Stockholm 2013 (photo: A. Kaczorowska) POLICY BRIEF #4 Stockholm – The city of green and blue wedges S tockholm has a long history of environmental awareness and protection of urban green areas. Most of its urban development has been contained along the metro lines and there are green “wedges” reaching in from the hinterland towards the urban core. The city is situated on several islands between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. These green and blue wedges provide inhabitants with recreational areas and a rich biodiversity. Over the next 25 years, the population of the City of Stockholm is expected to grow from 850,000, to 1,000,000 inhabitants and to at least 1,200,000 inhabitants by 2050. There is a high demand for both housing and commercial premises. Despite strong policies for preserving both green wedges and the many smaller green areas integrated in the urban fabric, these may suffer from the many large and small decisions favouring individual development projects. As a result, Stockholm’s urban green areas may be negatively affected at a time when the population grows and demand for urban green functions increases. POLICY BRIEF #1 Stockholm’s visions for 2050 Stockholm 2013 (photo: A. Kaczorowska) Regional and city-level policy documents focus on Stockholm as a poly-centric city with preserved natural areas in between built up “fingers” reaching out from the city center. The city’s new comprehensive development plan (The Walkable City) emphasizes densification of the city centre and along the metro lines. The same policy is integrated in the Regional Development Plan for the Stockholm region (RUFS 2010) extending the densification strategies to a polycentric region. There is also a new green structure plan under development in the city (The Green Walkable City) emphasizing the value of urban green for culture and living space and as a provider of essential ecological infrastructure. Stockholm also continues to position itself as a leader in sustainable urban development through the Royal Seaport development project, where one objective is to find innovative ways of strengthening and securing the benefits of nature in the city. These high ambitions in combination with strong developmental pressures in Stockholm create challenges for planning urban green areas. Planners find themselves caught in between a persistent need for new construction projects and expansion of infrastructure, and the preservation and upgrading of urban nature. Therefore, they are keen to explore new tools and approaches that may be useful in their daily work. Through the URBES project, a group of urban stakeholders had the opportunity to assess whether an approach based on urban ecosystem services would be helpful (see TEEB initiative, 2011). Participants included spatial and strategic planners, NGOs, consultancy firms and researchers, who are all involved in shaping the future of Stockholm in various ways. In addition to representing the city, participants also represented other levels of urban development, such as the Stockholm region/county and the smaller municipality Haninge. The process consisted of: 1. Interviews and two workshops identifying developmental challenges in Stockholm linked to urban green structure 2. Development of scenarios with land use maps for two different options for Stockholm 2050, linked to the supply and demand of urban ecosystem services 3. Two workshops discussing and assessing these scenarios 4. A workshop discussing strategies to safeguard urban ecosystem services in an increasingly dense Stockholm The material and workshops were developed and organized by Chalmers University of Technology and Mistra Urban Futures, in collaboration with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Stockholm Resilience Center. Stockholm – The city of green and blue wedges 2 POLICY BRIEF #1 Challenges of planning for ecosystem services in Stockholm The city of Stockholm is very ambitious when it comes to preserving urban nature. The focus has been on preserving and strengthening biodiversity and cultural/recreation values, and a flagship is the Royal National City Park located close to the city center. However, current policies aim to increase the density of built up areas and there are strong economic drivers for more housing and commercial properties. From the interviews and first workshops it was clear that the stakeholders see the need to complement their current work with urban nature. In a situation with very dense future urban structures they were keen to find more versatile ways to promote benefits of urban nature and for a wider range of purposes. Here, the stakeholders considered urban ecosystem services as a potentially useful approach, but were both positive and cautious since they identified a number of challenges linked to the concept, such as: 1. There is a lack of holistic knowledge on the existing ecosystem services in Stockholm and also regarding the importance of different types of land use for supplying the city with different ecosystem services. 2. More knowledge is required regarding the types of ecosystem services needed in cities, including what is needed at different locations. 3. The complexity of ecosystem services is a problem – both as a concept and in practice. They need support from interconnected institutions, but the sectoral organisation of planning and governance for spatial planning, environment, traffic, water, etc. is an obstacle. 4. Intense developmental pressures drive urban development based on short-term economic interests rather than social and ecological values and a long term perspective on human wellbeing. The workshops and discussions focused on the second and third challenge. Two land use scenarios: Vibrant Stockholm & Stockholm Green Capital To better understand how urban land use affects the supply of ecosystem services, two scenario illustrations were developed for the year 2050. Vibrant Stockholm was based on existing plans aiming at intense densification along the existing “urban fingers” whereas Stockholm Green Capital was targeted at surpassing current plans by maximizing the benefits of urban nature. Geographical Information System (GIS) software was used to show the consequences of the two scenarios for future land use at regional, city and district levels (for the City of Stockholm see Figure 1). Stockholm – The city of green and blue wedges 3 POLICY BRIEF #1 Vibrant Stockholm Stockholm Green Capital Figure 1. Land use maps for the two future scenarios: Vibrant Stockholm and Stockholm Green Capital Land use maps based on Urban Atlas land use classes were valuable to illustrate differences in land use between the two scenarios but were not sufficient to reflect the details. Therefore, Service Providing Elements (SPEs, see Figure 2) were introduced as a more refined layer of information. In addition to providing details on land use, SPEs also simulate how land use types and functions can be stacked on top of each other, such as a green roof on top of a shopping center. Class 1110: Urban Atlas Vibrant Stockholm Stockholm Green Capital Figure 2. Service Providing Elements (SPEs) for land use class 11100 Continuous urban fabric. Original Urban Atlas land use class to the left (see http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/urban-atlas). To the right, the more detailed SPE land use as applied in the two scenarios. Stockholm – The city of green and blue wedges 4 POLICY BRIEF #1 Ecosystem services in Stockholm by 2050 Based on the land use scenarios specified through land use classes and SPEs, the potential supply of ecosystem services was calculated for Food, Energy, Urban Cooling, Air Quality Regulation, Carbon Sequestration, Storm Water Retention, Physical Recreation and Mental Recreation. For Food and Energy Supply, Stockholm Green Capital had a significantly larger potential than Vibrant Stockholm. However, the stakeholders questioned if this potential could actually be realized in practice, considering aspects, such as conflicts with other land uses, aesthetical issues, and operational and financial viability. Also in relation to Urban Cooling there was a remarkable difference in favour of Stockholm Green Capital (Figure 3), and the same was also apparent for the services Air Quality Regulation, Carbon Sequestration and Storm Water Retention. Apparently, the differences in SPEs between the two scenarios are significant, since for example green roofs and walls, ponds, and more diverse vegetation in general, have a significant impact on the supply of various ecosystem services. The stakeholders considered these differences interesting in light of the ongoing densification of Stockholm, linked to current and future problems of, for example, harmful emissions from traffic, the urban heat island effect and more frequent heavy rainfall. Vibrant Stockholm Stockholm Green Capital Figure 3. Supply of ecosystem services for Urban Cooling. Some of the dense areas with risks of urban heat island effect are circled in white. Supply is ranging from high cooling capacity (green), through intermediate cooling capacity (yellow), to low cooling capacity (red). Regarding ecosystem services for recreation, the results were more ambiguous (Figure 4). For Physical Recreation, Vibrant Stockholm was actually the better alternative since less green areas are used for food and energy production. For Mental Recreation, however, Stockholm Green Capital turned out to be the better option, by integrating urban nature into built up areas for easier access. For all ecosystem services, the differences in favour of Stockholm Green Capital grew when focussing on the district level. This becomes significant for Urban Cooling, Storm Water Retention and Mental Recreation, where needs have to be satisfied locally. Stockholm – The city of green and blue wedges 5 POLICY BRIEF #1 Vibrant Stockholm Stockholm Green Capital Vibrant Stockholm Stockholm Green Capital Figure 4. Supply of ecosystems services for Physical (green) and Mental Recreation (blue). The darker green/ blue, the higher recreational values. Areas with poor access to urban nature today are circled in red. Strategies for urban ecosystem services in Stockholm 2050 Although Vibrant Stockholm was based on existing plans and visions, the stakeholders judged Stockholm Green Capital as being more in line with aspirations for quality of life. Future plans and visions may thus well be more radical when it comes to the role of urban ecosystem services and an extensive list of strategies were developed, which included the following: • As the population grows it is important to improve the qualities, performance, multifunctionality and resilience of green areas, but also investigate the limits for each ecosystem service. • By working with urban nature, systematically prevent negative impacts of densification in combination with climate change, such as heat islands and heavy rains. • Use urban ecosystem services for social involvement and cohesion, to shift lifestyles and to attain a transformative society. Stockholm – The city of green and blue wedges 6 POLICY BRIEF #1 • Policy and implementation of ecosystem services need to be locally adapted. Distinguish between plotlevel, local, regional, and more global supply and demand of such services. • Spread the learning, discussions and decisions concerning urban ecosystem services to higher policy levels to secure political guidance, coordination, collaboration and mandates. • Collaborate closely with municipalities and developers and create new urban “business models” that turn social and ecological values into business opportunities. Visualization of Vibrant Stockholm and Stockholm Green Capital, here from Haninge municipality Comparing two different land use scenarios for Stockholm for the year 2050 facilitated shared learning among the participating stakeholders of the URBES workshops on how changes in land use affect the supply of urban ecosystem services. The benefits of integrating multifunctional urban green space into future urban densification became apparent and the stakeholders discussed the need to develop more ambitious plans and visions to strengthen a wide range of urban ecosystem services. Finally, a series of strategies were outlined, linking ecosystem services to developmental pressures, cross-scale interdependencies, socioeconomic exclusion, adaptation to climate change and institutional reform. Stockholm – The city of green and blue wedges 7 POLICY BRIEF #1 References TEEB (2011). The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity: TEEB Manual for Cities: Ecosystem Services in Urban Management. The URBES project The URBES project aims to bridge the knowledge gap on the role of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services for human well-being. It further aims to inform urban management and decision-makers on how to best integrate the natural environment and human needs. The URBES partnership of academic institutions and international organisations translates science into action for cities. Project donor Project partners Self-financed partners Contact person from URBES project for Policy Brief #4 Jaan-Henrik Kain, Chalmers University of Technology [email protected] URBES Coordinator: Thomas Elmqvist Stockholm Resilience Centre Kräftriket 9A 11419 Stockholm, Sweden Tel: +46 (0)705264806 [email protected] This policy prief is part of series of policy briefs produced by the URBES project. Stockholm – The city of green and blue wedges 8
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