Stockholm, Sweden
City population: 1602639
Duration: 2015 – ongoing
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Project area: 80 m2
Type of area: Building
Last updated: October 2021

The project is focused on cultivating bazaars for climate-safe and labour-intensive cultivation and is located in an underground space under a shopping and community centre in Högdalen, a southern suburb of Stockholm. This underground cargo space at the shopping centre has been converted to a high-technology farming space that can be active all year-round. The goal is to create a small-scale industry and provide local job opportunities (Ref. 5, 6, 7).

High-tech urban farming in Högdalen
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-020-01045-8#citeas

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Other

Key challenges

  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
  • Employment/job creation

Focus

Creation of new green areas

Project objectives

The project aims to support green spaces, local gardens, improve recycling, a green path will be drawn from the centre to Forum Högdalen (in the business area) to Högodalstoppar. The aim is also to create sustainable jobs for the unemployed and to improve integration of the business area/and the centre (Ref. 2, 5).

Implementation activities

As a first step, built a fence of old pallets and other waste material has been built (with the aim of keep hares and deer at a distance). The next step is to fill the surface with pallet racks and e.g. soil, and start the urban farming. (Ref. 1) A user-agreement has in 2015 been concluded between the (urban) farmers and the City of Stockholm. The first cultivation will house around 20 urban farmers. Each of the 20 urban farmers will have a surface of two pallets, as well as a common cultivation area. The Park Management Årsta-Vantör (sv. Parkförvaltningen Årsta-Vantör) will support the project with efforts such as contributing with soil, pallets, and a 1-cubic water tank. (Ref. 1) The aim of the indoor farm in terms of labour was to create jobs in the transition between publicly funded support measures and real jobs in semi-industrial plants. “It’s not the farm in itself but the activities that are created around the farm” (Ref. 5)

Main beneficiaries

  • Researchers/University
  • Citizens or community groups
  • Marginalized groups: Socio-economically disadvantaged populations (e.g. low-income households, unemployed)

Governance

Management set-up

  • Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Private sector/corporate actor/company

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

Cleantech Högdalen, Park Administration Årsta-Vantör (Parkförvaltningen Årsta-Vantör), New Rågsved Folketshus Association and residents in Högdalen start a new urban cultivation (supported by the city of Stockholm). Also, there was a dialogue with the residents, who showed a great interest in starting up urban farming. (Ref. 1) The flows of local resources and circular economies are to be tested by researchers from LKTH Industrial Ecology (Industriell Ekologi). (Ref. 2)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

€100,000 - €500,000

Source(s) of funding

  • Public national budget
  • Corporate investment
  • Other

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
  • Increased green space area

Economic impacts

  • Increase of green jobs (e.g. paid employment positions)

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Unknown

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. Cleantech Högdalen (2015) Första stadsodlingen i Högdalen har startat! Stockholm, The Capital of Scandinavia. Information obtained: 2017-06-09. Source: Source link [Website not available in 2020]
Ref. 2. Cleantech Högdalen (n.d.) Miljöteknik och gröna projekt. Stockholm, The Capital of Scandinavia. Information obtained: 2017-06-09. Source: Source link [Accessed on 24 August 2020]
Ref. 3. Cleantech Högdalen (2017) Odlande stadsbasarer får stöd av Vinnova. Stockholm, The Capital of Scandinavia. Information obtained: 2017-06-09. Source: Source link [Website not available in 2020]
Ref. 4. Vinnova (2017) Från slit och släng till återanvändning av byggmaterial i industriell skala. Pressmeddelande. Information obtained: 2017-06-09. Source: Source link [Accessed on 24 August 2020]
Ref 5. Milestad, R., Carlsson-Kanyama, A. & Schaffer, C. (2020) The Högdalen urban farm: a real case assessment of sustainability attributes. Food Security. Source: Source link [Accessed on 24 August 2020]
Ref. 6. Odlandestadsbasarer (n.d.) Odlande stadsbasarer får stöd av Vinnova. Odlande stadsbasarer: hållbar arbetsintensiv urban odling. Source: Source link [Accessed on 24 August 2020]
Ref. 7. Citycon (n.d.) Hi-Tech Underground Farming. Source: Source link [Accessed on 24 August 2020]
How indoor urban farming in Högdalen works
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-020-01045-8#citeas