Nordic countries are often considered frontrunners in sustainability and their capital cities are likewise consistently listed as leaders in sustainable urban development, focusing on long-term resilience even when navigating through short-term change. The Nordic urban model, founded on the values of environment, equality, openness, and efficiency, is often used as an example of resilient urban habitat.
The focus of this report is to understand the equation between sustainable urban planning, climate risks and real estate investment flows in the Nordics. Nowadays, tools and techniques are emerging across the CRE sector to help market stakeholders, particularly investors, assess risks better and help navigate potential climate change impacts. We seek to understand how the Nordic countries and cities tackle these challenges, how they allow their citizens to meet their needs, which in turn can prove to be more appealing to property investors in the long term.
Sustainable urban development: Nordic exemplar schemes
Copenhagen - Lynetteholmen
EXAMPLES FROM NORDIC CAPITAL CITIES
Copenhagen - Lynetteholmen
Lynetteholm will be a completely new district in the middle of the Port of Copenhagen, which is intended to protect the city from storm surges from the north and create space for approximately 35,000 residents and just as many jobs. This new city district should be fully developed by 2070.
Population growth is putting pressure on Copenhagen with a shortage of housing and increased traffic volumes. At the same time, it is necessary to finish the major project of climate-proofing around the city against rising water levels. Sustainable, with green areas and a new long, green coastline towards Øresund, Lynetteholm should be a long-term contribution to the city’s development. The vision for Lynetteholm is to ensure a green, sustainable Copenhagen with space for everyone – and provided with infrastructure that reduces traffic in the rest of the city.
According to official information, Lynetteholmen will contribute to solving four overall challenges for Copenhagen:
Copenhagen’s water level is projected to rise by about half a meter before 2100 (GEUS). Combined sea-level rise and stronger storm surges, both due to climate change, are estimated as 1 m higher than existing dykes in the protection system. Lynetteholm will be integrated into the protection system of Copenhagen, according to the revised risk assessment. This would eliminate the need to raise the quayside or build a wall to protect against storm surges along the inner part of the harbour, which will take the view along the inner harbour and impair access to the water.
2/ The city is growing, and housing prices are rising
Lynetteholm will create an opportunity for an urban development project with space for housing for 35,000 Copenhageners and as many jobs. This is believed to act as a cap on housing prices.
3/ Congestion
The congestion problems in Copenhagen are increasing in line with population growth. The sale of land on Lynetteholm will help finance new infrastructure, most importantly Østlig Ringvej (eastern city corridor) – the last missing part of the highway around the city.
4/ Excess soil from the city’s construction works
Lynetteholm will primarily be established with surplus excess soil from construction works in the metropole region, including major constructions like the metro and Østlig Ringvej. The land reclamation of Lynetteholm is expected to cover the City of Copenhagen’s need to get rid of excess soil for many years to come. The amount of excess soil created in the broader city area has followed the general level of construction activities in the past 20 years, and the same trend is expected for the next decade. Except from the footprint on the seabed, the new city area is not expected to use a substantial amount of raw materials like sea sand for land reclamation (80mn tons of soil and 28mn cubic meters of sand).
Oslo – Oslo Airport City
EXAMPLES FROM NORDIC CAPITAL CITIES
Oslo – Oslo Airport City
A completely new urban area will be developed from scratch next to Oslo’s international airport. The masterplan covers 370 hectares, which is to be completely powered by self-produced energy and served by driverless electric vehicles. The new city district will run only on the renewable energy it produces, selling the excess electricity to nearby cities or using it to de-ice planes. The 4 million square meters city will take 30 years to build. The scheme is being developed by the Norwegian development vehicle Oslo Airport City.
The commercial park will have a dedicated sustainable strategy. It will also generate vast employment opportunities by creating over one million square meters of office spaces, commerce, recreation, hotels and conference halls. In addition to being a hub for technology and innovation, the airport city will cater for the airport’s growing workforce in a variety of ways. The public park will be a destination with a range of sports and leisure activities.
According to official information, the following areas were of particular focus when developing the masterplan for the area:
Oslo Airport City’s location was chosen to facilitate extensive use of public transport by rail and bus for people living in South-eastern Norway.
2/ Adaptable Buildings and Areas
The buildings and surrounding areas are designed to be adaptable, so remodelling for new needs in the future will require fewer resources. Reuse and flexibility are part of the design, providing economical savings and requiring fewer resources.
3/ Energy
Geothermal heating and solar energy will supply the entire area with heat, cooling and electricity. The goal is to be self-sufficient and acquire all energy from renewable sources and export surplus energy.
4/ Space Efficiency
5/ Circular Economy
The principles of a circular economy will be used to design the buildings, infrastructures and in the development of the surrounding areas. This contributes to reducing the use of resources in the development, in future changes and in a potential dismantling.
6/ Smart Buildings
7/ Smart Mobility
There will be a transport plan specifically developed for the Oslo Airport City area based on emission-free transport, which facilitates the use of autonomous transport solutions. Pedestrian and bicycle access to and from Oslo Airport City will be optimised, alongside public transport solutions.
8/ Emissions Free Area
9/ Green and Attractive Outdoor Spaces
Helsinki - Kalasatama
EXAMPLES FROM NORDIC CAPITAL CITIES
Helsinki – Kalasatama
Kalasatama, a former harbour of the Port of Helsinki, is currently under re-development and construction into a new kind of smart city for approximately 20,000 residents and about 10,000 jobs. Kalasatama is a model district for Helsinki’s climate goals. Important themes are sustainable development, energy and utilisation of waste. Kalasatama is developed flexibly and with experiments through cooperation by residents, enterprises, the City organisation and other actors. The goal is to create such a resource-efficient city district that saves the residents one hour per day. New urban services, innovations and business are created at the same time, supported by ICT and open data.
The road towards sustainable urban lifestyles is paved with eco-efficient district cooling, a smart remote-controlled transformer station, a fault-tolerant system closed loop, a powerful electricity storage facility and demand response capabilities at properties. The vision for Kalasatama is to ensure a green, sustainable Helsinki with space for everyone – and provided with smart solutions that can reduce energy usage and waste amount in the city. 20
Kalasatama is intentionally designed as a pilot project with renewable energy, a smart grid relying on Internet of Things technology, electric cars and tech-driven traffic solutions to smooth the way. It is one of a handful of districts expected to drive more than half of Helsinki’s population. Kalasatama will contribute to solving four overall challenges for Helsinki:
Waste management is one example of pilot projects in Kalasatama. No one living in Kalasatama is waiting for a trash truck or wheeling out the recycling bin anymore because the entire community is connected to an underground air-tube system. Residents sort their waste into five different streams – food waste, paper and plastic among them – and then take it to the above-ground tube portal located on each block. The system whisks trash away at 70 kilometres per hour, taking it to a central processing facility for recycling or conversion to biogas.
2/ Smart Waste Containers
Sensors placed in waste containers monitor waste levels and send alerts to waste collectors when containers are filling up.
3/ Smart, Agile Piloting Programme
Kalasatama has since 2014 been developed into Helsinki’s smartest district, and new methods have been created to implement smart solutions. Forum Virium is the city’s development company, and it partners with the City of Helsinki to nurture the possibilities in Kalasatama and the region. That is done through co-creation projects and partners, and it moves beyond the ‘smart city’ devoted to urban planning and physical spaces that many think of. While the city has plenty of tech, it is focused on the more holistic version.
4/ IoT
Kalasatama area of Helsinki is an experimental innovation platform to co-create smart urban infrastructure and services. As part of the EU-supported biotope project, Kalasatama is also a place to run various Internet of Things trials and pilots related to smart metering, smart parking and shared electric vehicles, among others.
Stockholm – Hammarby Sjostad
EXAMPLES FROM NORDIC CAPITAL CITIES
Stockholm – Hammarby Sjöstad
In the early 1990s, reputation was not Hammarby Sjöstad’s forte. The area was used as industrial wasteland and was considered polluted and unsafe. Nowadays, Hammarby Sjöstad is one of the world’s most famous eco-friendly neighbourhoods and a Swedish sustainability star.
And indeed, for masterminds behind the design and planning of Hammarby Sjöstad, sustainability was a clear focus area from the very beginning. Ambitions were set up high and integrated into the planning process, starting with the initial phases. Sustainable alternatives for managing water, energy and waste were carefully studied at the architecture and infrastructure level.
The total area under the district is some 200 hectares, but the architectural mix of apartments, shops, offices and small traders gives almost an inner-city atmosphere. According to Smart City Sweden, some of the environmental solutions implemented in the district are:
All the electricity used comes from renewable sources.
2/ Testing of new types of fuel cells, solar cells, and solar panels
3/ Energy
Energy from purified wastewater utilised in district heating and cooling.
4/ Biogas
Biogas extracted from sewage sludge and food waste and used as vehicle fuel.
5/ Digested sewage sludge used as fertiliser
6/ Combustable Waste
Combustible waste becomes district heating and electricity.
7/ Purified Rainwater
Rainwater from streets purified locally to avoid strain on the sewage treatment plant.
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