Göteborg, Göteborg (FUA), Sweden
City population: 939291
Duration: 2012 – ongoing
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Project area: unknown
Type of area: Previous derelict area, Public Greenspace Area, Central Business District / City Centre
Last updated: October 2021

”Gothenburg is now greener and more beautiful. Urban farming is the name of the investment that Göteborgs Stads Fastighetskontor (The property office) makes to stimulate small-scale and residential/urban farming. The goal is to get new crops, crops in unconventional places, plants/farming that provide joy and help to spread knowledge and create contact between generations and people from different parts of the city and the world. But also to develop the already existing cultivation and colony areas.” (Ref. 1)

Brunnsbo Garden Collective
Brunnsbo Garden Collective
Paula Palm, retrieved 08/29/2018 from https://www.facebook.com/brunnsbotradgardskollektiv/

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Allotments
  • Community gardens

Key challenges

  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Regeneration, land-use and urban development
  • Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Social interaction
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Creation of opportunities for recreation
  • Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
  • Economic development: agriculture
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
  • Sustainable production

Focus

Creation of new green areas

Project objectives

The goals of the project include: 1. Promoting the city's green development, as well as increasing knowledge and cooperation with various actors around urban farming. (Ref. 2) 2. Efficient land use so that the residential parts of the city are close to green areas. 3. Opportunity for recreation, rehabilitation, urban farming, while promoting biodiversity in the city. (Ref. 2, 3)

Implementation activities

The project presents around 15 new gardens/urban farming areas on their website, which have been supported by Urban Farming (Stadsnära odling). Activities such as transforming a sheep garden into woodland for farming is one example situated on the outskirts of the residential areas of Hisingsparken, the new cultivation area is nestled among horticulture and forests adapted to nature. (Ref. 2 and 5) Another example is Biskopsgårdens farmers association (in the district of Biskopsgården). A where a piece of surface has been used for farming, and there are 16 farming plots in this area. (Ref. 2)

Main beneficiaries

  • Local government/Municipality
  • Citizens or community groups
  • Food producers and cultivators (i.e. farmers, gardeners)
  • Young people and children

Governance

Management set-up

  • Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Local government/municipality

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Co-management/Joint management

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The project has been started by the property office in the city of Göteborg, the citizens/community groups form associations in order to start urban farming projects and apply for funding. (Ref. 2)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Yes (Urban cultivation/farming is mentioned in the Göteborg's City environment programme from 2013, which aims to achieve the 12 national environmental quality objectives through various sub-objectives (mentions both large-scale and small-scale urban farming). (Ref. 7) Guidelines for urban farming in public places and natural parks were established in 2011, and are in line with guidelines from the programme of the Park and Nature Management office in Göteborg. (Ref. 2))

Financing

Total cost

€500,000 - €2,000,000

Source(s) of funding

  • Public local authority budget

Type of funding

  • Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)

Non-financial contribution

Unknown

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Reduced emissions
  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased number of species present

Economic impacts

  • Increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)
  • Generation of income from NBS

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Increased opportunities for social interaction
  • Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
  • Increased access to healthy/affordable food
  • Increased sustainability of agriculture practices
  • Education
  • Increased support for education and scientific research

Type of reported impacts

Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Unknown

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No

References

Ref. 1. Göteborgs Stad (n.d.) Stadsnära odling. Goda exempel på miljöarbetet i staden. Göteborgs stad. Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref. 2. Averdal, R. (2014) Stadodlingar som mötesplats - odlingar på allmän platsmark i Göteborg som exempel. Swedish university of agricultural sciences. Alnarp. Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref. 3. Source link (n.d.) Urban farming. Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref. 4. Göteborgs Stad (2011) Riktlinjer för stadsnära odling på allmän platsmark och naturmark. Park och natur, Göteborgs stad. Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref. 5. Green City Growers (n.d.) URBAN FARMING IN GOTHENBURG. Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref. 6. Göteborgs Stad (n.d.) Odlingsprojekt i staden. Växter och djur, Miljöläget i Göteborg. Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref. 7. Ramsauer, N. (2015) Stadsodling ur ett kommunalt perspektiv - en översiktlig genomgång av förvaltningars arbete med stadsodling, samt kopplingen mellan hållbar stadsutveckling och stadsodling. Swedish university of agricultural sciences. Alnarp. Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref. 8. KAJODLINGEN (n.d.) KAJODLINGEN. Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref. 9. Wikipedia (2020) Stadsnära odling i Göteborg. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref 10. Goteborg Stads (2020) Cultivation close to the city. Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref 11. Mistra Urban Futures (n.d.) Green Production - Grow food and jobs in the city. Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Ref 12. Our Gothenburg (2019) Higab tests urban cultivation Available at Source link. Accessed on 12th November, 2020.
Jubilee Growers
Jubilee Growers
Paula Palm, retrieved 08/29/2018 from https://hojdenstradgardskollektiv.wordpress.com/
Urban farming at Larjean
Gothernburg City Council
https://stadsnaraodling.goteborg.se/vara-projekt/