Malmö is a compact city, facilitating provision of collective services, including transport and bicycle pathways whilst simultaneously incorporating mixed use planning and green space; creating favourable conditions for sustainable urban development.

Guiding Principles

In current efforts, as well as long-term planning, an underlying ambition of Malmö´s master plan is to create a sustainable and attractive city — particularly related to the three pillars of sustainability: social, economic and ecological sustainability.

The Environmental Building Programme South

The cities of Malmö and Lund, in cooperation with LundUniversity, have jointly created a programme by which to support and facilitate sustainable construction. This programme MiljöByggprogramSYD (the Environmental Building Programme inSouthern Sweden ) utilises a standardised classification system to compare building criteria, similar to eco-labelling schemes for white goods(electronics).  The programme has 3 criteria levels (A, B and C) all of are stricter than national regulations (Boverket Byggregler, BRR).



Excellent arable land

The South of Sweden (Skåne) contains some of the most fertile land in Europe. Skåne is an important agricultural region, with a defining character in terms of its cultural heritage. As Malmö expands, it attempts to balance growth with preservation of open areas for nature appreciation and food cultivation.  The city aims to densify existing city areas with many new building sites located within the central vicinity or on former industrial sites in order to avoid over-exploitation of surrounding arable lands.


 

Malmö´s new neighbourhoods

For more than 20 years in a row, Malmö´s population has grown.  Presently, some 288,000 reside in Malmö, with an increase of 50,000 inhabitants over 20 years. Together with Copenhagen and surrounding urban areas, the Öresund Region represents one of the fastest growing urban districts in Europe .  To accommodate rapid population growth in Malmö, targeted expansions are planned in particular neighbourhoods including, the Western Harbour and North Sorgenfri (both former industrial areas), as well as in Hyllie (where the new city tunnel will include a station) in order to densify specific districts of the city.


 

Flagghusen in Malmö´s Western Harbour

Malmö´s WesternHarbour has become the city´s most famous district in terms of integrating environment and energy in urban planning.  And while the Western Harbour is famous for its large-scale demonstration projects, such demonstration is now mainstream. 



Flagghusen, the second large-scale urban development in the Western Harbour, stresses environment, energy and quality aspirations, whilst incorporating affordability — demonstrating that sustainable construction does not have to be expensive.


 

In addition to affordability, stakeholders engaged in a new planning process: the Creative Dialogue (ByggaBoDialogen) which facilitated discussion amongst representatives of Malmö, together with property developers and architects concerning sustainability themes and expectations. Various firms, traditionally competitors, learned to cooperate in order to build a more attractive and sustainable neighbourhood district.  While there were challenges to start, most participants agreed it was a worthwhile process to engage in.


 

Climate Change and Energy in Malmö

Malmö aims to be a world-leading climate city. Their broad-based efforts cover traffic, energy and city planning, and also consumption, education and lifestyles. But they have also recognised that they have to adapt their society to climate changes like extreme precipitation and drought. 



As a result of this, Malmö subsequently introduced the following measures:

Lillgrund Wind Park

The wind park is located approximately 10 kilometres of the south coast of Malmö, in the Öresund (the sound between Sweden and Denmark). Lillgrund is Sweden´s largest investment in wind and to date, the third largest installation of off-shore wind energy in the world. The park produces 0.33 TWh of electricity per year, equivalent to the household electricity consumption of 60,000 homes.


 

Energy efficient buildings

Sadelmakarbyn´s preschool in Southern Malmö is the municipality´s first low-energy preschool, an important pilot project for the construction of future municipal buildings. The preschool´s walls are a half meter thick, using dense materials whist energy consumption for water heating is limited to 70 kWh per square meter per year.  In the Western Harbour development, Flagghusen, two low energy houses have been built without traditional heating system.  This trend continues to be interesting in both the Western Harbour and Hyllie developments from the perspective of the municipality and building firms.


 

Solar cells in SegePark

Sege Park in Malmö, completed in summer 2007, features the largest photovoltaic plant in Sweden, consisting of 1250 square meters of solar cells with a peak power of 166 kW. It is also planned that this neighbourhood, featuring a former hospital, will also become an environmentally sustainable city district.  The City of Malmö, together with Skåne Energy Agency, Lund´s University of Technology and Solar Region plan to develop the region into the leading Nordic region in terms of production of solar energy.


 

Biogas

The City of Malmö and the energy provider, E-ON, are working together to advance the use of biogas as an energy source.  In this regard, Sjölunda Treatment Plant was renovated in fall 2008 to support the production of biogas from collected waste.



For more information on the City of Malmo, please visit the following website: www.malmo.se/English/Sustainable-City-Development.html