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The development of a sustainable urban district in Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm, Sweden?

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Abstract

By 2012, Hammarby Sjöstad, a former large industrial harbor area in southern Stockholm, Sweden, will be a fully developed residential district containing approximately 11,000 apartments and accommodating 35,000 people. The transformation of the area began in 1996, and the development soon became renowned for its ambitious environmental program, inspired by Agenda 21 (United Nations in Rio declaration on environment and development. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), Rio de Janeiro, 1992) and the Sydney 2000 Olympics in Australia (Newman in Landsc Urban Plan 44:219–226, 1999). Using results based on literature reviews, in-depth interviews, discussions with focus groups, and quantitative data, this paper attempts to gain insight into how the environmental program influenced the planning and performance of the district with regard to sustainable urban development. In doing so, three important conclusions were maintained that could be valuable for similar projects concerning the planning and development of sustainable urban districts. First, the environmental program proved vital to the development process of Hammarby Sjöstad, specifically in its drive to create a sustainable urban district. When planning on improving the sustainability of future districts, such a program should be introduced and integrated earlier in the planning stage of the district. Second, the metabolic flows of Hammarby Sjöstad were reduced as a result of the integrated system—the Hammarby Model—of Hammarby Sjöstad. In order to reduce the metabolic flows in future urban districts even further, it is important to facilitate the integration of technical innovations into existing integrated systems. Third, this case study showed that there was a loss of valid and credible data related to the aims and goals of the environmental program of Hammarby Sjöstad. In future urban districts, it is of the utmost importance to include a clear structure of the assessment process in the environmental program, which would ensure the quality of gathered data and facilitate the development of even better sustainable urban districts in the future.

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Notes

  1. The Environmental Load Profile (ELP) is a Swedish Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)-based tool for the built environment developed as an instrument to evaluate the environmental performance of Hammarby Sjöstad. Initiated in 1997, the ELP was developed as a research project in order to evaluate the vision “the environmental performance of the city district should be twice as good as the art technology available in the present day (1996) construction field”.

  2. The Local Investment Programmes (LIP) represents Sweden’s largest single environmental initiative. The Swedish Parliament earmarked SEK 6.2 billion in grants for LIPs over the period 1998–2002 with the aim of improving ecological sustainability. The programs covered the entire environmental field—from energy efficiency and energy switching to projects aimed at creating good residential environments, treating emissions to air and water and increasing biodiversity. Some of the programs were launched in Hammarby Sjöstad.

  3. GlashusEtt is a center for environmental information and communication in Hammarby Sjöstad. Here, the residents in the district can get advice on how to reduce their environmental impact.

  4. Sickla Udde is the name of the first area developed within the Hammarby Sjöstad project.

  5. Hammarby Sjöstadsverk is a R&D facility platform for development and exchange of knowledge and technologies in water treatment and related environmental technology.

  6. The automated vacuum waste collection system, also known as a pneumatic refuse collection or Automated Vacuum Collection (AVAC) system, transports waste at high speed through underground tunnels to a collection station where it is compacted and sealed in containers. When the container is full, it is transported away and emptied. The system helps facilitate separation and recycling of waste.

  7. The LogistikCenter of the Hammarby Sjöstad project was created in cooperation between the City of Stockholm, developers and entrepreneurs. This was done in order to secure the time schedule of the project, to reduce the environmental load and also to attain a pleasant work and housing area.

  8. The development of the City’s Programme for Ecological Construction was initiated in 1995 in cooperation between the different public administrations within Stockholm City Council, as well as in dialogue with the developers. The program was present in the development process, parallel to the environmental program for Hammarby Sjöstad.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Ecology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 100 44, Stockholm, Sweden

    Sofie Pandis Iverot & Nils Brandt

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  1. Sofie Pandis Iverot
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  2. Nils Brandt
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Correspondence to Sofie Pandis Iverot.

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Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.

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Pandis Iverot, S., Brandt, N. The development of a sustainable urban district in Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm, Sweden?. Environ Dev Sustain 13, 1043–1064 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-011-9304-x

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