Malmø
Malmö is the commercial centre of southern Sweden and an international city. This is shown, not least, by the fact that Malmö has almost 300.000 residents from approximately 170 different nationalities.
Malmö is also undergoing a transition from being an industrial city to a city of knowledge. Older industries have been replaced by investments in new technology and training programs of high standards. Malmö University, which opened in 1998, is Sweden’s latest venture in the field of higher education, accommodating some 20.000 students.
The strongest sectors in Malmö are logistics, retail and wholesale trade, construction, and property. There are also a number of well known companies within bio technology and medical technology, environmental technology, IT, and digital media fields. Co-operation between colleges, science parks, and companies provides a sound basis for entrepreneurs and creative development in Malmö.
In the early 1990’s the financial situation in Malmö was critical and needed external support to avoid a complete collapse. In cooperation with the government, some strategic decisions were established. A new redistribution program for municipal income and expenditure, the opening of a new university, the construction of the Öresund Bridge, plus the nearly completed City Tunnel, have all contributed to reversing Malmö’s poor economy.
Major projects
For more than 10 years, Malmö has actively taken a holistic approach to sustainable city development, investing in new city districts centered on sustainable development, retrofitting existing areas as well as investing in centers of learning surrounding urban sustainability relevant actors. Resulting from this work, the city has become reputable on the world stage for its innovation, dedication, creativity, practical application, and sincerity in terms of infrastructure investments. Examples of sustainable urban development is the;
- Western Harbor, a former ship yard has been undergoing urban renewal and now housing residences and offices for 10.000 people. The energy for a major part of the Western Harbor is 100% renewable and locally produced.
- Eco-city Augustenborg, retrofitting of existing buildings, originally built in the 1950s by introducing green roofs and an open rainwater management system. In addition it improves the area through the greenery and water features and increase biodiversity in the housing area.
Major challenges
The city addresses many environmental issues simultaneously: holistic transport planning including collective transportation, as well as investing in alternative fuel vehicles and increasing bicycling and bicycle infrastructure – Malmö has more than 410 kilometer of bicycle paths. Malmö invests in renewable energy whilst concentrating on energy efficiency. It focuses on waste management by improving recycling, invests in waste to energy and creates biogas for city buses from food waste. The next aim is to become a Clean Tech City, a city which promotes the establishment and development of companies that deal with environmental technology.
Pilot Project
Together with Århus, Malmö conduct in an experimental pilot project designed to analyze previous practical experience of the relationship between culture and urban space, among other things in the two cities. By incorporating new research-based knowledge of and insight into urban space development, the pilot project will develop and formulate new hypotheses about cultural urban spaces in a modern world. These hypotheses will subsequently be implemented in a number of experimental urban space experiments, possibly via temporary measures, events, etc. Read more