C40 Good Practice Guides: Stockholm - Royal Seaport

Summary

The Stockholm Royal Seaport^vii (SRS) project is transforming the old industrial port area into a modern city environment for both residents and businesses. The City of Stockholm owns the site and controls the approvals, thus being in a position to drive the sustainability agenda. Accordingly, the city is using SRS as a living laboratory and model for the long-term aim of creating a zero fossil fuel Stockholm and adapting Sweden to the growing impacts of climate change. The project has a target for energy use of 55 kWh per square meter (about 10.8 square feet) per year, a target of 1.5 tCO₂e per person by 2020, target to adopt measures to adapt to climate change, and a target to be fossil-fuel free by 2030. The project will provide 12,000 apartments and 35,000 work places combined with space for recreation, thereby creating a dynamic and vibrant living and working space.

Results

The project started in 2010 and is expected to be completed in 2030. However, the SRS is already an important part of city life, with high citizen participation and engagement. This project is an example of Stockholm’s commitment to sustainability, which saw Stockholm being selected as the first European Green Capital in 2010.

Reasons for success

Cooperation and dialogue with developers has been a key strategy for the city. To help deliver the aims of the project, the city has pursued various strategies, including stringent requirements; a comprehensive follow-up process from early planning through to occupancy; close dialogue with developers; and capacity development programs. 


When/why might a city adopt an approach like this

The pro-active, highly engaged approach taken by Stockholm in the SRS project is particularly effective when the city owns the land outright or has very strong authority over land-use planning. Additionally, setting particularly aggressive targets and being actively involved in the holistic planning is further enabled if a city has a high degree of citizen engagement or participation

C40 Good Practice Guides

C40's Good Practice Guides offer mayors and urban policymakers roadmaps for tackling climate change, reducing climate risk and encouraging sustainable urban development. With 100 case studies taken from cities of every size, geography and stage of development around the world, the Good Practice Guides provide tangible examples of climate solutions that other cities can learn from. 

The Cimate Positive Development Good Practice Guide is available for download here.  The full collection of C40 Good Practice Guides is available for download here.  

All references can be found in the full guide.