Smart Eco-City Strategies and Solutions for Sustainability: The Cases of Royal Seaport, Stockholm, and Western Harbor, Malmö, Sweden

Abstract

Sustainable urbanism is seen today as one of the keys towards unlocking the quest for a sustainable society. As a central paradigm of sustainable urbanism, the eco-city is promoted by global and local policies as one of the preferred responses to the challenges of sustainable development. It is argued that eco-city strategies are expected to deliver positive outcomes in terms of providing healthy and livable human environments in conjunction with minimal demand on resources and thus minimal environmental impacts. As such, it is pertinent to examine how the eco-city model and especially its three sustainability dimensions is practiced and justified in urban planning and development at the local level. This is motivated by the increased interest in developing sustainable urban districts. In this light, this study seeks to answer the following two questions: What are the key strategies of the eco-city district model, and in what ways do they mutually complement one another in terms of producing the expected tripartite value of sustainability? To what extent does the eco-city district model support and contribute to the environmental, economic, and social goals of sustainability? To illuminate the phenomenon of the eco-city district accordingly, a descriptive case study is adopted as a qualitative research methodology, where the empirical basis is mainly formed by urban planning and development documents in two eco-city districts-Royal Seaport, Stockholm, and Western Harbor, Malmö, Sweden-in combination with qualitative interview data, secondary data, and scientific literature. This study shows that the eco-city district models of SRS and Western Harbor involve mainly design and technology, supported with behavioral change, as key strategies and solutions for achieving urban sustainability. Design encompasses greening, passive solar houses, sustainable transportation, mixed land use, and diversity. And technology comprises green technologies, energy efficiency technologies, and waste management systems. Design contributes to the three goals of sustainability, and technology contributes mostly to the environmental and economic goals of sustainability. Behavioral change is associated with sustainable travel, waste separation, and energy consumption. Moreover, at the core of the eco-city district model is the clear synergy between the underlying strategies in terms of their cooperation to produce combined effects greater than the sum of their separate effects with respect to the benefits of sustainability. Further, this study demonstrates that while the environmental, economic, and social goals of sustainability are represented in eco-city district strategies on a discursive level, institutionalized planning practices show that the environmental goals remain at the core of planning, while the economic and social goals still play second fiddle. Nevertheless, new measures have recently been implemented in Western Harbor that are expected to strengthen their influence over urban development practices, whereas the Royal Sea...

The eco-city and its core environmental dimension of sustainability: green energy technologies and their integration with data-driven smart solutions

“…Resource flows are designed to be circular, and to minimize environmental and climate impacts. The City of Stockholm argues that for the built environment to be robust over time, it is required that natural resources must be used efficiently and that buildings are designed with high quality (Bibri and Krogstie 2020a).…”

“…As acknowledged in the environmental sustainability program for SRS, every part of the district that is affected by the energy system, e.g., buildings and infrastructure, must be highly effective, and the goal is that SRS will become a climate-positive district (Stockholm City 2010). According to the sustainability report for SRS (Stockholm City (2019, cited in Bibri andKrogstie 2020a), the results achieved in 2017 show that the energy consumption was reduced by 40% in total-energy performance lower than national legislation, and actual PVs production is 1 GWh/year. Requirements on energy and waste as smart sustainable solutions implemented by SRS are reducing GHG emissions by about 60% (The Nordics 2017).…”

“…Against the backdrop of the unprecedented rate of urbanization and the rising environmental concerns, a number of alternative ways of planning and managing energy resources based on advanced ICT have materialized and are rapidly evolving, enabling eco-cities to improve and advance their contribution to the environmental goals of sustainability (Bibri 2020;Bibri and Krogstie 2020a). Achieving environmental targets in eco-cities has long mostly been based on sustainable energy systems and environmental policies.…”

“…Advanced ICT constitutes a promising response to the challenges of environmental sustainability in the face of urbanization due to its tremendous, yet untapped, potential for tackling many problems associated with energy management and environmental efficiency (see, e.g., Anthony et al 2019;Bibri and Krogstie 2020a;Kramers et al 2014;Shahrokni et al 2015a, b). Many urban development approaches emphasize the role of big data technologies and their novel applications as an advanced form of ICT in advancing environmental sustainability (e.g., Al Nuaimi et al 2015;Angelidou et al 2017;Batty et al 2012;Bettencourt 2014;Bibri 2018b, 2019b, Bibri and Krogstie 2017b, 2020aHashem et al 2016). Indeed, there has recently been a conscious push for sustainable cities across the globe to be smarter and thus more environmentally sustainable by developing and implementing advanced data-driven solutions to enhance and optimize urban operations, functions, services, designs, and strategies (Bibri 2020).…”

Creating a Healthy Environment for Elderly People in Urban Public Activity Space

“…Sustainable urban development is closely related to urban ecology. An eco-city secures ecologically sound, socially beneficial, and economically viable development that is supported by planning, design, and transportation [ 4 , 5 ]. It is of great significance for urban ecological protection and sustainable development to study the change in characteristics of blue and green space, during urban expansion [ 6 ].…”