Malmö, Sweden
City population: 306502
Duration: 2017 – unknown
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Project area: unknown
Type of area: Residential
Last updated: April 2022

Sofielund invests in a sustainable area. Carpool/joint recycling centre were some of the proposals discussed when property owners, Malmö city and some experts discussed how Sofielund could become more sustainable in the future. The idea is that the environmental days in Malmö (e.g. a workshop) will lead to an action plan to make Sofielund greener. Property owners Sofielund has been at the forefront of a local sustainability work that can be a model for the rest of the country. In February 2017, a memorandum of understanding was signed about concrete efforts to strengthen the Sofielund area (Ref. 1, 2). There is a strong political support for the work that is being done in Sofielund and the BID concept is now upscaled to a sixth project area called Case Sofielund. (Ref. 6).

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Green areas for water management
  • Sustainable urban drainage systems
  • Grey infrastructure featuring greens
  • Other

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change mitigation
  • Environmental quality
  • Waste management
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Regeneration, land-use and urban development
  • Regulation of built environment
  • Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Water management (SDG 6)
  • Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
  • Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
  • Real estate development

Focus

Creation of semi-natural blue areas

Project objectives

As part of BID (sv. Boende, Integration och Dialog), the aim is to create long-term sustainable development in the area, focusing on housing and urban development, the living conditions of children and young people, employment and health (ref. 2). Also, mentioned is that “climate initiatives are not just about technical systems that will work” and that “synergy effects are created so that the issues slip together and one cannot escape the socio-economic benefits if the process is successful” (ref. 2). The association has chosen seven focus point as especially important for the development of Sofielund (Ref. 6): 1. Safety 2. Well kept area, cleanliness 3. Mobility and accessibility 4. Urban environment 5. Sustainable development - ecological, social and cultural 6. Member value 7. Communication

Implementation activities

In the process of creating a sustainable Sofielund, 9 property owners have installed solar panels in the area. (Ref. 2) In 2017, the two ‘environmental days’ in Malmö, under the EU Climate-Kic program, a workshop was held between property owners, Malmö city and some experts discussed how Sofielund could become more sustainable in the future. The workshop will lead to an action plan to make Sofielund greener in the future. (Ref. 1) Ideas from a workshop in 2017 include carpool, joint recycling centre and marketing, and solutions such as how to renovate environmentally friendly / take care of the waste. Other proposals include water treatment in the physical environment, urban greenery, using the environmental link to create new businesses, smart common networks and installation of renewable energy (e.g., the solar cells already installed). (Ref. 1)

Climate-focused activities

Climate change mitigation:

  • Increase green urban nature for carbon storage (wetlands, tree cover)
  • Invest in public transport/bicycle infrastructure as a means to prevent car use
  • Raise public awareness of behaviours, lifestyle and cultural changes with mitigation potential

Main beneficiaries

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

Governance

Management set-up

  • Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Local government/municipality
  • Private sector/corporate actor/company
  • Business association or network
  • Other

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

Parties involved are ‘Fastighetsägare Sofielund’, E.ON (electricity company), Malmö city and VA Syd (water and sewer organization). Through the letter of intent, the local community, private business, government and municipalities are tighter together, and the different actors work to find common solutions and contribute to their own skills. (Ref. 2)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Yes (The EU program Climate-Kic is behind the two environmental days in Malmö (where, for example, a workshop for the sustainability work in Sofielund was held). (Ref. 1))
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown (Although, the letter of intent signed between the association, E.ON, Malmö city and VA Syd (about concrete efforts to strengthen the Sofielund area) includes “everything that has to do has a direct impact on the UN's sustainability goals” i.e. the UN climate objectives are adapted to Sofielund. (Ref. 2, 5))
... a local policy or strategy? Yes ("The climate adaptation project (with solar cell/panels installations, which is part of the local sustainability work in Sofielund) participated in the Environmental Building Strategy (sv. Miljöbyggstrategin) (which is part of the urban environment office's new ‘urban environment’ strategy, which aims to raise interest in the existing urban environment and what can be done there to contribute to the climate adaptation of Malmö as a whole)." (Ref. 4))

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • Public local authority budget

Type of funding

  • Unknown

Non-financial contribution

Unknown

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Unknown

Economic impacts

  • Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

Type of reported impacts

No impacts reported

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 evidence in public records

References

1. Source link. (2017). Sofielund satsar på ett hållbart område. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
2. Fastighetsägare Sofielund. (2017). Samverkan ger energi i hållbarhetsprocess. Fokusområde, Föreningen. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
3. Fastighetsägare Sofielund. (n.d.) Tillsammans utvecklar vi Sofielund till en attraktiv del av Malmö. Föreningen, Om oss. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
4. Malmö Stad. (n.d.) Solen lyser över Seved och Sofielund. Klimatanpassningsprojektet, solcellsprojekten i BID Sofielund. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
5. Fastighetsägare Sofielund. (n.d.) Hållbar utveckling. Fokusområde, Hållbar utveckling. Available at: Source link (Accessed 5 August 2020)
6. Malmo Stad. (2019) BID Sofielund. Available at: Source link (Accessed 21 April 2022)
7. Ivert, A., Kronkvist, K. (n.d) BID in a Swedish context: BID Sofielund- The effect of BID on crime and fear of crime in a inner-city residential neighbourhood. Available at: Source link (Accessed 2 December 2020)