Malmö, Sweden
City population: 306502
Duration: 2012 – 2018
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Project area: unknown
Type of area: Other
Last updated: October 2021

The BiodiverCity-project aimed to develop products, services and processes which support and enhance the city’s biodiversity and thus contribute to a vision of a green, attractive and healthy city (ref. 1). The project had been divided in three steps, step 1 involving preliminary studies and step 2 was practical work for two years. During step 2 different cases were identified to test new ways to e.g. increase the city's biodiversity. Step 3 included spreading to other sectors through seminars, education and exhibition activities. It also included the commercialization of green solutions (ref. 2).

BiodiverCity (2015)
BiodiverCity (2015)
Annika Kruuse, retrieved 08/24/2018

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Nature on buildings (external)
  • Green roofs
  • Green walls or facades
  • Grey infrastructure featuring greens
  • Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Community gardens
  • Green areas for water management
  • Sustainable urban drainage systems

Key challenges

  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Habitat and biodiversity restoration
  • Habitat and biodiversity conservation
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Improving physical health

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Ecological restoration of ecosystems

Project objectives

BiodiverCity worked for the development of a green and healthy city. BiodiverCity worked to design and test new ways to increase the city's biodiversity, improve the conditions for urban ecosystem services and exploit the city's greenery in active health work. Through this, the project aimed to create a permanent demonstration for the dissemination of green solutions. There had been new and innovative ways to design greenery in six different product groups: • Green roofs • Green facades and walls • Mobile plant systems • Urban biotopes • Three-dimensional greenery • Trees in streets (ref. 5)

Implementation activities

Study projects included: Green roofs have on e.g. residential housing and on Malmö Service Administration (building). Green walls on a commercial building on Västra Hamnen as well as a green and edible wall (a green wall with edible plants). By using mobile plant systems, Hauschild-Siegel has managed to improve the handling of storm water in the Västra Hamnen. At the Malmö City Bike Center (Västra Hamnen) there are 130 bicycle locations. MKB (company) wants to complete the bicycle standard with smart, safe and stylish bike solutions integrated with three-dimensional greenery.(Ref. 5)

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

  • Protect and enhance urban habitats
  • Create new habitats
  • Reduce negative impacts and avoid the alteration/damage of ecosystem
  • Protect species
  • Undertake specific measures to protect species
  • Means for conservation governance
  • Capacity building

Biodiversity restoration:

  • Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
  • Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)

Main beneficiaries

  • Local government/Municipality
  • Private sector/Corporate/Company
  • Researchers/University
  • Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

  • Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Local government/municipality

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
  • Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The project has a multi-disciplinary approach with ecologists, landscape architects, scientists, entrepreneurs, developers, all of them working closely together in realizing individual greenery projects. (Ref. 6)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Yes (However the EU Regional Development Fund is partly responsible for financing the project (eg, step 3). (Ref. 2))
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Yes (The city of Malmö which one of the collaborating partners of the project has a environmental programme for 2009-2020 for the whole city. (Ref. 7))

Financing

Total cost

€500,000 - €2,000,000

Source(s) of funding

  • EU funds
  • Public national budget

Type of funding

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

Non-financial contribution

Unknown

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Green space and habitat
  • Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased number of species present

Economic impacts

  • Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Improved access to urban green space
  • Increased access to healthy/affordable food
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Gain in activities for recreation and exercise

Type of reported impacts

Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

Yes

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. ResearchGate. (2017). BiodiverCity. Project. Haaland, C., Fransson, A-M. & Emilsson, T. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
2. Malmö Stad. (2017). BiodiverCity - Om grön innovation i det urbana rummet. Miljöarbete i Malmö. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
3. Pocacito. (2015). BiodiverCity - green city project. Malmö, Sweden. Buildings, land use, biodiversity. European post-carbon cities of tomorrow. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
4. Slide Player. (n.d.) BiodiverCity. Annika Kruuse, miljöförvaltningen Malmö Stad, Projektledare. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
5. Malmö Stad. (2014). BiodiverCity - om grön innovation i det urbana rummet. Final. Malmö stad, Vinnova. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
6. Smart City Sweden. (n.d.) BioDiverCity – green innovation in urban environments. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
7. Malmö Stad (2009) Miljöprogram för Malmö stad 2009-2020. Malmö Stad. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
8. Stadsbyggnad. (2014). Urban grönska - från arkitektdröm till verklighet. Föreningen Sveriges Stadsbyggare. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
9. Haaland, C. (2017). Fjärilar och humlor i grönstrukturer i Malmö (Butterflies and bumblebees in green structures in Malmö). SLU, Alnarp. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
10. Vinnova. (2017). BiodiverCity steg 3. Vinnova. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
11. Vinnova. (2013). BiodiverCity Den täta staden med hög biologisk mångfald. Vinnova. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)