Abstract
Cities play an important role in forwarding sustainability. In Sweden, municipalities have a monopoly on spatial planning and are, therefore, key actors for developing sustainable cities. Through integrating sustainability concerns early in the planning processes they have a significant possibility to have an impact on other actors’ towards increased sustainability. The aim of this paper is to discuss a process for how sustainability concerns can be addressed in municipalities’ spatial planning. It is based on experiences from an on-going planning process in Linköping, Sweden. There is a rapid increase in the number of index-based assessment and planning tools for sustainable cities (e.g. BREEAM communities, LEED neighbourhood, CASBEE-City). In Sweden, there is a newly developed tool: Citylab action, which has clear connections to the UN sustainable development goals. However, from a city planning perspective the existing tools are often complex and lack conformity with other municipal processes. There is therefore a need for municipalities to reflect on which tools that are useful, what the local needs for support are, and to develop inclusive and broad planning processes with a broad systems perspective in which actor involvement is key, and where the city’s overall strategies and policies, as well as national and international goals, are clearly disseminated.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Linköping kommun, who made this study possible through a project funded by the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning. Thanks also to the municipal planners and other actors who have contributed with their time and expertise in workshops, interviews and other activities in this study.
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Gustafsson, S., Andréen, V. (2018). Local Spatial Planning Processes and Integration of Sustainability Perspective Through a Broad Systems Perspective and Systematic Approach. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Handbook of Sustainability Science and Research. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63007-6_35
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63007-6_35
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