlight? I found a programme folder from the National Board ofHousing, Building and Planning with a black cover and silver text that actually hadthe same title as our theme today: A town is more than its buildings . . . Let mequote the following: ”We need planning if our cities, towns and communities areto develop in a sustainable way. Planning must be cross-sectoral and have a breadththat touches on all the areas of people’s everyday lives.”

Around the turn of the century Falun and Borlänge had been co-operating for aperiod of about ten years. A joint comprehensive plan was the first major jointproject. Their co-operation then continued with the development of environmentalindicators and several supplements to the comprehensive plan.

I was town architect in Borlänge for many years. One important project startedin Borlänge just before the turn of the century was the “Valley of the Future”. Thisarose from the insight that the industrial epoch was in decline as an economicengine for society. Something new was needed. I don’t think we really knew what.Lots of people thought it would have something to do with knowledge and advancedelectronics. The proposal for the planning of the Valley of the Future involvedconverting an industrial area of blocks and streets laid out in the functionalist modelinto a gridiron based on a model from the Roman Empire.

Lots of people felt that it was strange that an urban district of the future couldbe given a structure that actually originated in the Greek city-states of the FourthCentury BC. But in principle this was the same structure as in the big communicationsnetwork of the time, the Internet. You could always get where you were going.You didn’t get stuck in blind alleys

They also had a logo for the ”Valley of the Future” and campaigns for commun-ication using that Internet system. Anyway the older people here were there at thetime. Of course this was before BCP. That was when we got lots of new types ofbuildings. New and new . . . . Well, in geometric terms they were thousands ofyears old. Spherical buildings for families. Efficient in terms of surfaces, energy andmaterials; quick and easy to build. Perhaps they became so popular in Borlängebecause of the Kupolen Exhibition Centre.

But what didn’t break though? What did the children see?At the beginning of the 21 st century lots of people suffered burnout. Looking

back this is remarkable. In the 1950s medical science thought that people usedabout 50 per cent of their brain capacity. At the end of the century it was shownthat people only used up to a few per cent of their brain capacity. You could seeimportant people walking about with laptops that could have a hard disk withcapacity of something like 10 GB. At the same time they had in their brain a computerwith the equivalent of two thousand billion GB. People were under strain eventhough so many resources were available.

The popular workout gyms took on a new profile. Or completely different onesgrew up, “brain workouts”. The first time I saw pictures of something like this inthe papers was a report on brain training at a medical conference in 1999. Thenthings happened quickly. As a result one old Olympic event was removed from theOlympic Games. People though competing in “crashing your opponent’s hard disk”didn’t fit in with the new age. In another change in 2007 the National Board ofHousing, Building and Planning and the National Board of Health and Welfarewere amalgamated to form the new ”National Life Agency”. This was a time ofgreat innovation both in traditional technology and in foodstuffs and medicine.

At the same time the world was experiencing the consequences of the imbalancecreated by Man’s unwise use of nature. Storms, floods and new diseases.

Our age has become the Brain Age, as everyone who know its name is aware,and not the postindustrial age.

Borlänge 17 February 2020Arne LudvigssonFormer town architect

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UMEÅ MUNICIPALITYSustainable development in a political perspective

DirectionsThe municipality’s Comprehensive Plan 1998 sets out the following goals:• To develop Umeå in the direction of a good, gender-equal and sustainable

living environment for human settlement and economic development,• To strengthen Umeå as a centre of higher education, research, advanced

care, culture and communications and as an agent for the renewal of theeconomic structure of Sweden and

• To increase the attractiveness of Umeå and further develop Umeå as oneof the most dynamic municipalities in northern Europe.

Political visionThe municipality has formulated the following vision on the basis of thesedirections. Living in balance with nature is a pre-condition for thesustainable society. The Umeå of the future must therefore be planned inbetter harmony with the conditions set by nature than it is at present.Umeå’s previous comprehensive plan, adopted in 1990, was a plan thatmainly dealt with land use. Now that the present second-generationcomprehensive plan has been drafted, issues related to other values havealso given space in the plan. These include values like taking account ofhow natural resources are being used for the future and creating conditionsfor good quality of life for ourselves and for future generations. Ultimatelythis means that the health and safety of Umeå residents are to come first inmunicipal planning.

Agenda 21Agenda 21, with its long-term objectives for sustainable development, isan important starting point for planning the Umeå of the future. Socialand economic aspects are also important.

Natural resourcesUmeå has a rich supply of good groundwater that has to be protected forthe future. Rock quarries will increasingly replace natural gravel. Almostall existing agricultural land will be reserved for the production of foodand energy. The long-term capacity of forestland to produce raw woodmaterial will be retained.

SettlementsHousing areas will be built resource-efficiently. Sound, natural buildingmaterials, that are easy to take down and re-use, will be used. Rehabilitationand additional development in the existing built environment will be subjectto the same guidelines as new construction. Great emphasis will be placedon making housing areas pleasant and inviting. The exciting and beautiful

Although Umeå is already mentioned inrecords in the 14th Century it was not until1588 that King Johan III granted the towna charter. The King’s aim was to gain bet-ter control of the Sami lands and toorganize trade in the north. Umeå is themost populous municipality in northernSweden with just over 103 000 in-habitants, 67 000 of whom live in the cen-tral town. Umeå’s population is relativelyyoung, and it is growing strongly.

It is typical of the local economy thatmany of the most successful companiesare small or medium-sized. These includeVolvo Trucks with one of the world’s mostadvanced plants for cab production. Thereare also expansive companies in bio-technology, medicine, information techno-logy, environment and energy like AstraHässle, Bionative and other rapidly grow-ing companies specialising in computergames and pop music. Several of thesecompanies are the result of co-operationbetween research and business.

Since Umeå University was inauguratedin 1965 Umeå’s population has doubled.The university and the Design, Art and Bu-siness Schools offer their 24 000 studentsprogrammes in all education sectors. TheSwedish University of Agricultural Sciencesis also represented in Umeå.

Umeå is multicultural and hosts inter-national events including the Umeå FilmFestival, the Umeå Jazz Festival, and theUmeå International Chamber Music Festi-val. The town also hosts the NorrlandOpera, the Umeå Symphony Orchestra andinnovative pop music. International celeb-rities visit the municipality’s broad theatrelife regularly.

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CONTACT:Marie-Louise Rönnmark,Umeå municipalityTel: +46 90 16 14 12E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.umea.se

The Dåva combined power and heating plant is one of the world’s most energyefficient and environment-friendly plants fuelled by waste. Photo: Gunnar Sund-gren.

design of the built and the natural environment is important for people’sexperiences and well-being. In urban districts housing development will beintegrated with services, workplaces and closeness to recreation areas andexperiences of nature. This reduces the need for transport, alleviating pressureon the environment. In rural areas new development will be adapted to theformer character of the village.

Technical solutionsNew technical solutions will be developed and applied when they are thoughtto be more sustainable and less vulnerable that present solutions. Energyuse will be reduced and the most efficient possible systems will be used forthe production of both heat and energy. Energy supply will be based ongood district heating provision, mainly using bio-fuels. Other renewableenergy sources, like wind, geothermal energy and solar energy, have anobvious role in a sustainable energy system. Investments will be made inpedestrian and cycle ways, separated from other traffic, in and betweenhousing areas and to the town centre. Passenger and goods transport will beco-ordinated as far as possible to reduce emissions from traffic.

Meeting placesTo ensure many vital local centres housing, workplaces and differentcommercial services must be mixed. Cafés, restaurants and premises fordifferent kinds of cultural activities aimed at all age groups are important.In Umeå town centre more activities than at present will be brought togetherat the river, which is a fantastic artery.

Democracy and InfluenceTo ensure that Umeå continues to be seen as an attractive and future-orientedmunicipality opportunities for greater participation must be provided. Thiseffort will be supported by a well thought-out strategy for potential meetingplaces and an extensive consultation procedure about everything to do withplanning in the future.

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MARK MUNICIPALITYSustainable development in a political perspective

Common objectivesSustainable development in Mark municipality is about looking after andmanaging our common environment so that the municipality can be handedover in good condition to future generations. Sustainable development inMark municipality deals with three strategic issues:

• Planning to support a good social environment- People’s lives should be characterized by security and harmony.

- Different structures in society should complement – and not workagainst - one another.

- The ideal society needs the whole range of environments from livelytowns to a living countryside.

- Small scale is important.

- Natural meeting places are important.

- People should have access to experiences.

• Ecocycle adaptation- Counteract the culture of buying, using and throwing away.

- The work is to cover everything from handling waste in the kitchento various kinds of emissions.

- Counteract acidification by using alternatives to fossil fuels, bettertreatment and more efficient use.

• Participation in local planning- The sustainable community can only be built by people working

together.

- Much depends on the attitudes of individuals.

- Our knowledge must increase. We must know about causes and effects.

- Experts should point the way, not take the decisions.

- Participation in planning is part of democracy.

One politician’s voiceThe surest way to build and develop a sustainable community is to do itwith the consent and support of with the people who are going use it.

This, in turn, means that people must understand the thinking behinddifferent measures taken to build this community.

For me this is fundamental to a sustainable community built on a gooddialogue with citizens. Even though this dialogue may sometimes come

The four cannonballs in Mark’s coat ofarms symbolise an historic past as a bor-der town in the Sjuhärad district. Markactually means border zone in Old Swe-dish. The ear of wheat is a symbol foragriculture and the shuttle is a symbol forthe textile industry. The textile industry hasa long history in Mark municipality. Markresidents were already making their livingby weaving in medieval times. Graduallythe municipality, with its textile products,has become recognized as the centre ofthe ”Kingdom of Cloth”.

The textile industry gives the localeconomy its distinct profile. There is a greatdeal of textile know-how and of theinfrastructure needed to be at the frontedge of developments in the area. Amongthe major companies in the municipalityare AB Ludvig Svensson, Marks Pelle Vä-vare AB, Almedahl – Kinna AB and BoråsWäfveri Kungsfors AB.

In addition to its traditional entre-preunerial spirit in textiles, plenty of otherindustries are represented in Mark. Thereis an active small business community, butthe local economy also has extensive in-ternational contacts and takes part in EUprojects intended to increase the inter-nationalisation of small and medium-sizedbusinesses.

Mark municipality is in the south of Väs-tergötland and has 33 400 inhabitants,some 7 000 of whom live in the centraltown, Kinna. In addition, there are severalsmall and medium-sized communities.

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CONTACT:Lars-Olof Johansson, Mark municipalityTel: +46 320 170 12E mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.mark.se

In the future choices will be made at meeting places. Photo: Gert Olsson

into conflict with speed and efficiency, it must be allowed to take the timeit needs.

People’s spontaneous reactions may change into a different reaction whenthey are given time for thought and reflection and are sometimes confrontedwith other ideas about the same specific issue.

We can only build a sustainable community with the consent and sup-port of the people affected.

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MJÖLBY MUNICIPALITYSustainable development in a political perspective

A vital townMjölby is well equipped to develop in a sustainable way since the town isquite young and has a range of unexploited resources and possibilities.Development work in the municipality will be based on three strategicfactors:• Its location in relation to communications alongside the E4 European

road and the main rail line.

• The small scale of the town making most things close at hand.

• Attractive areas of single-family homes.

Attractive locationMjölby has an attractive location alongside major communication routes.This is why the municipality is investing in infrastructure to capitalize onthe advantages its location offers. This means following up and developingthe road network, facilitating commuting by public transport and provi-ding a safe and effective network of cycle paths. One example is a travelcentre to be built at the station.

IntegrationTaken together communications, commerce, industry, services and housingare the lifeblood of the town. Out-of-town shopping centres are often athreat to town centres like Mjölby’s, but the main function of the shoppingcentre outside Mjölby has long been as a centre for regional commerce.Large external shopping centres that are easy to reach by car seem to workwell and are not a threat to small local shops. On the other hand, it seemsharder for medium-sized shops to stand up to the competition.

Attractive housingTo retain the attractiveness of the town the municipality is investing in thedevelopment of the town centre. At the same time it is providing housingin attractive locations close to water, nature and a travel centre. Providinggood commuting opportunities is part of the municipality’s strategy forattracting people to come and live there. Another part of the strategy is toprovide security and safety in both its housing areas and the town centre.

Originally Mjölby was a mill village whichfarmers visited from near and far to grindtheir grain at the rapids and falls of theSvartån River. The name Mjölby comesfrom the Old Swedish word Mölloby deri-ved from the words mylna or mölna simplymeaning “mill”. Today Mjölby is a moderncommunity with some 12 000 inhabitantsin the municipality. The central town hasa typical small-town character with thetown centre near at hand, a great varietyof shops and good parking. There isn’t asingle parking meter to be found. TheSvartån River, which passes through thetown, contributes to Mjölby’s pleasantenvironment along with the extensivegreen spaces and the many flowerbeds.

The municipality has a dynamic eco-nomy and extensive public and commercialservices. The goldsmith programme at theupper secondary school is one of the fewof its kind in Sweden. The town also has arich musical life. Skänninge Market is theoldest and largest town market in Swedenwith a history stretching back over 1 000years. A medieval market and medievalgames are held in Mjölby every year.

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CONTACT:Jörgen Oskarsson, Mjölby municipalityTel: +46 142 850 69E mail:[email protected]

Home page: www.mjolby.se

Co-operation between actorsWhen the crime rate in Mjölby was high for a period, a turn-around wasquickly achieved through effective co-operation between property-owners,shopkeepers, voluntary organisations, the police and the municipality.

The influence of politicsIt is possible to create competitive small towns through determinationcombined with well-judged strategies. Planning is an instrument to achievethis and also to avoid being controlled by commercial interests that deliverultimatums and play off political parties against one another. The role ofpolitics is not to control planning in detail but to provide a good setting forpolitical agreement on objectives and strategies in planning.

In Mjölby’s case action to strengthen the attractiveness of the town includes ma-king use of the town’s good communications location and creating good commutingopportunities; providing housing close to water and green space; creating safe andsecure environments; and developing the town centre. Photo: Carl Erik Bergold.

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The Swedish national report for Habitat II in 1996 presented ten nationalbest practices in an appendix. They covered a wide range of measures andinitiatives in various policy areas at different administrative levels:

• Introduction in Swedish municipalities of local Agenda 21• Swedish youth• “All of Sweden shall live” – sustainable rural development• Ecological living areas• Participatory planning processes• Protecting water resources• Rehabilitation of housing areas• Participation by women in the building of society• Regional co-operation• Development co-operation

The authority or organisation with the main responsibility for each of thesebest practices has been given the opportunity to present progress since 1996.The following section presents results based on contributions from five ofthem.

PROGRESS OF SWEDEN’S NATIONAL

BEST PRACTICES FROM 1996

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1. All of Sweden shall live –sustainable rural development

Background – the situation in 1996The population in rural areas in Sweden had been dec-reasing for many years and by the late 1980s the situa-tion had become very critical for large parts of the Swe-dish countryside, especially the small villages in thesparsely populated areas in the north of the country. Thiswas the starting point for a national effort for the country-side, the campaign All of Sweden shall live, linked to thecampaign Rural Europe. The main objectives of thecampaign were to stimulate and support local develop-ment, to change opinion among decision-makers andthe public and to start up pilot projects.

In 1989 the Swedish Popular Movements Council wasestablished, with the aim of stimulating and supportinglocal development, enhancing co-operation between localaction groups, co-ordinating the efforts of NGOs, actingas a spokesman for the village groups and influencingpublic opinion and decision-makers.

Progress since 1996Vitalisation of democracy. The most important result ofthe campaign is local mobilization. Today there are al-most 4 000 village action groups all over the country,co-operating within a network called the Village ActionMovement. An estimated 100 000 people are directlyengaged in these village groups, which also indirectlyinvolve one third of the Swedish population.

Some new characteristics. The village action groups dealwith all sorts of matters, such as cultural activities,developing tourism, improving roads, building factorypremises, etc. In some cases they run shops, organizechild care and care of old people. Often the activities areinitiated by a local crisis, where the local people recognisethe need for common action. Usually a few dedicatedindividuals take the lead and others follow. Often womenand newcomers are at the forefront of the process.Voluntary non-paid work and co-operation over trad-itional boundaries in the villages are other importantcharacteristics. However, the Swedish Village ActionMovement has evolved, both in terms of organisationand areas of activities, from rather simple tasks toadvanced ones, from leisure to paid work, from individualactions to a holistic view of local development and from“want-lists” to well-developed local actions plans. Thisprocess has moved from mobilization to organisation and

then further on to integration. The integration aspecthas been promoted strongly during the 1990s. The aimhas been to improve the interplay between villagers andlocal authorities.

Establishing local partnerships. In many actions new rela-tions between the voluntary forces and the local busi-ness community have emerged, aiming at establishing athree-way partnership between active citizens, regionaland local authorities and the local business community.

Focus on sustainable development. Rural areas have theirobvious role in promoting an ecologically sustainablesociety. In general there has been too little integrationbetween Agenda 21 and village actions. However, manyvillages have built their action plans around the conceptof ecological sustainability, linking their work to localAgenda 21s. At best, these local plans are combined intoa holistic and integrated plan for sustainable developmentin the entire municipality.

Increased international cooperation. The Swedish andFinnish Village Action Movements have inspired othercountries, especially in East and Central Europe, whichmake use of experience from the Swedish VillageMovement in projects for sustainable rural development.A network, called PREPARE (Pre-Accession Partnershipsfor Rural Europe), has been established to support theprocess in the applicant countries to the EU.

Lessons learnedThe Village Action Movement has become a strongpopular movement. After having been a rather neglectedphenomenon it has gained respect from many quarters.Many problems are, however, still unsolved. Theperipheral rural areas are still ”backwaters”. Specific ruralpolicies are not strong and effective enough to changethe situation. There is lack of a simple basic financialsupport structure for village action groups. The respons-ible authorities have not fully recognized the potentialof the Village Action Movement as a base for sustainabledevelopment.

CONTACT:Staffan Bond, Popular Movements CouncilTel + 46 8 24 13 50E-mail: [email protected]

Home Page: www.bygde.net

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2. Participatory planningprocesses – the National CityPark

Background – the situation in 1996Sweden’s first and only National City Park is situated inthe centre of the Stockholm metropolitan area. It is alsocalled the Ecopark and covers 27 km2 , including 8 km2

of water. Major parts of the area were established as aroyal hunting park at the end of the 16th century andthen extended and improved during the 17th and 18thcenturies. The park includes three palaces and many ofSweden’s most important monuments and museums. Itis also of great importance for ecological diversity withan unexpected variety of plants and animals, some ofthem only found in this area within Sweden. The area isof great importance as a recreation area for people livingin the region. The cultural attractions along with thebeautiful park landscape and the natural environmentsas well as the location at the water’s edge make the areaattractive both in summer and in winter. The extensivepark area also contains housing, institutions, StockholmUniversity, major traffic arterys, etc.

Over time, the area has been exposed to urbandevelopment. In the early 1990s a broadly based popularmovement opposed further exploitation of the area andin 1992 an Ecopark Association was established. Sincethen is has fought actively against any potential develop-ment of the area. Years of debate about the protection ofthe area, including unique dialogues between NGO’s,municipalities and regional and national governments,finally resulted in legal protection of this vast area withits outstanding natural, cultural and historical values.Since 1995 a huge area is legally protected as a NationalCity Park – probably the first city park in the world thatbenefits from such strong national protection. Thelegislation stipulates that new built-up areas, newinstallations or other measures may be created only ifthis can take place without encroaching on the park land-scape or natural environment and without the naturaland cultural values of the historical landscape beingotherwise damaged.

Progress since 1996Tourist attraction: Even before being protected as a Na-tional City Park the area was one of the most importantrecreation and outdoor areas for people living in theStockholm region on account of its wide range ofactivities, including picnic sites, jogging and ski tracks,

cultural events and an educational area for schools. Itsdesignation as the country’s first National City Park hasgreatly increased the attractiveness of the area and theEcopark is now a uniquely popular tourist destination.Guided tours by boat, by bus on or foot are availablethroughout the year, partly in unique co-operationbetween tourist firms and interest organisations. Todaythe Park is one of the most visited cultural and naturalareas in Sweden with an estimated 15 million visitorsper year.

Ecological perspective in management and development:The Park’s diversity of plants and animals is unique andincludes many rare species. Its distinctive mix of natu-ral, cultural and recreation values has been used todevelop new forms for management and maintenance,partly based on inventories of these values. In a specialproject the Stockholm City Planning Department hasprepared documentation on the ecological infrastructureof the Park as a basis for decisions on planning anddevelopment. In terms of methods, this has also beensomething of a pioneer effort for the planning ofbiodiversity in urban environments.

Development and co-operation: One result of theestablishment of the National City Park is that thegovernment bodies and interest organisations affectedhave developed new forms of co-operation in their work.The two municipalities affected (Stockholm and Solna)started planning work to agree on common principlesfor the protection of the values in the area. The countyadministrative board’s co-operation group for the Na-tional City Park co-ordinates the various measures takenby government bodies, land managers and non-profitinterests on the basis of a special government assignmentto the board. The Ecopark Association brings togethersome 45 non-profit organisations to “safeguard-lookafter-show” the Ecopark. The Ecopark Fund WWFcollects and distributes funds to activities in the parkand is intended to be a catalyst for work on the Eko-parken National City Park by government agencies,companies and individuals.

Lessons learnedThe regulations on the National City Park do not pro-vide the same unconditional protection against develop-ment as regulations on the protection of nature reservesand national parks. Encroachment on or damage to thevalues in the area is tested against the regulations whenspecific measures are being considered. Experience of

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the consideration of some cases points to difficulties ininterpreting the protection regulations in the alreadybuilt-up areas of the park, while the legislation does pro-vide clearer protection in the open park landscape. Inte-rest organisations therefore feel there is a risk that futuredevelopment will gradually reduce the size of the areaand threaten natural and cultural values. On the otherhand, it can be claimed that the very fact that the areahas been identified in special legislation has increasedawareness among politicians, the general public anddevelopers, etc of the values in the area. For example,one result of the area’s protection as a National City Parkhas been that traffic projects have been modified andadapted to the values in the Park.

The formation of the National City Park has alsoaroused interest in other parts of the country, where adesire has been expressed for similar protection forparticular areas. The need for additional National CityParks in Sweden has been studied and two other areashave been proposed. In Finland a National City Parkhas been established in Tavastehus north of Helsinki.

CONTACT:Mikael WallinThe Stockholm County Administrative BoardTel. + 46 8 785 5404E-mail: [email protected]

Henrik WaldenströmEkoparksfonden WWFE-mail: [email protected]

3. Rehabilitation of housingareas – the example ofKronogården

Background – the situation in 1996Kronogården is a residential area of about 4 500inhabitants in Trollhättan, a medium-sized town nearthe metropolitan area of Göteborg. The area mostlyconsists of apartment blocks, mainly built in the early1970s. In the mid 1990s almost 10 percent of the apart-ments were vacant.

Kronogården had, and still has, a higher percentageof immigrants than any other housing area in Trollhät-tan, and is commonly referred to as a distressed urban

area. Initially, in the early 1990s, the renewal processfocussed on renovating the multi-storey buildings. Bythat time, however, several incidents linked to racismhad led to a strong reaction from local people. This wasthe starting point for the “Kronogården process”, man-aged by the municipality with the active involvement ofthe municipal housing company, Eidar. The first step inthe process was to involve tenants in defining what kindof changes had to be made. After a few years, in 1996,several activities had started up in Kronogården and twopeople were permanently employed in the project. About30 local organisations, including 15 immigrant organi-sations, were actively involved in the process.

Progress since 1996Work now follows an action plan adopted by a munici-pal committee in 1997. On the basis of views from staffand residents, the plan gives priority to the followingseven themes:• Targeted action for young people. Social workers and

youth leaders work with various target groups of youngpeople

• Participation and influence for residents. The NewKronogården 2006 district association is runningstudy circles, organising conferences, providing helpwith homework and legal counselling, etc.

• The Meeting Point Project, which was started in 1998to help groups of residents form clubs based on sharedinterests.

• A family centre for parents who are given support inthe parental role either individually or through groupactivities.

• A language policy programme including developmentof mother tongue teaching, teaching Swedish in pre-schools, long-term employment of people who havedifficulties finding ordinary jobs on account of langu-age problems, etc.

• A municipal area office, whose services include languageservices for individuals, information on whichgovernment agency, etc to contact and advice fromspecialists.

• Klockareparken is to be a park for meeting people andfor play and sports. Parts of this propopsal will becarried out.

In addition to these activities a number of other activitiesand events have been implemented including trainingin attitudes and values for school pupils, a theatre projectand summer jobs for school pupils.

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Lessons learnedThe various parts of the process will be evaluated inconnection with decisions on their future. Some concreteresults that have been observed are:

Increased participation by residents: The Nya Kronogården2006 district association represents a large proportion ofresidents through its member associations. The associa-tion is involved in management of the district and hasbeen given the opportunity of submitting views andtaking part in decisions. The association also invites staff,politicians and other people to discussions of variousissues and carries out its own ideas. A large proportionof the 4 500 residents take part in one or more of theactivities in the process. A large number of study circleshave been organised (and lots of people have taken partin various activities). Some of the people who have beenactive in the process have joined political parties and nowhave political appointments in the municipality. A di-strict-wide Integration Forum against racism has been setup on the initiative of some of the people who are activein Nya Kronogården 2006 district association. Manyassociations, including unions, are also taking part.

Better housing environment. There are now more play-grounds and sports grounds and the area has also beengiven allotments and a park for meeting people and forplay and sports. As a result of all the activities over time,more people have now had the opportunity to get toknow one another better. This has led to greater trustbetween neighbours and further improvement in thehousing environment.

Better co-operation. A new and more effective contactorganisation has been set up. A local committee has beenformed with responsibility for personal social services,child care, schools and recreation. More people now knowone another and one another’s activities.

CONTACT:Peter JonssonTrollhättan municipalityTel: + 46 520 49 50 00E-mail: [email protected]

Home Page: www.trollhattan.se

4 Protecting water resources –Stockholm Water

Background – the situation in 1996Good water management is essential for the sustainabledevelopment of society. Stockholm Vatten (the Stock-holm Water Company) is a municipally owned com-pany responsible for producing and distributing drinkingwater to 1 million people in the Greater Stockholm Area.The company is also responsible for handling and trea-ting wastewater from households as well as industries,etc. Water conservation and lake restoration are otherimportant tasks. The company applies a holistic perspect-ive and ecocycle concepts in its activities.

In the 1920s the fresh water Lake Mälaren in centralStockholm was so polluted by wastewater from thegrowing city that swimming and fishing in the lake wereno longer possible. As a result of improved technology,for mechanical as well as biological and chemicaltreatment the situation has gradually changed, makingit possible to swim and to catch salmon even in the cen-tre of Stockholm.

Progress since 1996Water quality in Lake Mälaren and the archipelago inthe Baltic Sea is improving steadily. By the time of theIstanbul Conference Stockholm Vatten had beenapplying Agenda 21 principles for many years with theambition of continuously developing the scope ofactivities involving industry as well as the general pu-blic. There was, and still is, a particularly strong emphasison increasing public awareness of the need for a changein behaviour in order to improve the water environment.This is done through public campaigns as well as perso-nal contacts with special target groups. School informa-tion officers inform thousands of children and theirteachers about water and the environment and more than5 000 people visit the company’s treatment plants everyyear.

Research and development are continuing on anumber of issues: the handling of stormwater, wastewatertreatment, finding new ways of using sludge, biogas andother products from wastewater treatment, developingstudies of the water situation in the archipelago, lakerestoration programmes, etc.

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Lessons learnedDecreasing discharges of phosphorus and nitrogenThe situation in Lake Mälaren and the archipelago issystematically monitored according to carefully definedcontrol programmes. The situation has improved. Thegovernment requirements of at least a 50 per centreduction of nitrogen were met in 1997 when the threewastewater treatment plants in Stockholm had been up-graded in order to comply with the requirements onreduced discharges of phosphorus, nitrogen and organicmaterial.

Stop the discharges at the sourceThe aim of Stockholm Vatten is to “stop discharges atthe source”. The sludge should be of such high qualitythat it can be reused on arable land as a fertiliser. Un-fortunately there is only limited use in agriculture, evenof sludge that achieves or exceeds agreed requirementsset in 1995. Monitoring industry wastewater continuesin close co-operation with the industries concerned. Firmsare increasingly installing in-house treatment of theirwastewater and re-circulating metals, solvents etc. Petrolstations must have oil separation and restaurants, foodprocessing industries, etc must have grease separation.Heavy metals have high priority, mercury and cadmiumin particular.

Research and development on urine separationThe conclusion of a five-year research project, involvingresearchers from various scientific institutions, was thaturine separation is an interesting technology, but that itis important to build, and to further evaluate, thesesystems in new residential areas.

Development of small sewage systemsEight different types of small sewage treatment systemsdesigned for individual private houses will be tested andevaluated during a three-year period ending in Decem-ber 2002. The purpose is to reduce discharges of nutrientslike phosphorus and nitrogen and to create opportunitiesto handle and re-use them in agriculture.

Treatment of stormwaterStormwater is an increasing problem in cities as it is oftenpolluted from traffic and other sources. A stormwaterstrategy has been prepared by the City of Stockholm.The aim is to treat and infiltrate as much of the waterlocally as possible.

Making use of “hidden resources”Treated wastewater, sludge and biogas are considered

useful environmental resources. Treated wastewater pas-ses heat pumps where the energy content is extracted,upgraded and used for district heating. Sludge is digestedand the resulting biogas is used for heating treatmentplants, for producing electricity to cover an importantpart of in-house needs and for producing environmentallyfriendly fuel for vehicles. Production of biogas will beincreased significantly during 2001.

CONTACT:Brita ForssbergStockholm Vatten AB,Tel. +46 8 522 120 23E-mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.stockholmvatten.se

5. Development co-operationComputerisation of the Departmentof Survey and Land Records inBhutan

Background – the situation in 1996A number of projects, supported by Sida and implement-ed by Swedesurvey, on computerisation of land recordsand digitalisation of maps have been carried out at theDepartment of Survey and Land Records, DSLR, ofBhutan since 1991. During 1992-93 a system was set inproduction and a network was installed. The system wasworking smoothly, but as it was developed before theWindows oriented software was available that is nowcommonly used all over the world, it was decided toredesign the system to run using the Windows platform.

ProgressThe redesign project started 1996 and was successfullyaccomplished in 1998. The computerised systems thatwere planned are now fully developed. From 1996 to1998 one of the Swedish consultants worked in Bhutansix months a year. His main objective was to teach andtrain the Bhutanese staff. The result of this project isthat the Bhutanese staff are now fully capable not onlyto run the system but also to maintain and further developit. As a matter of fact, two systems have been developed:the central system to be run at the head office and an-other one installed at the district offices.

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Lessons learnedProcedures in the districts, where the computerised sys-tem has been introduced, have now changed dramatically.Previously all changes regarding land had to be carriedout by a surveyor team sent from the head office inThimphu. Now however, a surveyor is placed in the di-strict and all land matters are handled locally. These landmatters still have to be approved and entered into thesystem centrally, but all preparations can now be carriedout locally. The district surveyor prepares a report andwhen the head of the district has approved the report, itwill be sent to head office showing all the changes thathave to be carried out. When the local court and theMinistry of Home Affairs have approved the report, thechanges will be carried out in the central system - bothon the maps and in the textual register. The textualdatabase is directly connected to the map database ma-king it possible to click on a certain plot and then get allthe data stored for that plot, such as owner, type of landetc. The system is optional bilingual – in English and inDzongkha, the local language in Bhutan.

Since 1999 Swedesurvey is implementing a new projectrunning for three years. There are two main objectivesof this project:

Further development of the system used at the district level.For instance, some sort of simple mapping system willbe tested and implemented in the districts, making itpossible to locate properties by entering the name of theowner. It is also planned to store information locally inthe system, including detailed specifications regardingmortgages. This will prevent landowners from trying tosell land they have mortgaged.

Digital archiving of old documents now stored at theLand Record office. These old documents still have tobe investigated when information must be found, forinstance in the event of land disputes. This informationis also of great historical value and must be preserved.One possible solution is to scan all the documents andstore them on a hard disk connected to a computer. Thenthe information can be searched and displayed on acomputer screen and even printed, if desired.

The government has advocated a decentralisation pro-cess within Bhutan, not confined to land matters. As amajor part of the new project will deal with strengtheningthe districts, it will be in line with the goals set up by theBhutanese government.

A technical and administrative handbook for pro-cedures to be handled at the district level has alreadybeen produced at the DSLR of Bhutan. The handbook

describes how the decentralised system will interact withthe central system at the head office.

CONTACT:Ola WennerbySwedesurveyTel: + 46 26 63 30 00E-mail: [email protected]

Home page: www.swedesurvey.se

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Government Publications

Swedish National Report on Habitat to the United NationsGeneral Assembly Special Session, June 6-8, Swedish Na-tional Committee on Agenda 21 and Habitat, Ministryof the Environment, May 2001.

Swedish Interim Country Report on Habitat II, SwedishNational Committee on Agenda 21 and Habitat, Minis-try of the Environment, October 2000.

The Environmental code. A summary of the GovernmentBill on the Environmental Code. (1997/98:45) Ministryof Environment 1998.

Swedish Environmental Quality Objectives – a summaryof the Swedish Government’s Bill (1997/98:145), Minis-try of Environment 1998.

Agenda 21 in Sweden – From Environmental Protection toSustainable Development, National Report, Ministry ofEnvironment, Sweden, June 1997.

Publications from The National Board ofHousing, Building and Planning

Planning with Environmental Objectives! A guide. TheNational Board of Housing, Building and Planning andThe Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, 2000.

Theme Environmental Objectives: Planning for SustainableDevelopment. The National Board of Housing, Buildingand Planning and The Swedish Environmental ProtectionAgency, 2000. (Short version.)

Planning with Environmental Objectives! In brief. TheNational Board of Housing, Building and Planning andThe Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, 2000.(Short version.)

Environmental Indicators in Community Planning – Apresentation of the Literature. The National Board of

Housing, Building and Planning and The SwedishEnvironmental Protection Agency, 1999.

Environmental Objectives and Indicators in SpatialPlanning and SEA. Port Elizabeth and Kimberley, SouthAfrica: Final Report. The National Board of Housing,Building and Planning and The Swedish EnvironmentalProtection Agency, 1999.

Better space for work – Short version. The National Boardof Housing, Building and Planning, 1998.

Swedish Land-Use Planning in the Context of MajorAccident hazards. – Procedures, criteria and examples. TheNational Board of Housing, Building and Planning,1998.

Sweden 2009 – A Spatial Vision. The National Board ofHousing, Building and Planning, 1995. (Short version.).

The Ecological City. The National Board of Housing,Building and Planning, 1995.

Publications from The Swedish UrbanEnvironment Council

The City at Their Fingertips – Current Projects with Child-ren and Young People in Sweden. The Swedish UrbanEnvironment Council, 2001.

City and Culture. The Swedish Urban EnvironmentCouncil, 1999.

Living in Sweden – Between Tradition and Vision. TheSwedish Urban Environment Council, 1996.

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Other Publications in English

Implementing Sustainable Futures in Sweden, C. Fudgeand J. Rowe, The Swedish Council for Building Research,2000

Admit Green Issues in the Planning process, Swedish Coun-cil for Building Research, T7:1997.

From sectorial planning towards spatial planning, specialedition of PLAN International (the Swedish Journal ofPlanning), the Swedish Society for Town and CountryPlanning, 2001.

Swedish Planning Towards Sustainable Development, spe-cial edition of PLAN International (the Swedish Journalof Planning), the Swedish Society for Town and Coun-try Planning, 1997.

Some useful websites

• General information about Swedenwww.virtualsweden.netwww.cityguide.sewww.sverigedirekt.riksdagen.se

• The Swedish Governmentwww.regeringen.se

• The Swedish Parliamentwww.riksdagen.se

• The Swedish National Board on Housing, Buildingand Planningwww.boverket.se

• Swedish National Heritage Boardwww.raa.se

• The Swedish National Committee on Agenda 21 andHabitatwww.agenda21forum.org

• Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agri-cultural Sciences and Spatial Planningwww.formas.se

• Swedish Environment Protection Agencywww.environ.se

• The Swedish Urban Environment Councilwww.stadsmiljoradet.boverket.se

• Swedish Association of Local Authoritieswww.svekom.se

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