Migrating Towards Sustainability

International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics Migrating Towards Sustainability

Four stories about possible change The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University

P.O. Box 196 · SE-221 00 Lund · Sweden Tel: +46 46-222 02 00 www.iiiee.lu.se [email protected]

This publication should be cited as:

International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE). 2010. Migrating Towards Sustainability: Four stories about possible change. Lund: IIIEE.

ISBN 978-91-88902-61-0 ©IIIEE, 2010 Table of Contents

2 Introducing Strategic Environmental Development

4 The Teams

6 Designing in Green Living: The Norwegian Window of Opportunities H. Ashdown, J. Larsson, A. Di Pangracio & K. Steinbusch

26 Integrating Sustainability in Urban Planning, the Remodelling of a District in Shanghai S. Asea, G. Eve, K. He & M. Mansoz

41 A Culture of Short Distances in Val di Noto K. Kavcic, S. Di Ponte, J. Sonnenschein & J. Wester

59 Future Waste Management in Belarus: Bringing Private and Public Actors Together C. Fierro Loor, L. Kazlauskait, M. Koffi & N. Smedby

75 A Sustainable Pathway for the Future

76 Acknowledgements

78 IIIEE – The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics Introducing Strategic Environmental Development

By 2050, 9 billion people are expected to tors will come to play important roles in populate the earth. This exponential in- the development of new and more sustain- crease, in combination with current tech- able production-consumption systems. nological and economic activities, causes stress to the environment, societal and economic systems. The available resources are exploited in a higher pace than they regenerate. The capacity of the earth is almost exhausted due to current life style practices. In the after- math, many environmental issues are created, the most critical and well known, climate change. Increasing population can bring many is- Approaching a sustainable development sues. There is a need for more built space means that new environments have to be and agricultural land. Waste quantities and designed with the purpose of decreasing the demand for transport increase. The ur- material and energy flows, closing the ban environment, both in terms of physical loops, as well as, rethinking and rebuilding infrastructure and economic systems, can- the already existing infrastructure. not deal with the pace of these develop- The economies of scale must be re- ments appropriately. evaluated and other economic systems Micro-scale interventions are not enough considered. Localisation, efficiency and to face the global challenge, but can still be differentiation are important key factors in considered a fundamental starting point. the concept of Distributed Economies that Regions, communities and individual ac- aims to create resilience, economic stability and sustainable development of regions. This shift can be done by exploring potential and exploited local resources and matching them with the most efficient local uses.

To close the consumption- production loop there has to be good practical systems in place. Stake- holders’ participation is crucial and incentives are needed in order to uphold a self-sustaining system. Ex-

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INTRODUCING STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENT

scales. The projects are replies to serious and real life clients’ requests, part of larger more extensive projects. Different theories and concepts were used to approach the challenges in the distinct locations. The group in Sarpsborg, Norway, studied the planning of a new zero emission community. In Shanghai, the students got the opportunity to conceptualise redevelop- ments of already existing infrastructure. The conditions for Distributed Economies were investigated in Val di Noto, Italy, to visualise a sustainable development of the region. Students in Belarus applied the approach of Extended Producer Responsibil- ity to the waste issue. The title of this volume of case studies is inspired by the thought of communities metaphorically moving towards sustainability, by identifying unsustainable prac- tended Producer Responsibility can repre- tices, developing visions and starting the sent a sound and practical solution. process of change. The report has been a combined effort of many individuals. Ex- The “Strategic Environmental Develop- ploring the four projects has been a true ment” (SED) course is a learning exercise pleasure, leading to new insight and ex- in a real-life laboratory. The SED course periences. We hope that the reader will en- aims at exploring practical applications of joy the case studies and that they will in- sustainability concepts, tools and strate- spire to engage in the search of sustainable gies. It is an opportunity to experience how solutions. to apply theoretical knowledge in practice and gain unique insight. The students get training in practical analysis, systematic approach, assisting practice and professional conduct through intervening in real complex systems. This report is a product of the course.

The report constitutes of four different projects done by four student groups under the supervision of members of the IIIEE staff. The projects are conducted in different locations and on different spatial

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The four Teams worked in Hafslund, Norway were working on an understanding of how a potential eco-city could create value for Ana Di Pangracio, a lawyer from Argentina the company and contribute to the sustain- who has a background in Environmental able good. Law, Jennie Larsson from Sweden, who also has a law background in the fields of Criminal and Environmental Law, Karlijn Steinbusch from the Netherlands with a background in Finance and Busi- ness Administration, and Helen Ashdown from the UK, who has work experience in environmental consultancy in national and international companies, with their supervisors Lars Strupeit and Philip Peck, researchers and teachers at the IIIEE,

Photo above by Jarl-Morten Andersen

Mathilde Mansoz from France, who studied International Eco- nomics and Journalism, and has work experience in the media and entertainment industries, Solomon Tipelle Asea from Ugan- da, whose background is in Envi- ronmental Management and has Shanghai, China worked in the humanitarian field with the UN for four years, Gregory Eve from Italy with a background in Environmental Engineering, who started with their supervisor Håkan Rodhe, who is his own company in a cultural field three currently the director of studies at the years ago, IIIEE, He Kai from China, whose background is in were working on a project that is based on Real Estate Management and City Plan- an integration of the sustainability issues ning, in the context of urban development.

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THE TEAMS

who started her own business focusing on Noto, Sicily, Italy environmental assessment and manage- Katja Kavcic from Slovenia with a back- ment systems, ground in Economics and Business Admin- istration and work experience mainly in together with their supervisors, members European affairs and Investment Banking, of the teaching and research team of the IIIEE, Åke Thidell and Tareq Emtairah, Silvia Di Ponte from Italy who has a background in Economic and Political Sciences evaluated the opportunities for distributed and has a strong interest in renewable economies in Val di Noto in the area of energy and biogas potential, energy, water, food and waste. Jonas Sonnenschein from Germany with a background in Philosophy and Economics, who worked at the Wup- pertal Institute in the research group for sustainable consumption and production, and Johanna Wester from Sweden with a background in Environmental Science,

Maurice Koffi from Ivory Coast, whose background is in Environmen- tal Risks Management and who has work experience in marketing, and Nora Smedby, with a background in Economics who worked for a Danish economic consultancy, Minsk, Saligorsk & Vileyka, with the help of Thomas Lindhqvist, asso- Belarus ciate professor at IIIEE and an expert in Carla Fierro, a lawyer from Ecuador who the subjects relating to product policy, An- studied International Private Law and En- drius Plepys a teacher at the IIIEE, and ir- vironmental Law, replaceable economist and photographer Lars Hansson, also associate professor at Laura Kazlauskaitė, an Environmental En- IIIEE , gineer from Lithuania with work experience in environmental consulting in the explored the waste management system in waste management field, the Republic of Belarus.

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Designing in Green Living: The Norwegian Window of Opportunities By Helen Ashdown, Jennie Larsson, Ana Di Pangracio, Karlijn Steinbusch

Strawberry field (foreground) as a buffer between Hafslundbyen and the park Background information The aim of this project is to create under- Hafslund ASA is a Norwegian heat and standing how a potential eco-city could power utility producing hydropower for create value for the company as well as over 100 years. They are the largest distri- contribute to the sustainable good. We fo- bution grid owner and have the highest cused on the following objectives: electricity sales in Norway. The company has the idea to design a new sustainable • Understand what the motivation of city quarter on a 200 ha piece of agricul- Hafslund ASA is to develop an eco-city; tural land in Sarpsborg, a city of 50 000 • Find out how people within the com- people located in the Østfold County of pany and other stakeholders perceive a Norway. Although Hafslund ASA owns the potential eco-city; and land, the company can only start building • Raise awareness among stakeholders the ‘eco-city’ when national authorities al- on a potential eco-city development. low the agricultural land to be used for other purposes than cultivation. A good Methodology showcase could prove that a potential eco- In preparation for our seven-day duration city can reduce environmental impacts of in Norway, we visited the Department of an urban community in the future. Environmental Strategy at Lund University in Helsingborg and interviewed Torleif Bramryd and Michael Johansson, two experts in the field. We discussed sustainable planning and transportation for future cities and received feedback on our methodology. In addition, we visited the sustainable area of Helsingborg to see the schemes in implementation. Also, we looked up Locating Hafslundbyen on the map with the park behind us

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Site map with area for total development bordered in yellow other comparable sustainable city development projects in different parts of the world, for which energy was one of the focus areas. To help understand how the world could look like in 2030, we assessed the potential driving forces that shape the future from a macro to micro-scale perspective related to Hafslundbyen and how this could affect the development and outcome of the sustainable city We interviewed company representatives quarter. from different departments (grid infrastructure, district heating, waste, manage- Hafslund has a centralised business in the ment, finance, telecom, smart metering area of electricity generation and supply, and business development), public authori- heat supply and energy service provision. ties (Ministry of Environment, Østfold We considered how the project could be- County, Sarpsborg Municipality), research- come a nucleus and facilitator for local, re- ers and local people. We used a two-step gional and national sustainable develop- scenario technique. First, we tried to find ment; how can technologies, systems, and out how the different interviewees per- operational/business models be trans- ceived the future of Hafslundbyen. The ferred and applied to existing municipal purpose of the scenario exercise was to infrastructure in Norway (and possibly raise awareness on a changing business other parts of the world). environment for Hafslund ASA and to ex- During our stay in Norway, we had a site plore various design and technology op- visit to the planned development area of tions for the eco-city. the sustainable city and the new waste incinerator owned by Hafslund in Sarpsborg. In the aerial photograph, the site is bordered by the Hafslund Mansion and Park to the north of the site and is situated near the River Glomma to the west. The old smelting works can be seen in the middle of the site, with the large landfill site seen in the bottom lefthand corner.

Scenario exercise at Hafslund

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Secondly, from these results we designed technology trends and environmental new future scenarios depending on problems are relevant to the development whether the eco-city would be a case for of an eco-city. the region or for the world. We then cre- “In an environmentally sustainable society, ated a SWOT analysis to supplement the the current and future basic resource needs business cases for each concept within the of people are distributed in a just and equi- scenarios. table manner without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their Scope and limitations basic needs” [2]. In developed countries, The project did not have the aim of creat- many individuals consume large amounts ing a blueprint for a potential Hafslundby. of resources for their everyday activities, Instead of designing a sustainable city such as residential heating, cooking, com- quarter, we focused on what concepts were muting, eating, and shopping. Supplying relevant for a regional and global show- people with resources and dealing with the case. resulting wastes and pollution can have One limitation was the language barrier. large environmental impact, often de- Several documents had to be translated scribed as the ecological footprint. Only 1.8 from Norwegian to English, which slowed hectares per capita is available on earth for down some of the data gathering. human use. The ecological footprint of the average Norwegian person is 6.2 hectares Another limiting factor was the occasional and ranks seventh place in comparison to misinterpretation of what was meant by other countries in the world [3]. In rapidly the concepts in the scenarios. For example, developing countries like China and India the public sectors interpreted a centralised people are becoming more affluent, which versus decentralised infrastructure in the will result in increased pressure on re- form of architecture having densely struc- source consumption. Researchers have tured city centres. The company represen- stated that if everyone reached average US tatives tended to think more along the lines consumed similar to the average consump- of networks and utility infrastructure. We tion levels, five more planet earths are believe that the misinterpretations did not needed with the existing technology. As lead to major mistakes in our analysis be- global population and share of affluent cause we constantly questioned the inter- people grows, there is a need for clean viewees why they choose certain concepts. technologies to curb total environmental By doing so, they explained to us how they impact. understood them. Scientists have warned that the amount of The future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions needs to Here, an overview of the driving forces for be reduced by 50-85% (in comparison to future trends for the year 2030 is pre- the 1990 level) before 2050 to avoid the sented. In order to plan a city, it is impor- ‘tipping point’. If the earth on average tant to keep in mind how the future could warms 2 degrees Celsius, huge environ- look like. We start from a macro-scale and mental disasters become more evident. consecutively scale down to the actual loca- Global warming is caused by natural and tion of Hafslundbyen (Figure 1). Global anthropogenic activities such as the com-

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Figure 1: Macro – Micro scale drivers for the development of Hafslundbyen bustion of fossil fuels for energy and heat that Norway’s economy largely depends on production and mobility. Climate change oil and gas exports from the North Sea. In and the succeeding Kyoto Protocol have 2007, Norway was the world’s sixth largest gained a lot of attention by the media exporter of oil – producing around 97 mil- through the struggle for international co- lion tonnes of crude oil [7]. On the other operation to reduce their GHG emissions. hand, electricity is almost entirely generated through hydropower. The EU has set a 20-20-20 target for the year 2020: greenhouse gas emissions need The electricity prices for household con- to be reduced by 20% in comparison to the sumers in Norway are lower than on aver- 1990-level, the energy efficiency should be age in Europe [5]. Since electricity has increased by 20% and the energy mix been relatively cheap, most dwellings in should contain at least 20% renewable en- Norway are heated directly by electricity. ergy sources. Although Norway is not a In the Norwegian climate policy, the Gov- member state of the EU, it has set even ernment has set up a programme “Cities of more ambitious goals to battle climate the Future” to encourage a cooperative at- change. tempt to reduce GHG emissions amongst the largest towns, including Sarpsborg. The Norway aims at reducing GHG emissions Government stimulates the energy recov- by 30% in comparison to the 1990-level in ery from waste, in the forms of biogas, bio- 2020, and become carbon neutral by 2050. fuels, electricity and district heating of This might seem contradictory knowing residential buildings. Furthermore, the

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Government discussed that landfilling of commuting. Informants from the Regional biodegradable waste was prohibited from Planning Department indicated that bus 2009 and that the landfill tax would re- frequency of 15 minutes is required be- main. tween Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad in order to reach a higher percentage of the com- The Østfold County has set up a plan for muters. This could be more easily obtained the regional development until the year within a closely and more densely popu- 2050, in which they also discuss climate lated region. change. Around 275 000 people are currently living in the Østfold County and another 100 000 are expected to have joined Scenario technique by 2050. As a result, space had to be used Informants were shown four possible fu- more efficiently as there will be denser spa- tures for Hafslunbyen – each markedly dif- tial structures. Sarpsborg is an amalgama- ferent and ‘located’ at an extreme reflecting tion of five former towns causing it to have some concepts of what an eco-city could a low spatial settling density. incorporate in 20 years. These ‘scenarios’ supported communication and prioritisa- When paired with the adjacent city tion by informants. The goal of undertak- Fredrikstad (15 km distance), the two mu- ing scenario techniques [1] is to plan for nicipalities have a total population of ap- future business strategies particularly for proximately 125 000 citizens and present those unexpected and against the current the fifth largest urban area in Norway. company vision. Sarpsborg has always functioned as an industrial city with Hafslund’s hydropower The explicit purpose of the scenario exer- dam being the city’s icon. Since the last cise was to raise awareness on a changing decade offshoring has led to some indus- business environment for Hafslund ASA tries moving out of the country or com- and to explore various design and technol- pletely shutting down. The municipality ogy options for the eco-city. addresses the need to create jobs as well as The Self-Sufficient City in Figure 2 de- attract high-skilled labour to create a mix- scribes an eco-city with a decentralised in- ture of social structures. frastructure of local food production, When driving into Sarpsborg on the Exit5 small-scale energy generation and mobility of the E6 highway a large open landfill of for within the city quarter. domestic refuse is the driver’s first view of The Entrepreneurial City in Figure 3 the town. By 2030 the landfill will likely be tries to attract high-skilled labour and cre- closed. This year (2010) Hafslund has es- ate job opportunities through setting up tablished a waste incinerator to supply en- resource and development (R&D) and ergy to Borregaard, a supplier of wood- businesses in clean tech as well as provid- based chemicals. Regional district heating ing large-scale leisure facilities. network is planned with the option to connect to Hafslundbyen. The Hardware City in Figure 4 shows an integrated centralised infrastructure for Road traffic congestion is a serious debili- energy, mobility, waste and agriculture. tation in the Sarpsborg area because of the Improving transportation times and high volume of private vehicles utilised for economies of scale are at the centre.

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Figure 2: Self-Sufficient Scenario

Figure 3: The Entrepreneurial City

Figure 4: The Hardware City

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Figure 5: The People’s City

The People’s City in figure 5 illustrates • “Where do you think, realistically, how social interaction could lead to de- Hafslundbyen could be 20 years from creased collective consumption and a now?” shorter working week with people working mostly from home. • “Where would you like to see Hafslundbyen, so that you would be Firstly, we tried to determine whether the informants had consistent views regarding willing to live there yourself?” Hafslundbyen. After presenting the four For each question, the informant would scenarios to the interviewees, we asked place a mark relevant to the grid and the them to mark on the analytical framework four extremes. Shortly, the framework with where they thought a conventional city the total markings will be provided and (such as Oslo) is situated. The theoretical framework consists of two axes. Along the discussed. X-axis from left to right are the opposing Secondly, the four scenarios we created functions of working versus living (Entre- had in total twenty-one concepts, con- preneural City versus People’s City). Along tained in rectangular boxes. We asked the the Y-axis from top to bottom are the op- interviewees to prioritise, choosing seven posing infrastructures of the centralised of those concepts they considered to be the versus decentralised system (Hardware highest priority and other seven they re- City versus Self-Sufficient City). garded as lowest priority. The remaining We next asked them to mark three points seven would be considered as neutral. We on the framework, one for each of the fol- asked explanation about the reasoning be- lowing questions: hind their choices to find out how people • “Where is a conventional city in Nor- saw future trends in living habits and tech- way, such as Oslo, situated today?” nology development.

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Analysis and results Here, the findings of the scenario technique and interviews are discussed. First, a summary of the results of the analytical framework exercise. Secondly, a summary of the feedback we received from the respondents on the concepts contained in the four scenarios.

Figure 6: Conventional City Framework A Conventional City

After presenting the four scenarios to the was probably due to a different under- interviewees, they started with the analyti- standing of centralised and decentralised cal framework exercise. infrastructure to those of Hafslund and Re- When placing a dot for a conventional searchers) with a slight shift towards a Norwegian city as of today, the general more liveable in city. opinion appears to be consistent through- Researchers presented a belief in a out all actors that Oslo currently seems to more decentralised and innovative view be a city with a centralised infrastructure of Hafslundbyen, catering to inhabi- and a more work-related function than living. tants who would prefer to spend more time living in the city rather than work- Hafslundbyen Realistically ing away from home. When placing the second dot, Hafslund- Figure 7: Hafslundbyen Realistically byen within 20 years in realistic terms, respondents are less clearly concentrated. Within Hafslund there are very different views about what the project will deliver, but the trend appears to be towards a more decentralised living infrastructure. The Public Administrators have a clear view that Hafslundbyen will deliver a centralised infrastructure (although we determined this

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Hafslundbyen Personal Wish When it comes to the concepts selected as high priority, waste management came in The personal views of informants were first place. We understand this responds to much more varied. the fact that waste is a big and complicated Within Hafslund ASA the trend seems to issue nowadays that has to be dealt with favour a more decentralised structure to- appropriately. Waste is energy, hence both wards living and working from home how- industrial and household waste can be used ever not all agree. for heat and power generation, to produce biogas and for the recycling industry. In second place came plus- energy houses. They were considered to be as “a must”, a key ingredient of any eco-city. The “Silicon Valley” concept came third. This has to do with the fact that the eco-city could become a place for the gathering of high grade technology, a centre for clean innovations. Mobility received the fourth position. Interviewees expressed their concern about Figure 8: Personal Hafslundbyen in 20 years the current high number of private cars in the streets; hence short distances should be Public Administration appear to favour a one of the main characteristics of an eco- good mixture of living and working func- city as to be able to move around it by bicy- tions within the city – so that there are no cle or simply by foot. “dead zones” through lack of inhabitants Finally, in the fifth place came transporta- within the city during the day or evening. tion. Informants from the public admini- Researchers this time also vary extremely stration found essential to develop a holis- with some favouring an equal mix of work tic transportation plan for Sarpsborg. They and living functional elements and stand- found it very attractive to have the oppor- alone energy production versus centralised tunity to commute inside Sarpsborg in just transport systems. 15 minutes or to Oslo in just 30 minutes, through fast trains. Feedback on concepts As regards to the concepts with least prior- Thanks to the prioritisation exercise, we ity, the favourite choice was neighbourly received feedback from each of the respon- interaction as it does not seem to go along dents on the 21 concepts contained in the with the culture and tradition of Norwe- four scenarios for an eco-city. gians.

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In second place, with equal scores, came The referred stakeholders are organised in agriculture, local food and cultural and four groups: sports facilities. In the case of the first and PA: Public Administration latter concepts the reason behind its choice H: Hafslund was that they were thought as large-scale R: Researchers actions. Interviewees saw local food as a SI: Sarpsborg Inhabitants restriction to their freedom of choice as Some of those quotes were expressed by regards to food; but also as something just one stakeholder, whereas others were really difficult to achieve given Norway’s expressed by more than one stakeholder. particular climatic conditions. We believe Table 1 depicts which stakeholders ex- this concept was misunderstood as we did pressed which quote, and if there were co- not mean that people in the eco-city were incidents. supposed to eat strictly and solely what was produced in their eco-farms. Thirdly, interviewees rejected the idea of Three scenarios for the eco- building new retail parks in the area as city Sarpsborg has already too many. Large- We now introduce three scenarios for the scale production of renewable energy was eco-city. The first two scenarios have a re- considered as the fourth least relevant con- gional and world scale. Features and driv- cept. Considering that Sarpsborg already ing forces of such scenarios are included. has a hydropower plant in place, people did A SWOT analysis was prepared for the re- not perceive new large scale investments in gional and world scenarios. SWOT is a such matter as necessary. strategic planning method that allows us to Finally, with equal scores, municipality evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Op- involvement, support to research and edu- portunities and Threats involved in cation and community property came in Hafslundbyen. Internal and external fac- fifth place. This might respond to the fact tors that are both favourable and unfa- that people do not perceive the involve- vourable for achieving the project are iden- ment of the local government as relevant tified. The SWOT is internalised in the ex- for the making and implementation of the plaining of the regional and world scenario eco-city in the first case and the tough and will provide Hafslund a more accurate competition nearby in the second one, con- and comprehensive view of the project, be- sidering the existence of a well established ing several components considered. university in Ås. Community property is Some key elements were chosen for these seen as a restriction to Norwegians free- scenarios in order to provide a general idea dom of choice and privacy. for each of them, but it is important to re- mark that their selection is not mandatory. Quotes Finally, we introduce a failure scenario that A summary of interesting quotes from the presents important aspects worth bearing different stakeholders we interviewed can in mind when planning and implementing be found in Table 1 in the following page. an eco-city.

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QUOTE PA H R SI There is a need to re-launch Sarpsborg’s identity; the city will turn 1000 years old in 2016. The eco-city could be something for Sarpsborg to be proud of. Sarpsborg has lower income, lower educated inhabitants and lower quality residential areas than average. Education is important. Potential for entrepreneurial city. There is no need for new large scale electricity investments in Sarpsborg. There is no need for more retails parks, Sarpsborg already has too many. Sarpsborg needs a holistic transportation plan. Potential for hardware city. The numbers of cars must be reduced. More pedestrian pathways and bikes lanes. Due to cultural reasons, Norwegians dislike co housing and neighbourly interaction. Norwegians’ favourite hobby is to build their own houses and they appreciate privacy. Today’s younger generations seem to be attached to the same customs of grown-ups. Local food is unrealistic. It is still necessary to get food from somewhere else. Highly motivated people are necessary for that (eco-farms). The eco-city should be a combination of entrepreneurial and hardware. The eco-city should be a combination of entrepreneurial and people’s city. The eco-city should be a combination of hardware and people’s city. The eco-city has to be a mix of commercial and housing. The eco-city should be a combination of entrepreneurial and people’s city, but the basis should be a mix of self-sufficient and hardware. The eco-city needs to be as profitable as possible. Still, The company could accept a much lower financial return from this project if the eco-city provides something extra that is truly valuable: image. The eco-city can be a good PR case for the company. Shared offices are underdeveloped today, they should part of the eco-city. People’s city is not possible. It is a good idea in theory but difficult to implement in Norway. The whole idea of a self-sufficient city is not possible or trustworthy but some of its elements are good to implement. Hafslund could find a new niche in high tech: potential for entrepreneurial city. Passive houses are a must in order to live in an eco-city, though they are too expensive. Bioclimatic architecture is a good and interesting concept. What makes an eco-city are green and public spaces

Hafslund could achieve CO2 neutrality only in the energy and transport sector.

When it comes to CO2 neutrality, it is necessary to have a look at the entire picture (water, waste, buildings, transport, roads, etc.) and reduce emissions drastically in all these sectors. Innovation is important. It is necessary that Hafslund comes up with something really good and groundbreaking in order to get approval as farmland is being transformed. Farmland is highly valued in Norway and hence a very controversial issue.

Table 1: Notable quotes from stakeholders

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Eco-city for the region local culture, heritage and ecological environment unique to Sarpsborg and Østfold. The proposed regional scenario looks at the By listening and understanding the needs driving forces from Østfold, Sarpsborg and of the many actors which could be involved Hafslund in Figure 1 – which could influ- in the development and use of Hafslund- ence Hafslundbyen’s development as a byen, the project could provide a very show case at the regional scale. The Eco- complementary as well as sustainable re- City for the Region is designed as a regional showcase. The project should utilise sponse to the following future driving life cycle assessments particularly concen- forces: trated on the design and construction • Growth of a more multicultural society phase to define the options of development through increased rates of immigra- best suited the local conditions while keep- tion and a need for a local identity for ing carbon emissions low. Sarpsborg; The ‘Eco-City for the Region’ recognises • Ambitious county targets to be carbon that future climate change policies will re- neutral by 2030 (partly through offset- quire an even stronger support role at the ting) – ahead of EU goals; local to regional level to reduce energy consumption. Through southerly orientated • Increased urbanisation with denser buildings with good insulation to trap in spatial structures to cater for the ex- heat and larger (insulated) windows to op- pected influx of people to the region timise the daylight lighting levels, the en- and consequently a loss of green ergy demand from a building can be de- spaces and biodiversity; creased. In this way Bioclimatic Architec- • Population grows by 100 000 persons ture can be used in housing to optimise the (by 2050), mainly larger younger gen- heat and daylight levels from the sun. erations and young families; Borregaard is expected to continue to sup- • Strong disincentives for private motor ply excess waste heat as District Heating to vehicle transport through toll stations the area although in the future there may and congestion zone charging (simi- be competition for waste as a fuel resource larly to Stockholm and London); and in this manner. • Continued supply excess of waste heat through the adjacent Borregaard in- District heating dustrial complex. Regional showcase The Regional showcase scenario involves social housing with a high content of shared key spaces, high resource efficiency, closed loop thinking on a local level and private renewable energy production. Integration with its local surrounds is crucial when considering an ecological city. The city should also be able to reflect the

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With more sustainable forms of transport Threats from external factors (SWOT) for envisioned for the future such features as an ‘Eco-City for the Region’. public pedestrian walkways and more bicycle trails are very likely. With increased Business case investment and reliability on public trans- The SWOT analysis in Table 2 identified port, commuting times will decrease be- the need to consider the entire life cycle of tween Oslo and Sarpsborg. Hafslundbyen from design through to use phase. Future social trends suggest larger urban areas and denser cities structures while Through ‘designed in’ greener lifestyles, Information and Communication Tech- regional environmental targets could be nologies (ICT) make it easier for work to be reached. By considering the development conducted from home, increasing leisure of Sarpsborg on the city scale Hafslund can time saved from commuting long distances complement and add to the city’s local from Sarpsborg to Oslo for instance. identity.

Expected larger mixes of different culture By utilising smart metering and monitor- backgrounds and coupled with an ageing ing the energy and carbon consumption of population means that Hafslundbyen the inhabitants, Hafslund could provide would need to deliver a strong social char- the community, Sarpsborg and Norway acter to incorporate these changes to soci- with an understanding of where consump- ety while giving Sarpsborg its much sought tion is highest. This data could provide the after local identity. means for a platform or baseline through Table 2 depicts the Strengths and Weak- which personal carbon trading could be- nesses of internal factors (Hafslund and come possible. (Strength 1 Æ Opportunity Hafslundbyen) and Opportunities and 1, 2 +5)

Table 2: SWOT analysis for the Regional showcase Strengths Weaknesses 1. Knowledge and experience in energy 1. Lack of construction skills to build pas- generation and distribution sive and plus housing 2. Largest distribution grid owner in 2. Divergence of the vision for Hafslund- Norway byen within company and amongst stakeholders 3. In-house knowledge of smart metering 3. Creating a fixed infrastructure that does not allow system upgrades Opportunities Threats 1. Development of stricter targets in climate 1. Future trends towards decentralisation change policy will compete with district heating and power supply 2. Need to reduce energy demand 2. Biodiversity policy in Norway is a con- 3. Need to increase biodiversity straint for the development of Hafslund- 4. Need for more frequent and faster mobil- byen due to the loss of agricultural land ity 5. Demonstrating higher energy efficiency potential

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Through higher energy efficiency, Hafslund climate change targets and desires to could use greener electricity (hydropower) contribute to the process of avoiding a to substitute oil in the transportation sec- global warming of more than 2 de- tor for electric cars, trams and in the future grees; also for heavier trucks and buses. This • Geo-political conflicts: decreased sup- could lead to reduced emissions and in- ply of non-renewable energy and lar- creased energy security at the regional ger share of decentralised energy gen- level. (Strength 2 + Threat 1 +Weakness 3 eration within national and regional Æ Opportunity 1) borders; Having a visionary ecological city in Sarps- • Opening up of energy markets: in- borg that the citizens could be proud of creased transnational trading of e.g. would enhance the sense of local identity electricity, natural gas, waste (as well By closing down and greening over the as carbon permits); landfill at the entrance to the city, the aes- thetics and green spaces have both in- • New regulatory environment: Stronger creased. If Hafslund can prove the devel- EU governance and more incentives opment of the eco-city will introduce more for ‘clean’ techniques and penalising biodiversity into the area then the con- traditional fuel sources for GHG emis- straint on developing on agricultural land sions; should be lifted. (Threat 2 Æ Opportunity • Improved clean technology: Small- 3) and large-scale energy production as By creating shared office spaces and pro- well as energy efficiency techniques viding these with the newest infrastructure become more cost-effective, particu- within ICT, Hafslund would create busi- larly as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and ness opportunities while also diverting China) countries compete fiercely with commuter traffic. Hafslundbyen could pro- Western countries for clean tech; and vide the inhabitants with the means to re- • Need for Norway to diversify economy: duce their carbon footprint by not having Shift towards a more knowledge-based to commute to work every day. Future pos- economy. sibilities could be to expand the infrastructure to other areas. (Weakness 3 + Oppor- Global showcase tunity 1) The Global showcase scenario: high re- Eco-city for the world source efficiency, closed loop thinking on a local level, renewable energy utilisation. From a macro-scale perspective – covering the World, Europe and Norway in Figure 1 In order to make Hafslundbyen a global – several relevant driving forces of future showcase of an integrated sustainable city trends are detected: area, the project should cover all life cycle phases. From the design phase, the con- • Growth of global population as well as struction phase, the use phase to the end- the share of affluent people: increased of-life phase. This implies that the eco-city resource constraints; should not merely be constructed and next • Increased environmental concerns: perceived as ‘project completed’. A sustain-

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able city quarter requires a flexible infra- ers could try to save energy and consume structure and design of the city, which will energy (e.g. washing the laundry) during make it easier to further upgrade the eco- off peak hours instead. city functioning in time. The user’s phase On a global scale, a study by Ernst & Young encompasses how human behavioural [6] expects that power and utilities compa- changes lead to lower environmental im- nies will invest approximately 147 EUR bil- pact and greater sustainable good. The lion in developing smart energy systems. end-of-life cycle does not refer to the end of By charging electrical vehicle with their the city, but the need for continuous im- own solar PVs or micro wind turbines, provement through monitoring and report- costs for transportation as well as the GHG ing of the targets set. emissions can be reduced significantly. A The ‘Eco-City for the World’ recognises light-rail train between Sarpsborg and that future trends will reshape the business Fredrikstad could optimise the public environment. At present the power and transportation. utilities supply energy, which is generated centralised, in a one-directional flow to As Norway would need to move to a more consumers. However in 2030, the state of knowledge-based society, the creation of a the world might have changed to a larger “Clean Tech Cluster” would function as a share of decentralised generation of clean centre for innovation in technologies, energy – e.g. solar PV, solar water heating products, and services which lead to high and micro CHP. Passive and Plus Houses eco-efficiency levels. These optimise the generate their own energy through decen- use of natural resources while significantly tralised energy production and give cus- lowering the cost and hence increase prof- tomers more control over their energy, but itability. These innovations can range from also a consequently higher intermittent renewable energy generation techniques to capacity. The house will also make an effi- energy-efficient buildings, smart mobility cient use of the lightning and achieve venti- and waste management. Partnerships in lation with heat recovery. the area of information and communica- tions technology (ICT) in the form of data Smart energy systems are a new intelligent mining and data warehousing are found in technology, – consisting of smart grids, the eco-city. smart meters and smart appliances – that could provide an adjustable and flexible Already existent and future technologies infrastructure. The smart grid balances the will allow eco-cities to make the best use of demand for energy demand with genera- shared key spaces. Smart jobs will permit tion, also referred to as ‘above the meter’. people to work from home more often House owners produce energy for their through shared office spaces. Rather than own purposes as well as sell excess energy working at home behind the computer, back to smart grids. Consumers use smart people will share offices in the urban area meters for their energy consumption, cre- to create a similar working environment ating a two-way flow of energy and data with social interactions. Through tele- (‘below the meter’). Energy companies conferencing, people do not need to travel could benefit from more flexibility to man- distances by car or airplane, reducing the age demand and supply, whereas consum- carbon footprint.

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Strengths Weaknesses 1. Knowledge and experience in energy 1. Divergence of the vision for Hafslund- generation and distribution byen within company and amongst stakeholders 2. Largest distribution grid owner in Norway 2. Focus on creation of a fixed infrastructure that does not allow system up- 3. In-house knowledge of smart metering grades Opportunities Threats 1. Growing need for energy service provid- 1. More decentralised energy generation of ers (smart metering and smart grids) house owners à less control by utility 2. Increasing demand for smart techniques 2. More intermittent capacity 3. Need for more frequent and faster 3. Potential to underestimate the future of mobility renewable energy and clean tech 4. Demonstrating higher energy efficiency potential

Table 3: SWOT analysis for the Global showcase

Table 3 depicts the Strengths, Weaknesses Decentralised energy production could in- of internal factors (Hafslund and crease the energy supply. The technologies Hafslundbyen) and Opportunities and for solar panels and other small-scale en- Threats from external factors (SWOT) for ergy generators will improve and taxes an ‘Eco-City for the World’. could be placed on CO2 emissions, making these techniques ever more likely to be im- Business case plemented in the near future. In Norway, From the SWOT analysis several business most electricity is produced from hydro- cases for developing Hafslundbyen become power, making CO2 taxes not very effective. visible. An external threat (Threat 3) for underes- The SWOT analysis identified that a larger timating the future of renewable energy share of decentralised energy generation of and clean tech, could be reduced by setting house owners could lead to reduced control up a Clean Tech Cluster, where Hafslund- by energy companies. However, utilities byen could learn from implementing new are likely to play a strong role in the match- techniques in an adaptable and flexible in- ing of supply and demand of energy. The frastructure (overcoming Weakness 2). front runners will connect the entire smart Second, a new business model with a ser- value chain, from grid, meters and appli- vice feature could transform the energy ance to intelligent homes. (Threat 1 + sector from producers of energy (selling Strength 1 Æ Opportunity 1) kWh) to providing a ‘comfortable living The smart energy system could make the environment’ to consumers. For example, current grid more efficient and better at energy companies would provide the ser- feeding renewable and decentralised en- vice of heating at a constant temperature ergy. (Threat 2 + Strength 2 Æ Opportu- per m3. This would be a business opportunity 2) nity for Hafslund because it would expand

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the value chain towards energy services. ‘Over-optimistic’ assumption in the This can facilitate least life cycle cost think- behavioural change of the users: The ing by helping consumers to outsource future inhabitants were not able to partici- their energy efficiency decisions. (Oppor- pate in the planning process, while the in- tunity 1) formation on how to live sustainably in the new area were only provided through bro- Partnerships in the field of ICT for cus- chures (both in Bo01 and Hammarby tomer relationship and managements are Sjöstad). In order for the city to function needed. Other third parties for setting up sustainably, it was suggested that the in- smart mobility – e.g. a light-rail – could habitants get a one day training using the lead to more frequent and faster mobility. new technique and/or to enable them par- (Opportunity 3) ticipate more actively in the planning proc- Furthermore, energy efficiency feasibility ess. Another way could be to facilitate be- could be perceived by the general public havioural change through improved resi- and industries as an energy security en- dential infrastructure. hancer and therefore require the services of Lack of understanding of the difficul- an energy company offering such products. ties of the building industry to build (Opportunity 1 + 4) passive houses or plus energy houses: Could be avoided through im- Increased energy efficiency (Opportunity proved communication, workshops and the 4) could lead to a surplus of clean energy elaboration of clear criteria and working that can be exported and hence, a result in directives (Bo01 and Hammarby Sjöstad). a greater revenues and profits. Inconsistent Quality Management The buildings also reach higher energy effi- System: If the targets are vague, there will ciency levels, which could capture govern- be gaps leading to misinterpretation. This ment support for obtaining grants and sub- can be avoided if the Quality Management sides for the development and implemen- System is carefully reviewed before imple- tation of new techniques. (Opportunity 2 + mentation (Bo01). 4) Excluding stakeholder groups and/or Smart metering could demonstrate that lack of recognition of needs and ex- efficient living and working is possible. pectations of different stakeholders: (Strength 3) Not every member of the community is required to participate in the decision making process. However, workshops can be Failure Scenarios arranged to gather feedback from under- In order to avoid certain traps in the plan- represented stakeholders. Excluding cer- ning and implementation process, Table 4 tain members in the decisional process highlights some examples from Swedish could lead to bad PR (Östra Hamnen in case studies in Hammarby Sjöstad (Stock- Västerås). holm), Västra Hamnen (Malmö) and Östra Hamnen (Västerås) [4]. Table 4 is supple- Certain Stakeholders may dominate mented by comments that further elabo- the planning and design of the Eco rate some of the cause and effect scenarios. city to serve their own purposes:

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Planners need to systematically reassess sustainable city with ambitious energy their own role in the planning and imple- goals and targets needs consider the pref- mentation phases. The risk of designing an erences of the people living there. There- eco-city focusing too much on one interest fore, it is essential to monitor energy con- can be avoided through a critical review of sumption and evaluate energy efficiency the Quality Management System before for future improvements. Effective external starting the project (Östra Hamnen and communication, both at the national and Bo01). international level, contributes to build No measuring of energy targets and/ trustworthiness and transparency of the or following up of the results: A company (Bo01 and Hammarby Sjöstad). . Table 4: Failure Scenarios for the planning and implementation process

CAUSE EFFECT Too high investments in new techniques and fancy ‐ Risk of negative public perception architecture ‐ No mix of social structure ‐ Difficult to replicate “Over-optimistic” assumption of behavioural change ‐ Energy savings or sustainability goals not of users achieved ‐ Negative PR in media Lack of understanding of the difficulties of the build- ‐ High investment cost ing industry to build passive houses or plus energy ‐ Lack of quality houses ‐ Energy saving targets not achieved Inconsistent quality management system ‐ Lack of quality ‐ Energy targets not achieved Lack of a common understanding of terms and con- ‐ Lack of quality cepts among different stakeholders (e.g. ‘sustainabil- ‐ Energy goals not achieved ity’) ‐ Critic from media Excluding stakeholder groups in the planning and ‐ Bad press coverage – bad news sells better than implementation process good ‐ No change in the behaviour of the “users” ‐ Delays in building the city Certain stakeholders may dominate the planning and ‐ The eco-city may not be rationally planned to design of the eco-city to serve their own purposes serve the needs and expectations of all stakeholder groups ‐ Lock-in effect ‐ No international showcase Lack of a common vision ‐ Too many compromises – weak project ‐ Delays in planning and implementation Lack of integration of the eco-city into the surround- ‐ Criticism from the local stakeholders ings ‐ Bad PR ‐ People not living and moving there Life cycle perspective not included in the construction ‐ Lack of quality phase ‐ Energy targets not achieved ‐ No showcase Modest design of the eco-city in terms of sustainability ‐ Lack of support from the public administration ‐ Problems with planning approval No monitoring of energy targets and/or follow-ups of ‐ Energy targets are not achieved the results ‐ Bad PR Time constraints when constructing the eco-city ‐ Houses with bad energy recovery ‐ Critic from the media ‐ Energy targets are not achieved

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Life cycle perspective not included in alistic in such a project but rather that the the construction phase: By designing an value lay in the good ‘green’ PR with cus- eco-city to be carbon neutral with zero tomers. emission, the phase which creates the most waste and emissions (excluding the use The second objective to find out how people phase) should be targeted. The construction within the company and other stakeholders phase would benefit from a life cycle as- perceived a potential eco-city, the scenario sessment (LCA) at the start – before ten- exercise and feedback showed a very mixed ders contracts are even considered. The result from all actors likely to be involved as ability to source material responsibly, in- well as within Hafslund itself. We would corporate reclaimed materials, construct recommend that for the Hafslundbyen pro- buildings with longer life spans (and hence ject to develop further, a clearer vision is reducing maintenance costs) and construct essential to be communicated within the with new technologies for intelligent build- design team and all other departments in- ings, will all help set the standard for good volved. quality and visionary housing. For the third objective we raised the awareness on the potential function of Hafslund- byen as an eco-city, awareness of the function of infrastructure and certain design concepts. By considering future business models of how and to whom the eco-city could add value, Hafslund can incorporate good sustainable practice throughout the process chain. Through continued monitoring (and regular transparent reporting) of the consumption behaviour of inhabitants through smart metering Hafslund could provide advice (consultancy service) as to how best to implement new features Interviewing local inhabitants in Sarpsborg (technologies, infrastructure).

A good showcase is needed to prove that a Summary potential eco-city could reduce environ- The aim of this project was to create an un- mental impacts of an urban community in derstanding on how a potential eco-city the future. Through continually upgrading could create value for the company as well and improving Hafslundbyen’s energy effi- as contribute to the sustainable good. ciency, the city then becomes a good future example of what new city and suburban ex- For the first objective, to understand pansion projects should aim for when con- Hafslund ASA motivation for such a pro- sidering the sustainable good as driven by ject, the interviews illustrated that a large expected stricter environmental and cli- profit margin was neither expected nor re- mate change policies.

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Raghnhild Marie Bakkevig, Electricity Grid, Hafslund References ASA [1] Bandhold, H. & Lindgren, Mats. (2003). Scenario Knut Rikkard Bakken, Electricity Grid, Hafslund ASA planning, the link between future and strategy. Pal- grave Macmillan. Trond Nedregård, CEO Telecom, Hafslund ASA [2] Miller, G.T. & Spoolman, S.E. (2009). Living in Åsgeir Helland, Corporate Social Responsibility, the environment: Concepts, connections and solu- Hafslund ASA tion. Belmont, USA: Brooks/Cole. Pål Mikkelsen, CEO at Hafslund Miljøenergi AS [3] Globalis. (2002). Norway: Ecological footprint. Øyvind Nilsen, Executive Director – Strategy and Retrieved from: http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/ Development, Hafslund ASA [4] Green, A. (2006). Hållbar energianvändning i Ragnav Maalen-Johansen, Smart Metering, Hafslund svensk stadsplanering. Linköping: Unitryck. ASA [5] Eurostat. (2009). Electricity prices for first se- Steinav Akelsen, Smart Metering, Hafslund ASA mester. Retrieved on the 23 April 2010 from, http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPU Øyvind Aarvig, Program director “Energy in Build- B/KS-QA-09-048/EN/KS-QA-09-048-EN.PDF ings” – Cities of the Environment, Ministry of Envi- ronment [6] Ernst & Young. (2010). Seeing energy differently. Retrieved from: Charlotte Iversen (Cities of the Future, Buildings and http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Industries/Power--- Energy in Sarpsborg), Sarpsborg Municipality Utilities/Seeing-energy-differently Anne Elisabeth Ramtvedt (Cities of the Future, Land [7] IEA. (2009). Key World Energy Statistics. Use and Transport in Sarpsborg), Sarpsborg Munici- pality Tore Hansen, Sarpsborg Municipality List of people interviewed Helge Kolstad, Østfold County Torleif Bramryd & Michael Johansson, Department of Environmental Strategy, Helsingborg Campus, Prof. Kine Halvorsen Thorén, Landscape Architec- Lund University ture, Sustainability & Planning, Ås University Gunnar Gjörtz, Senior Vice President, Treasury, Prof. Arve Heistad, Mathematical Sciences and Tech- Hafslund ASA nology, Ås University

The development area with the old smelting works in the background (Photo by Jarl-Morten Andersen)

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Integrating Sustainability in Urban Planning, the Remodelling of a District in Shanghai By Gregory Eve, Kai He, Mathilde Mansoz, Solomon Asea

Developing Shanghai However, there are a number of social problems that co-exist with the impressive Shanghai, a city of contrasts statistics: uneven wealth distribution, poverty, air pollution and corruption are some Shanghai is China’s industrial, financial examples. According to the BBC, Shanghai and commercial centre. Equally distant gives the impression of being the first, sec- from Beijing and Hong Kong and strategi- ond and the third world co-existing to- cally located on the East China Sea, it is gether inside China [3]. expected to become the world’s second largest port after Singapore by the end of 2010. The presence of a large number of Total Area 6 340.5 km2 industries and commercial activities makes Urban Area 2 643 km² it the country’s most influential city in Water Area 122 km² terms of commerce and finance. It is also China’s largest [1] and wealthiest city [2]. Total estimated popula- 20 million (1.5% of tion China total)

Floating population 4 million Shanghai, view from the Pearl Tower 134.2 billion EUR Total GDP [4] (4.9% China’s total) 14.3% (national aver- GDP growth rate [4] age, 11.4%) 7 306.5 EUR (national GDP per capita [4] average, 2 087.5)

Table 1 – Shanghai by numbers

Environmental issues and current action Air Shanghai is one of Asia’s most polluted cities [5]. Air pollution in China kills 656 000 people annually, against the 41 200 estimated for the United States [6]. Its air quality has however improved significantly since 2003, particularly with the hosting of the Expo 2010 being a driving force. But much improvement is needed, starting

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from the setting of stringent standards. Be- created to treat sewage but the quality of tween 2003 and 2008, the city enjoyed water remains poor [7]. 85% of days within the year with good air Non-point source pollution from agricul- quality (levels I and II)1. This was due to ture due to persistent fertiliser use has led the upgrade of obsolete technologies in in- to eutrophication of lakes and rivers. The dustries, removal of coal boilers from the challenge is to reduce and treat industrial, urban centre, promotion of public trans- municipal and agriculture discharge and port, wide use of electric scooters even regional cooperation with neighbouring among the poor and increased use of re- provinces. The Chinese authorities have newable energy including supply coming invested a lot of resources to have clean from the Three Gorges Hydro Power Dam, water although, according to UNEP, the and newly build wind and solar power overall water quality of rivers and lakes in plants. Shanghai “still leaves much room for improvement” [7]. Water Shanghai lies on the southeast side of the Green spaces Yangtze Delta and therefore contains many The Shanghai municipality has shown rivers, canals and lakes. Main water great concern for green spaces and has de- sources are Hangpu River, Suzhou River, veloped a Master Plan for the years 1999 - Changjiang River and Tai Lake, which is 2020, according to which land use for ur- the most important lake, situated about 80 ban development of green spaces and for- km from the city. Rainfall is also a key wa- ests should cover one third of the total land ter source, with UNEP estimates at 1 238 of Shanghai. mm annual precipitation in 2008 [7]. Green corridors have been created along Shanghai is also listed by UN-Habitat as the Huangpu River, Suzhou Creek and Ya- one of the cities in the developing world nan highway. New public parks increased likely to face a water crisis in the near fu- the green space for citizens from about 4 ture, which will lead to acute clean water m² per capita in 2000 to more than 12 m² shortages, mostly due to increasing popula- in 2008. The greening rate has increased to tion, sea water intrusion and pollution 38% from 2000 to 2008. Shanghai was [8a]. awarded the title of ‘National Garden City’ Consumption of water is mainly attributed by the government in 2004 [8b]. to coal-fired plants and factories (56%), Around Shanghai important efforts have agriculture (14%), municipal/public ser- been made towards reforestation and af- vices (9%) and (10%) for domestic use. By forestation (e.g. Chongming Dongping the end of 2008, Shanghai had 50 sewage Forest Park, Haiwan Forest Park). In treatment plants with a capacity to treat 2008, there were 95 000 hectares of for- 75.5% of its sewage. Wetlands were further ested land, forest coverage rate was 11.6%,

a four-fold increase from 2000 [8a]. The

1 China Environmental Monitoring Centre Shanghai Landscaping Administration Bu- classifies Level I as excellent and pollution reau also started a programme in 2003 to readings not exceeding 50 & Level II as fairly implement green roofs. Green roofs in good and readings in range of 51 - 100. Shanghai currently cover 700 000 m², with

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an annual future target of 300 000 m² and a ties, the Shanghai Jing’an Planning and potential of 19 million m² [9]. Land Administration Bureau (referred from now on as Planning Bureau) and pro- Nature reserves have also been created, fessionals were invited for lectures and in- such as the Dongtan Wetland Protection terviews. Area, which follows the principles of the Convention on Biological Diversity. These The aim of the project is to develop new policies also contributed to increase biodi- proposals towards the creation of sustain- versity, there are now 298 different species able urban features for a city, with a block of birds and 202 classes of fish in Dongtan in the Jing’an district of Shanghai (referred [7]. as Jing’an 103) as the case study. The site is undergoing a redevelopment plan that Energy shall transform it into a commercial area. Shanghai, like most of China, is dependent Six mixed teams of students from different on coal for its electricity needs. The reli- universities and areas of study were ance on coal has greatly reduced over the formed. Each team was expected to present years though, down to 51.5% of primary a proposal, for the redevelopment of the energy consumption in 2007 from 64.5% in area, which should somehow inspire the 2001. With the industry still consuming Planning Bureau and at the same time 75% of total electricity produced, several comply with given requirements such as measures were put in place by the munici- the Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The authors pality to reduce the environmental impacts were distributed in four different groups associated with coal-based produced elec- and acted as environmental consultants in tricity. These include the closure of small the development of the proposals. and older power plants, 533 with a total The proposals, which should be concrete capacity of 14.4 GW, which were replaced and implementable, will be evaluated by by less polluting ones with better technolo- the Planning Bureau and will be presented gies that increased efficiency. UNEP esti- during the upcoming Expo 2010 in Shang- mates that the old plants burnt 30 to 50% hai on July 1-2. more coal than the modern high technology ones per unit of energy produced [7]. Expo 2010 Shanghai The Expo 2010 Shanghai, whose theme is The project ‘Better City Better Life’, will take place be- Planning for Sustainable Urban Develop- tween May 1st and October 31st 2010 in ment is the name of the project the authors Shanghai. The key message behind the took part to. It involves a total of 50 stu- theme of the Expo is to show exciting inno- dents with diverse backgrounds from five vations and initiatives that will ultimately institutions: the Royal Institute of Tech- lead to achieving better living conditions nology (KTH) based in Stockholm, the In- and more sustainable urban environments. ternational Institute for Industrial Envi- Over 70 million people from more than ronmental Economics (IIIEE, Lund Uni- 200 countries are expected to attend [10]. versity, Sweden) and the Department of Architecture (Lund University, Sweden), as District and site in focus well as Shanghai’s Tongji and Fudan uni- Jing’an district, centrally located in down- versities. Professors from these universi- town Shanghai is the project area. Like

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Shanghai, the district is one characterised by deep contrasts. A high concentration of modern architecture and infrastructures co-exists with traditional dwelling settle- ments called lilongs, inhabited by some of Shanghai’s poorest inhabitants.

Geographical location of site The project site is located in the northern part of Jing’an district, north to Changping Road, south to Kangding Road, west to Changde Road and east to Xikang Road. It is 1.1 kilometres away from Mei Tai Heng, Jing’an 103 site location in Shanghai the central business district in Jing’an. The (Source: Shanghai Jing’an Planning and Land Administration Bureau, 2009) areas in proximity of the site see many residential buildings, but works are in pro- gress for the construction of 200 meters A sustainability analysis high rises for commercial and office use. The evaluation of the sustainability of such The metro station of Line 7 and its ancil- a project is quite complex and depends on lary facility can be found on the western many variables. Furthermore, it has not yet side. Two thousands households currently been defined how the reconstruction will live in the 3.4 hectares area. be carried out and no specific project has An alley in the site been chosen so far. Under such premises, this section presents some generic considerations and suggestions divided according to the three classical pillars of sustainability: economic, social and environmental.

Economic perspective The project is clearly driven by economic opportunities. Land value in Shanghai is very high and the surface occupied by the lilong structures will be monetised by re- styling existent structures and especially by rebuilding high rises for commercial use. The Planning Bureau mentioned that the municipality will roughly make a twofold profit. The economic convenience of the project is clear if accounting direct costs, but a complete analysis should also evaluate the indirect costs coming from the social and environmental dimensions. Redis- tribution issues (i.e. how the profits will be shared and reinvested, who gains and who

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loses) are a very significant aspect but do built Dutch cultural centre) creating mar- not alter the overall convenience of the ginalisation. Postings placed within the site project. These considerations are related to are displayed to encourage the residents to the social dimension and are targeted in move as soon as possible. the following paragraph.

Social perspective The rapidly changing urban landscape of Shanghai strongly affects the social structures and the life of residents, threatening cultural heritage and forcing a shift from traditional to alien lifestyles. These aspects can, however, be compensated by better living conditions provided by the improvement of infrastructures. The demolition of Shanghai’s lilongs, such as the Jing’an 103 site, undermines the social fabric of the communities. Most low ‘The sooner you move, the quicker the city will income residents have spent much of their develop’, says this municipality’s posting on the site lives in these houses, which were built from the 1920s onwards. As the city grows, they are either obliged to relocate within the Lilongs have been designed in a way to al- city, or to move to rural areas, making low easy interaction between residents, space for modern buildings. Typically the creating a strong community life. In Chi- Shanghai municipality buys the properties nese, li means neighbourhood and long at a rate of 10 000 RMB (1 095 EUR) per means lanes. House doors are open most of square meter, while in neighbouring rede- the time. Housewives wash their laundry in velopments the price for a square meter the alleys’ basins, or share a washing ma- reaches 45 000 RMB (4 925 EUR) on aver- chine. There are a number of local shops, age. A single house of 12 m² would bring to services and small businesses such as hair- its landlord 120 000 RMB (13 130 EUR), dressers, groceries, tea shops or restau- which would only allow the purchase of rants. approximately 3 m² in the new develop- Residents Committees were promulgated ment. Furthermore, the municipality gains by the Democratic Socialist Party in the a considerable profit in the operation, by 1950s. They act as leading administrative selling each square meter for 30 000 RMB bodies and report information from the (3 280 EUR) on average. By resisting the Party to the residents. They also ensure relocation residents can sometimes receive social structure in neighbourhoods. People a better compensation, especially if the become members of the committees municipality is pressing for the demolition. through an election process. Today with The site is confined between high rise the widespread use of high rises and the buildings and non accessible centres new fast pace of life, the role and the struc- guarded by policemen (such as the newly ture of these committees are changing.

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They tend to become landlord committees They then sell this waste in a central loca- and less care is provided to the community. tion of the city. After being pre-sorted, they are loaded on trucks that take them to a These houses, however, often have bad in- huge sorting centre outside of Shanghai. frastructures, providing low living condi- Such a process of collecting waste, driven tions and poor sanitation. The oldest li- by economic necessity, appears to be effec- longs do not have toilets and people have tive. However it is not easily practicable in to use buckets instead. There is no hot wa- areas with high rises gated residences. ter. People use gas cookers installed on the Combined with awareness on waste recy- ground floor nearby the entrance to heat it cling and inspired collection processes, this and to cook. Relocation could thus be tradition may offer some sustainable solu- beneficial for the residents. The concilia- tions to the problem of waste for the city. tion of the needs of the local government Similarly, the habit of sharing washing ma- with the needs of the residents represents a chines within the lilongs could be exported difficult challenge [11]. to the new developments and integrated in Ironically, the traditional way of life that the design and functions of the buildings as remains in lilongs does have sustainable it is done in Sweden. aspects. Integrating and adapting them to ‘modern’ life styles would also contribute to Environmental perspective preserve the cultural heritage and memory It is not possible to evaluate the environ- of those districts. mental impacts of a project that has not been defined yet. Besides of not having the A good example comes from the waste col- opportunity to present quantitative data, lection and sorting. Plastics, papers, wood the qualitative analysis is also constrained. and metals are collected and piled on their Nevertheless presenting a list of environ- three-wheeled carts by informal collectors, mental aspects to be considered in the who signal their presence by ringing a bell. choice and implementation of the project can be useful. The purpose is to supply some general concise guidelines meant to inspire the improvements of the project’s environmental performance. The aspects have been grouped according to the life cycle of the structures and are presented in Table 2.

Traditional waste collection three-wheeled bicycle

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Recommendation for Area of impact General recommendation Shanghai

Typically a small fraction of Minor problem in Shanghai Energy whole life cycle but intensive for low rises, structures are hammered down by workers

Demolition Dust, fine particles and some Main concerns for workers Air Pollution of existent heavy metals but also for surrounding ar- structures eas

Waste Materials should be reused when Old linings can be made of possible high quality bricks

Shanghai is a huge construc- Noise Pollution Reduce when possible tion site. Could improve living quality

Little data available, monitor- Energy-intensive (still small if ing and benchmarking pro- Energy compared to use phase), on site grams opportunities. Im- Construction generators provements expected to be of new cost efficient and improve air buildings quality

Construction Refurbish structures and reuse For new structures (high Material materials if possible rises) prioritise locally produced materials

Energy-efficient structures lead Increasing problem in to large savings in long run. Shanghai, especially because Natural ventilation, solar cooling of air conditioning, but not Energy interesting options demanding regulation. Room for smart metering programs Centralised solutions for heating and benchmarking between and cooling different activities.

Devices such as air mixing taps Water is not drinkable in to reduce consumption, water Shanghai. Disinfection de- Water collection and reuse of grey water vices in the area could im- for low quality uses Use phase prove sanitation levels. Closed loop local water treatment

Great potential for biogas production in Shanghai (52% of waste is organic fraction). Beyond waste minimisation, Still 23% gap of safe disposal. waste sorting and recycling allow Waste Minimise impacts from in- resource optimisation and re- cinerators with better sorting. newable energy production Educational programs needed but informal collectors are an available work- force.

Table 2: Main environmental aspect related to the redevelopment of a built area. General recommendations and specific observations related to Shanghai’s context. Sources: Dancouse, 2006 [12], Ortiz, 2010 [13], Xing, 2008 [14], Dong, 2005 [15], Naukkarinen, 2009 [16], UNEP, 2010 [8]

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Increasing green spaces in the city not only spaces in a homogeneous way. On the improves social interactions but also has other hand, the limited and fixed availabil- beneficial environmental effects. Air quality of space creates strong economic oppor- ity is locally improved and heat islands are tunities for the district authorities to rede- curbed. The same considerations apply to velop the areas by rebuilding higher value the introduction of green roofs, which also spaces, also accounting for the very high can help regulating rainwater drainage and pressure and demand they are facing. Typi- naturally lower the temperature of build- cally the FAR is raised, more spaces for ings during summer. commercial use are introduced and public spaces are minimised. The districts’ bu- Positive impacts coming from the redevel- reaus can try to influence these processes opment of the area also include the trans- by setting restrictions and requirements for portation system. Helping interconnections the developer’s projects. and improving the service quality of public mass transit will translate into indirect en- Governance towards sustainability vironmental benefits. When it comes to environmental policies, Indirect positive impacts will arise also national and municipal approaches vary. from the activities that will be hosted in the For example, national building standards area. It would be possible to give priority to in terms of energy efficiency trace back to ‘green’ companies or more sustainable ac- 1984, while Shanghai updated and en- tivities such as markets of local producers. forced more stringent requirements. Of This could be done either through direct course the efforts can appear not very sub- incentives or by destining a fraction of the stantial if compared to Nordic countries available spaces to activities that follow standards, and the situation gets even predefined criteria. worse if we look at waste and water management systems. Nevertheless some pilot Governance and local cases, such as in the Xintiandi area of conditions Governance on city development ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE IN CHINA The urban development of Shanghai’s region is firmly controlled and directed. A The national environmental agency of China is broad spectrum of regulations, such as the the “State Environmental Protection Adminis- definition of an outer green ring limiting tration” (SEPA). Its role has been traditionally the expansion and sprawl of the city, is weak, often bypassed by higher governmental agencies. Local governments have their “own used. More specific indications are prom- agendas” [17]. In addition, due to the growing ulgated under a neighbourhood approach concern on sustainable issues, local groups and philosophy. The intention is to develop the international Non-Governmental Organisations units of the city in order to make them in- (NGOs) play an active role in sustainable governance. NGOs such as Friends of Nature tegrated and independent at the same time, and the Worldwatch Institute are now avoiding excessive migrations of people cooperating with the Chinese government on through the city. This can happen by dis- environmental matters [17]. And public tributing residential structures, offices, protests, albeit risky, slowly start to have some commercial activities, cultural and social effects on governance.

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Shanghai, shed some light on the city’s fu- extremely imbalanced, with urban centres ture development. driving the growth and attracting people from rural areas. Local officers of the Planning Bureau dem- onstrated interest in new ideas coming Chinese government and urban residents from foreign urban planning experiences. are aware and concerned about environ- Besides, they showed commitment towards mental issues, such as the high level of air sustainability issues. pollution. Being healthy and having a healthy family is a very high concern for Divergence between central and Chinese people. Therefore health could be local governments the key for raising environmental aware- A good example of divergence between ness and influencing policy making. And central government and local government sustainability is a source of business oppor- can be reported from the lectures about tunities, both at an investment level and Shanghai’s transport system. While the from a life cycle perspective. To reach the central government is subsidising the car long term goal of 6% of renewable energy industry and pressures for road infrastruc- in the energy mix by 2020, China invest- tures, Shanghai’s municipality does not ments are growing in the renewable energy really go along with it. For example, in or- sector. According to Bloomberg New En- der to reduce traffic congestions which ac- ergy Finance [18], the investments in re- companied the city’s enrichment, Shanghai newable energy (mostly wind) in China in- began to regulate the number of new li- creased from 17.5 billion EUR in 2008 to censed plates from 1986. Local government 26 billion EUR in 2009, whereas they have started using auctions to sell new licenses. decreased in the United States from 24 bil- The average license plate price in Shanghai lion EUR to 14 billion EUR. in February 2010 reached the record of 38 620 RMB (4 245 EUR), 309 RMB At a citizen level, the majority of people higher than January’s price. Furthermore, interviewed in and around the Jing’an 103 the greatest share of the revenues is rein- site are mainly concerned with the level of vested in public transportation, e.g. the air pollution and to a less extent with water metro. In the meantime the central gov- quality. A foreigner who has been living in ernment keeps encouraging the private car Shanghai for the past 10 years was alarmed market as the 2009 revision of the Auto- by the level of air pollution and according motive Industry Development Policy to him, air pollution measurements are fal- proves. sified by the Shanghai’s municipality. But contrarily to most Chinese interviewees, he Chinese perception of acknowledged the efforts made by the mu- environmental issues nicipality in providing green spaces. The The perception of sustainability varies in a city, despite its high density, contains a fair country characterised by huge social and amount of greeneries (see introduction). It regional inequalities. In Shanghai for ex- was observed through interviews that peo- ample, the standard of living ranges from ple would like to live in a more environ- luxury to extreme poverty. One can have a mentally friendly surrounding. Neverthe- meal for more than 300 EUR or for less less, a significant majority is not necessar- than 1 EUR. The country’s development is ily ready to contribute to it, either finan-

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cially or physically (e.g. through the main- veloping sustainability oriented ‘closed- tenance of green roofs). Finally, parks play loop’ projects thus become cost-efficient an important role in people’s life. A wide and appealing, especially if the interested range of activities take place in parks such area is quite extensive. When the market is as Tai Chi, calligraphy, birds clubs, dancing fragmented between government, develop- clubs or opera singing. In that context, ers, constructors and final users, the condi- green roofs are seen more as a decoration tions for such investments are met very than an area to be experienced. seldom.

The head of the Jing’an 103 site’s Residents Committee turned down our interview re- quest, explaining that she felt that her opinion would not make a difference in the decision making of the municipality and government. The citizens seem to have a strong feeling of lack of empowerment.

The concept of sustainability in China is to be seen within its cultural and economic conditions. The fast economic growth of Actors and drivers for a redevelopment project the country is creating serious environmental issues that need to be addressed if Projects China wants to sustain its development. This section shows how sustainability is- Investments, innovation and development sues were integrated in four of the pro- of green technologies can represent a long posed projects. Given the time constraints term competitive advantage for China in (proposals had to be developed and sub- the international arena. mitted in 5 days) the project could not possibly include the specifications required for A developer’s perspective an environmental assessment. It is inter- Refocusing the attention on urban plan- esting, though, to report the sustainability ning, it is interesting to report the experi- aspects that were baked into the core of the ence of the manager of an urban develop- proposals, giving each project a diverse ment company. David Nieh from Shui On connotation either under a social, eco- Land Lmtd pointed out that when the gov- nomic or environmental perspective. ernment sells the land-use to developers that are also performing the construction The climbing garden green node phase and then maintain property of the This project proposes to redevelop the area spaces (i.e. leasing or renting them), there into a green node. The keyword for this are stronger incentives for building effi- project is connectivity. Two thirds of the cient structures. The integrated services area are expected to be demolished and realisation (such as energy production, rebuild, giving birth to a rooftop public waste and wastewater management) can garden climbing from an open square up to also be left to the developers, and their the 15th floor of a skyscraper. The new value is discounted from the land purchase structures have been assigned to mixed price. The long-term investments for de- functions such as commercial activities,

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Snapshot of the climbing roof top garden

mendations upon redistribution are presented. The maximisation of profits is encouraged in order to set aside a greater amount of capital destined to compensate the relocated families. Finally, the environmental qualities of the project lie in the improved air quality in the area, in the curbing of heat island phenomena and above all, in the improvement of connection to the public transit service.

Living sustainably in Shanghai: a reference eco-model as a offices and entertainment centres. The re- landmark maining third of the block involves the This model is based on combining envi- preservation of lilongs, reinventing them ronmental and social sustainability by as ‘cultural experience hotels’ or giving the adapting the ‘low-tech’ current sustainable opportunity to some small businesses to lifestyle of the site with ‘high-tech’ tech- continue operating. nologies, thereby preserving some cultural traditions. In the proposal, most of the The plan, though, concentrates on connec- houses are maintained and are renovated tivity, prioritising interconnections be- in a style that matches the district heritage. tween the surrounding blocks and the inte- A limited amount of high rises are built in gration of different means of transport. order to reach the 3.0 value of the FAR im- With the subway being at the centre of the posed by the Jing’an municipality. scheme, pedestrian routes, taxi stations, bike racks and underground car parks have been planned to optimise con- Urban perspectives of the eco-model nection systems. The economic dimension is ac- counted by complying with the ‘100% commercial area’ re- quirement, thus maximising profit opportunities. The social dimension is tackled by the creation of a lively area with increased green public spaces, by the preservation of some traditional structures and activities. Furthermore, recom-

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treatment plant, are some of the proposed features.

Eco-lilong, Shanghai memory Lilongs have been part of Shanghai’s history for close to a century and represent a key part of the city’s historical heritage. The majority of the lilongs and their residential functions are preserved. Sustain- able aspects are also integrated, such as a rain collection and water reuse system on site to help with Shanghai water shortages. Choosing lunch? After investigation and analysis, it was decided to demolish one block of the lilong in the eastern part to create green public The new model aims at the creation of a spaces for local community. In this public sustainable and vibrant living experience space, green roofs, green surfaces and for local residents and beyond, attracting bamboos to build a rain collecting system sustainable and/or organic commerce, ser- are used. Rain water is channelled to a ca- vices and businesses. In a fully green envi- nal running through the middle of the pub- ronment, that stands out from the sur- lic space. With a combination of water rounding high rises and is highly visible landscape, greenery surface and leisure ac- from the large avenue on the West side, tivity along the street, a harmonious pic- local residents and visitors enjoy a sustain- ture between humans and nature is cre- able shopping and relaxing experience (or- ated. ganic coffee shops, restaurants, food, cloth- Commercial and leisure structures intro- ing, design), as well as cultural life (cin- duce dynamism in the new site. Besides ema, bookshops, artists’ studios). water usage, solar panels on roofs facing The new area includes a sustainable living south to be used for heating and street and research centre or platform, where lo- lighting are installed. cals can learn about sustainability and businesses with researchers’ contribution.

Finally this sustainability-oriented land- View of the eco-lilong development mark represents an innovative showcase meant to exhibit, research and develop sustainable (water, energy) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions. These solutions are both experienced by the residents and exhibited for the visitors. Green roofs, vertical walls, a central green zone connecting the life in the area, wind and solar powered street lamps, as well as a ‘closed-loop’ water

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Sharing is caring represents valuable sustainable solutions. Locals do not necessarily have to leave the In reference to transports, the use of bikes place or feel marginalised but rather be is encouraged as a user friendly and envi- able to share the available space with the ronmentally sound option. incoming commercial users. A vision to achieve this objective is identified under Green roofs, a common feature to three themes namely urban space, envi- the projects ronmental and social aspects. Green roofs have been implemented in most of final proposals presented to the The urban space theme is about preserving Planning Bureau. Green roofs are living as many buildings as possible for historical, surfaces and act as habitats for vegetation cultural and resources saving reasons. such as draught tolerant plants, flowers Some spaces could be restructured to serve and trees that are planted in a soil layer as waste collection centres and shared typically placed on top of the roof. Green laundry rooms. The development of multi- roofs can be downscaled for smaller infra- functional open spaces including a play- structures such as bus stops, letter and ground, exhibition centres and bike park- post boxes, gas stations, etc. They are rela- ings are also planned. tively easy to build, both on retrofit and Under the social theme, the key ideas are new buildings, and have multiple environ- about local business development as well mental and ecological benefits. They re- as inclusion and participation of existing quire different types of maintenance de- communities in the decision-making proc- pending on the type installed (see box on ess. Redevelopment of the site should take different types of green roofs). the views of the local communities into consideration. Promoting local business to primarily benefit existing communities is crucial. The group suggests small-scale services like sa- lons, day care centres, gyms, restaurants, shops, bars and grocery stores which could be used both by the commercial centre users and by the residents. For example, employees coming to work in the commercial activities and offices could leave their children in the day care centre within the site.

The key idea behind the environmental theme is about sharing facilities as well as Green roofs can compensate the carbon collective responsibility. As mentioned ear- footprint caused by the construction of the lier, modification of some of the old houses building [19]. The environmental benefits into shared laundry centres fitted with en- of installing green roofs include natural ergy and water-efficient washing machines drainage (preventing flooding, building

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erosion and performing water cleansing), microclimate conditions and air quality THREE TYPES OF GREEN ROOFS improvements, development of biodiver- Intensive: they are similar to an ordinary sity, better energy building performances. garden, have a thick soil layer and contain trees From a social standpoint well-being is in- and shrubs. They require the same maintenance as a garden. They can be constructed on roofs creased through green views and extension that can support heavy loads. The surface of the of natural space. Finally, green roofs can roofs must be fairly flat, with a slope of 3% create new markets for designers, archi- maximum. They significantly contribute to a tects and green roof installers. sustainable urban drainage system. Semi-intensive: the range of species is more In Shanghai, where air pollution represents diverse than on extensive roofs. They are usually a tremendous challenge, green roofs can 150 mm thick and provide good functions for water retention. Suitable plants for this kind of play the role of bio-filters and can have a roofs are those that grow naturally on free positive effect on human health, a major draining soils, alpine plants or wildflowers concern for the Chinese population. They meadow mixes. reduce the temperature and contribute to Extensive: they are based on shallower soil direct and indirect cooling effects. Green layers and are typically composed of sedums, roofs, on average, lower the temperature of mosses, and meadow flowers. They require little maintenance, and often are non-access roofs. the buildings by 3 °C reducing the consid- The choice of plants is more limited. Suitable erable energy costs due to air conditioning. plants are usually dry or semi-dry plants with Through evapo-transpiration, the water rocky surfaces. These roofs can be constructed goes back to the atmosphere and cools the on roof slopes up to 30%, and can be retrofitted city, thus reducing heat island effect, a onto existing structures with no or little modifications. problem during Shanghainese summers. They also reduce the formation of photo- Source: Augustenborg’s Botanical Roof Garden, Malmö, Sweden chemical smog due to lower air tempera- tures. the project’s cradle opens up the doors to ideas and proposals with embedded values Conclusion and long term logic. Many stakeholders can The redevelopment of a district is a great be involved in the process, and this frag- challenge for a city. Not only it involves the mentation does not help the adoption of physical relocation of families and activi- sustainability oriented choices. Govern- ties but it can also disrupt the social fabric ment, developers, construction companies, and undermine traditions and cultural agencies and final users are hard to coordi- heritage. Analysing redevelopment projects nate outside of a short term savings per- under the perspective of sustainability can spective. Simplification of this picture help reducing the environmental impacts (with the existence of a single company act- and spotting the opportunities to increase ing as developer, constructor and leaser) life quality in cities. If economic interests can have beneficial effects from an envi- often represent a strong driver, the social ronmental standpoint. The available tech- and environmental dimensions are very nologies and knowledge offer a great spec- complex and challenging. Nevertheless, the trum of possibilities for decision makers, systematic inclusion of these issues from possibilities that can and must be caught to

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improve the quality of life, in a time in [9] Shanghai Municipality. (2009). 700 000 m2 which 50% of the world’s population lives Green Roofs Decorate Shanghai. http://www.shanghai.gov.cn/shanghai/node2314/n in cities. ode2315/node4411/userobject21ai357148.html. Last consulted on April 25, 2010. [10] UN-Habitat. (2010). The United Nations Pavil- ion Unveils its Logo. References http://www.unhabitat.org/categories.asp?catid=56. Last consulted on April 25, 2010 [1] Embassy of Peoples’ Republic of China, Sweden. (2004). [11] Interview. Yang, G. (2010). Professor in Urban http://se2.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/aboutchina/majo Planning, Tongji University. Interview performed on rcity/200412/20041200009725.html. Last consul- 23 April 2010. ted on April 25, 2010. [12] Dancause, D. (2006). Demolition Dangers. [2] University of Liverpool. (2010). City of Shang- Health Facilities Management, August 2006, 33-36. hai. http://www.liv.ac.uk/shanghai-expo/at-a- [13] Ortiz, O., Pasqualino, J. & Castells, F. (2010). glance/city-of-shanghai.htm. Last consulted on April Environmental Performance of Construction Waste: 25, 2010. Comparing Three Scenarios from a Case Study in [3] Hogg, C. (2009). Is China a Rich or Poor Coun- Catalonia, Spain. Waste Management, 30(4), 646- try? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia- 654. pacific/8035906.stm. Last consulted on April 25, [14] Xing, S., Xu, Z. & Jun, G. (2008). Inventory 2010. Analysis of LCA on Steel- and Concrete-construction [4] National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2007). Office Buildings. Energy and Buildings, 40(7), 1188- http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2008/indexch.ht 1193. m. Last consulted on April 25, 2010. [15] Dong, B., Kennedy, C. & Pressnail, K. (2005). [5] Jiang, D. (2005). The Air we Breathe: UNEP / Comparing Life Cycle Implications of Building Ret- Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable De- rofit and Replacement Options. Canadian Journal of velopment. Civil Engineering, 32(6), 1051-1064. www.rrcap.unep.org/uneptg05/outline/env/JiangD [16] Naukkarinen, P. (2009). Solar Air Conditioning ahe2005.ppt. Last consulted on April 25, 2010. and its Role in Alleviating the Energy Crisis of the [6] Platt, K.H. (2007). Chinese Air Pollution Deadli- Mediterranean Hotels. International Journal of Sus- est in World, Report Says. tainable Energy, 28: 1, 93 — 100. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/07 [17] Goffman, E. (2007). China and the Path to En- /070709-china-pollution.html. Last consulted on vironmental Sustainability. April 25, 2010. http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/china/review7 [7] United Nations Environment Programme. .php. Last consulted on April 25, 2010. (2010). UNEP Environmental Assessment, Expo [18] CNN. (2010). China Trouncing U.S. in Clean 2010 Shanghai, China. Energy Investing. http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/25/news/internati [8a] UN Habitat Press Release. Water Crisis to strike onal/china_energy_spending/. Last consulted on most developing world cities by 2010. April 25, 2010 http://www.un.org/Conferences/habitat/unchs/pres [19] Green Roof Research Program at the Michigan s/water.htm Last consulted on 26th April 2010. State University. (2006). The future of green roofs in [8b] Bureau of Statistics of Shanghai. (2008). the United States. http://www.statsh.gov.cn/2003shtj/tjnj/nj09.htm?d http://www.hrt.msu.edu/greenroof/#The%20future 1=2009tjnj/C0100.htm. Last consulted on April 25, %20of%20green%20roofs%20in%20the%20United 2010. %20States. Last consulted on April 14, 2010.

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A Culture of Short Distances in Val di Noto Rich Heritage – Current Challenges – Distributed Future By Silvia Di Ponte, Katja Kavcic, Jonas Sonnenschein, Johanna Wester

The contemporary society is based on eco- Project outline nomical and technological activities of a The SED project 2010 in Val di Noto in Sic- resource intense nature. We are dependent ily, Italy, is a part of a wider project called on ecosystem services such as of sufficient Sustainable Culture in Sicily meant to de- and nutritious food, energy, clean air and velop “cities of short distances” in Val di water [1]. The overexploitation of these Noto. The actors participating in the pro- natural resources and the creation of large ject are the Victorian Eco Innovation Lab amounts of waste have implications on the (VEIL), under the guidance of Chris Ryan, environment and also on our own liveli- the cultural association Lacunae through hoods. Human behaviour causes the deg- the management of Silvana Toccio, the radation of important ecosystems and Consorzio Universitario Mediterraneo Ori- other environmental effects such as climate entale (C.U.M.O.) through Salvatore change. It is evident that our social well- Cavallo and researchers of the Interna- being and economic development are tional Institute for Industrial Environ- highly intertwined with ecological systems. mental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund Univer- The concept of sustainable development sity. recognises this and aims at economic de- The aim of this SED project was to map the velopment that is consistent with the pres- region in terms of resource use and start ervation of natural capital and social stabil- developing a sustainability vision for the ity. region by applying the concept of distributed economies.

View over Noto

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The next step of the project will be an ex- ritory because of many common physical pert conference in Noto in autumn 2010. and cultural features, problems and oppor- This conference, Convegno Laboratorio tunities. The five municipalities have a Innovazione Sostenibile, will build on the common Agenda 21 office and are coordi- findings of the SED research. nating common EU-funded projects that are connected to regional development. Before the findings are reported, some background information about the region The landscape is characterised by scenic Val di Noto and the main elements of the grape, citrus and almond plantations, in- concept of distributed economies shall be tensive production of vegetables and a presented. beautiful, partially protected coast line. In some parts large greenhouses disrupt the Val di Noto idyllic scenery. Moving towards the inter- The geographical area that is analysed in nal uplands, the landscape is dominated by this report is called Val di Noto (Noto Val- Maquis Shrubland (typical Mediterranean ley) and it is part of the Province of Sira- vegetation). The Province of Siracusa hosts cusa in Sicily. In 2002, Val di Noto was in- the largest amount of parks and protected cluded in the UNESCO World Heritage areas in Sicily. A new national park is going List, because of its natural and cultural to be created in the Iblei Mountains, par- heritage (Noto is considered the capital of tially covering the five municipalities. Italian Baroque). The economy of Val di noto relies mainly on agriculture and tourism. The main plantations are olive, citrus, almond and carob trees, wine yards and vegetables (grown especially in greenhouses), among which the production of the Pachino Tomato dominates. Many agricultural products are of high quality – famous all around the world. For example, many excellent red wines are obtained from the grape Nero d’Avola. Recently a “new” development of small activities dealing with food processing and the export of agricultural products with added value is emerging. Fishing activities were in the past heavily dependent on tuna fish. But that business has closed down and the remaining fishing activity mainly takes place in Portopalo. Figure 1: Map of Val di Noto Large-scale industry is not present in the selected area. The food processing industry Val di Noto consists of five municipalities: plays a minor role. But north of Val di Avola, Noto, Pachino, Portopalo and Ro- Noto, the cities Priolo, Augusta and Melilli solini. It has about 120 000 inhabitants. have impressive oil refineries and a large The area is considered a homogeneous ter- electricity generation plant.

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Tourism is progressively increasing. It is a Strategies for Distributed Economies very diverse sector with activities mainly [3, 5] linked to the cultural heritage and the Increase physical resilience of clean, lovely and “partially wild” coasts. infrastructure: Cultural tourism with short stays takes • Create diversity place throughout the year, beach holidays • Create redundancies are mainly concentrated in the summer • Ensure modularity months and visits of school classes are Foster social and institutional flexibility and common in spring and autumn. innovation: • Replication Distributed Economies • Amplification • Regeneration Sustainable development in Val di Noto • Simplification can be looked at from different perspec- • Percolation tives. As stated above, the framework that • Information has been used for this report is Distributed Reduce the environmental footprint of Economies (DE). The DE concept refers to consumption and production: models of production and consumption • Reduce resource use of that are based on local resource availability transportation and its sustainable utilisation. The distrib- • Maximise the value of local uted approach incorporates a set of differ- resources ent smaller systems that provide services to • Modify consumer behaviour the consumers. These systems are location- specific and cover a wide area of resources. standing among local stakeholders of how The distributed approach departs from lin- local capital is utilised [3]. ear systems that focus on single resources In this report DE is used as a concept to [2]. develop a vision for Val di Noto. A vision is The main goal of DEs is to improve and the end-point of a development that might maintain quality of life for the people in the never be reached. Nevertheless, visions area. This goal has several aspects. Wealth, have several important functions. They occupation, social inclusion, an intact map a space of plausible alternatives to the natural environment and stability are all status quo. Additionally, they can be used factors that improve quality of life. To work as a tool to point out problems of existing towards this goal, several strategies can be structures. They can serve as a frame for followed (see separate box). target-setting and function as a common symbol for building actor networks. Fi- A truly distributed economy has four main nally, they offer an appealing story that features. First it is localised, to avoid the might help to gather capital or other neces- current wide distance between resource sary resources [4]. supply and demand; second, it is net- worked to enable information flow and co- Part of the vision for Val di Noto can be operation; third, it is modular to make lo- grounded in its rich cultural heritage and cal distribution networks efficient and less its history. Many traditions have been pre- vulnerable if some modules fail; and fi- served in current farming practices, water nally, it is open to promote greater under- management and building styles. Other

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Figure 2: Schematic illustration of centralised vs decentralised systems [3] traditions have been lost or are about to be These systems determine the economic, lost. Some of the traditional practices were social and physical characteristics of the much more sustainable than modern ones region to a great extent. They are intercon- and offer ideas for distributed solutions. nected and have an influence on the land- The combination of traditional experience scape and on social and cultural develop- with modern technology provides valuable ment. The food system in particular has a inspiration. high economic value for the region and is Val di Noto is an area with great potential therefore a focus area of the report. Tour- that lies, for example, in its culture and its ism has not been researched as a single en- specific climate and soil which enable the tity but has been considered as an impor- production of valuable products that carry a tant factor throughout the project. high nutritional value and a value of origin. The four sections about energy, waste, wa- Not all of the local potential is used and ter and food are all organised along the some of the natural resources are threat- same structure. A mapping part that in- ened by the current pattern of consump- cludes the major challenges of the area is tion and production. followed by a distributed vision. Addition- This report examines the energy, water, ally, some specific Distributed Ideas are food and waste systems in Val di Noto. presented in each section.

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Energy issues: The enforcement of building codes and the lack of best practice examples. The five municipalities in Val di Noto mainly rely on electricity and natural gas Distributed vision – Energy provided through the grid as well as on im- The concept of DE suggests that it is pref- port of petrol and diesel. In Sicily there is erable to create resilient and flexible sys- also a production of hydropower that dif- tems that are not dependent on one cen- ferentiates the island slightly from the rest tralised source of energy. The vision may of Italy, which is highly dependent on ex- therefore be described as a long term self- ternal sources for energy. According to sufficient and renewable energy system. It Fausto Fiorini, local development manager is crucial to perceive the vision as a system at Centro Studi e Iniziative per lo Sviluppo that is still part of the national network in locale ed Integrato (CESIS) the energy order to enable the exchange of informa- situation in the region “lacks connection to tion, knowledge and technology. Energy the local reality”. The transport and the systems demand long-term planning and it housing sector are the largest consumers of is crucial to avoid lock-in effects. The en- electricity. ergy systems must also be sustainable with In the built environment for instance, respect to social, environmental and eco- many of the buildings are old. But accord- nomical aspects. ing to the architect Lorenzo Aiello, there In the context of this project in Val di Noto, are examples even of ancient buildings many observations of existing ideas and where sun, wind and vegetation have been opportunities for distributed energy sys- considered. The local patterns of light, tems were made. The energy opportunities shade and wind, as well as thermal proper- in the region can be categorised into re- ties of the locally available building materi- newable energy production and energy ef- als are important determinants for heating ficiency in new and already existing build- and cooling of buildings. Some buildings ings. built after the 1970s phase large energy efficiency problems. One example is the tall- est building in Noto, situated just outside the old central core. The building consists of similar modules constructed without taking into account sun, shade and wind patterns (and ruins the view on the baroque centre of Noto). There are few local building codes with energy efficiency demands and these codes are not sufficiently enforced. Many of the buildings are constructed without permits. The illegal build- View over parts of central Noto from the clock ings are usually constructed in very short tower time to avoid interference or interruptions by authorities which affects the quality of Renewable energy can be exploited in sev- these buildings. The energy efficiency in eral different ways, such as photovoltaic buildings basically boils down to two main and solar thermal power systems, wind

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turbines, biogas plants and solar thermal gies, Energy and Sustainable Economic panels for heating. A reappearing comment Development (ENEA). In 2007, Enel, the of people dealing with sustainable devel- major Italian energy company also joined opment in the region is “we have plenty of the project. The aim is to have an opera- sun”. tional solar thermal power plant sometime in 2010. In order to use as much as possi- Farmers could start producing energy to ble of the local solar potential of Val di diversify their source of income and Noto large-scale photovoltaic or solar thereby contribute to a more sustainable thermal power plants are part of the dis- energy supply. So far this opportunity has tributed vision. Without them self- not been exploited as best practice exam- sufficiency seems to be hard to achieve. ples are missing. In some cases farmers rent out land to professional renewable en- Another way to exploit solar energy is the ergy investors (mainly photovoltaic). technology of solar thermal panels. In Val Small-scale photovoltaic opportunities are di Noto it is already fairly common to in- not restricted to farmers but could also be stall solar thermal panels on the roofs of used by owners of residential buildings. In private houses to produce hot water. the distributed energy vision for Val di To create resilience and flexibility in the Noto a decentralised network of small- distributed energy system it is important to scale photovoltaic systems that is sup- consider several sources of energy. In this ported and maintained by skilled project context wind turbines are another available planners, engineers and financing profes- technology. During the research in Val di sionals is the central element. Noto, no modern wind turbines were observed. In several citrus plantations there are old wind turbines with two blades that were used to pump water for irrigation. In Val di Noto two constraints for investments into wind power are evident. According to Sebastino Tiberio, president of Legambi- ente Noto, the first one regards the local grid capacity, which is not sufficient for the integration of wind power. The second issue deals with the “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) problem. Wind power turbines Solar-thermal installation on residential building are frequently considered to ruin the aes- thetics of the area. It is crucial to gain local There are no large-scale photovoltaic pro- acceptance, as public resistance constitute jects in Val di Noto, though theoretical and a major barrier to development of wind practical knowledge can be found nearby, power. If locals are a part of the ownership just outside Priolo Gargallo (Syracuse) structure of a DE system, there is less resis- where the Archimedes project is located. tance as evidence from the installation of The Archimedes project was created as an cooperative wind turbines in Denmark initiative by the Italian government and the suggests [6]. Another problem has been the Italian National Agency for New Technolo- regulation of industrial activity in national

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Distributed Idea 1: Energy from olive oil tion requires Italy to have a differentiated [7] collection rate of 60% by 2011 [9]. The re- Is it possible to create energy from olive oil gional target that applies for Val di Noto is production? In Spain, Andalucia, the olive oil 20% differentiated collection in 2010. residues are used as bioenergy source. During 1995, the first power plant was operational and Differentiated collection of waste in Val di today there are 15 plants providing 164 MW Noto is still minor. In Avola, that intro- bioenergy per year. duced separated kerbside collection in 2002, the rate is the highest with 14%. The reserves by national laws. A project for a other municipalities have an average of wind park outside Avola failed as it was merely 6%. These figures show that waste categorised as industrial activity. management in Val di Noto can still be significantly improved. Wind turbines under a distributed vision add to the diversification of energy supply According to Piero Argentino, waste man- in Val di Noto. The use of wind power in ager of Avola, the average inhabitant of the region has to be balanced with other Avola creates 1.4 kg of MSW per day. Local core business activities, like tourism. efforts to reduce the amount of waste by avoiding waste, minimising it or reusing DE as a concept under the umbrella of sus- products have not been researched. The tainable development does not only call for next steps of waste management are sepa- diversification of energy production to in- ration and collection. Separation is organ- crease resilience but also for a radical ised differently in the five communities of change in consumption patterns. Suffi- Val di Noto. In Noto separation takes place ciency and efficiency in the use of (renew- at the household level. Organic, paper, able) energy are important elements of the glass, plastic and aluminium waste are col- distributed energy vision for Val di Noto lected kerbside on different days of the [8]. week. In Avola households just separate Energy efficiency can be achieved in both the dry fraction (paper, plastic, metal and new and existing buildings. One way to in- glass) from the rest. The sorting of the dif- crease awareness may be to bring more ferent dry fractions of the Avola-system ‘know-how’ to the region by introducing happens after the door to door collection in best practice examples. There is a consid- a sorting facility in Rosolini. In addition to erable amount of business opportunities, kerbside collection, a substantial part of both within renewable energy adaptation Val di Noto’s MSW is collected through big and energy efficiency in the region that can bins for unsorted waste in the streets. attract business and enterprises. This can The actual recycling of separated dry frac- create employment opportunities and a tions takes place outside Val di Noto on the new source of income for the region. Italian mainland. The residual waste – by far the biggest fraction – is disposed in Waste landfills, especially in the one in Augusta, More than 90% of the municipal solid 45 km from Avola. Thermal energy recov- waste (MSW) that is created in Val di Noto ery from residual waste does not exist in is disposed in landfills. European legisla- Sicily.

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Noto is a major problem. City limits also seem to be the borders for waste management efforts. Every city has its own system.

Distributed vision – Waste The ideal sustainable waste management system would lead to a zero waste society by taking a cradle-to-cradle approach [10]. All waste would either be avoided, reused or recycled. The Distributed Vision for the waste system in Val di Noto borrows several features from this objective of the European waste policy. But it is grounded in the local realities and provides a direc-

tion in which waste management shall de- Demonstration of waste separation in Val di Noto velop. The first feature of the vision is a function- The current waste management practice in ing public communication network about Val di Noto is not sustainable. The lack of environmental problems that are related to awareness at the household level causes waste. The network is based on environ- low rates of differentiated collection and mental education in schools. Information also manifests itself through littering of the percolates from school children to their landscape that can be observed. Moreover, parents, to their relatives, to their the only local option for final waste man- neighbours and so forth. The spreading of agement is landfilling. The landfill that is awareness takes time but does not start used for the waste from Avola has capacity from zero. A current project of the local for another two years before it has to be Agenda 21 office brings environmental ex- expanded. It appears like it is easier to gain perts from many different institutions to acceptance for using sites as landfills than the middle schools of Val di Noto to inform for photovoltaic parks to generate electric- both pupils and teachers about local envi- ity. The closest composting facility is 100 ronmental issues. Furthermore, munici- km north of Avola, in Grammichele. Be- palities inform people about the impor- cause of high transportation costs (30 tance of waste separation and educate EUR/t from Avola) it is not economic for them how to separate. Information cam- any of the five communities to organise a paigns in local media and prices for good separate collection of organic waste and separation, like the “waste bingo” (Piero transport it to the composting site. Argentino) in Avola, are possible ways to reach the vision of a well-functioning In addition to the lack of awareness and communication network. Under the vision missing waste management facilities, the the results of the communication network absence of coordination and cooperation would be less MSW, less littering and a bet- within the waste management of Val di ter separation rate.

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Distributed Idea 2: Organic waste – Rediscovering a local resource The problems that are connected to organic waste are a rather new phenomenon. In the past there was less food waste and the existing waste was brought back to nature by composting or just dumping it. Today organic waste is a substantial fraction of the waste from Val di Noto that goes to the landfill where it takes space and causes methane emissions. Both the energy contained in organic waste and the mineral nutrients are lost in the landfill. In Val di Noto the planning to create a compost centre and organise the separated collection of organic waste started in 2004. So far the implementation failed because no EU funding was allocated to the region by the government of Sicily. Piero Argentino, waste manager of Avola, has low expectations for the composting centre: “I am 50 years old and in my lifetime I will not see a functioning composting centre in Val di Noto. Public decision-making is too slow and there is a lack of private action because of a lack of experience.” But he is sure that such a facility would be beneficial for the people and the environment. In the context of distributed economies it could be interesting to investigate if a network of actors could afford the investment without relying on EU funding. The five municipalities could share the upfront costs with farmers who receive the valuable compost and with the households that would help the financing by paying higher waste charges. This process could be started with a common workshop where a first network is created. In such a workshop external expertise is necessary as there is no local experience with composting centres. The process should be open to different kind of solutions. In this way also a biogas plant could be discussed as a viable option. Moreover, agricultural waste could be included as feed for a biogas or composting facility. In the end the energy and mineral nutrients contained in organic waste might be fully used as a renewable local resource again.

MSW could also be reduced by alternative Clean differentiated waste streams are ways of selling products and innovative treated as a local resource rather than a packaging. Local markets create less pack- problem under this vision. The organic aging waste than big grocery stores and waste fraction is a source for bioenergy and many products are suitable to be put in reserves as a fertiliser after treatment. It is usable containers that consumers bring to recycled locally (see Distributed Idea 2). the shops to be filled (e.g. dispensers for Moreover, local treatment facilities reduce milk, olive oil, wine and detergents; pasta resource use and costs for transportation. and rice from big boxes) [11]. Reusing bot- But not all recycling and recovery takes tles, containers and boxes is nothing new place locally. Recycling of packaging mate- but has been abandoned because of ex- rials takes place in close-by sites in Sicily as tremely cheap one-way packaging materi- somewhat bigger facilities located close to als. bigger cities offer higher efficiencies. The The second main part of the vision is a Val location of treatment facilities is optimised di Noto waste management network. Waste to make the transport of separated waste separation and collection are coordinated fractions as short as possible. between the five communities. This simpli- Just a very small fraction of the MSW is fies the waste management system in the disposed in a modern landfill or inciner- area. A common system that is jointly run ated in a modern plant that recovers most by all communities is economically attrac- of the energy. tive (economies of scale, joint collection The main characteristic of the distributed vehicles, efficient use of employees, shared waste management vision is its diversity. administration). There is no panacea. Problems are solved

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by networks of both information and mate- consecutive steps. In the first, water is rial flows, by local and supra-local waste pumped from the well or spring to accumu- management modules, by changes in indi- lation tanks, and in the second, from the vidual behaviour and by cooperation and accumulation tanks to the buildings. The enthusiasm of the municipal administra- water is pumped to different zones of the tion. town, two to three hours per day for each zone. The accumulation tanks are commu- Water nicating vessels of an average capacity of In Val di Noto, water is used for irrigation 1 500 m3 each and are used for daily stor- in agriculture, for domestic use and in in- age and disinfection. The disinfection is dustry. Agriculture is apparently the main done with chlorine that is automatically user though there is no data on available added to the tanks. The quality of the water water resources or the total consumption/ is checked twice per week by a public hy- withdrawal from the groundwater. giene service. The pipes that are used for Water is extracted from natural springs, water distribution date from 1950 to 1980 public and private wells and surface wa- and are the biggest cause of the loss in the ters. Farmers or farmers’ Consortia own network, which is estimated by Tino Scala, the private wells while the municipalities water engineer, to be approximately 30% are responsible for the public wells and the of the municipal water utility. municipal water supply. The consumption of the individual users is With the enactment of Law 1/5/1994, No. not monitored and the tariff system is not 36, “Provisions on water resources”, the based on the actual water consumption. In Italian Republic has started a process of Rosolini, there are three different flat tar- institutional restructuring in the area of iffs. Households with one to two people pay water, sewerage and water treatment. The ca 150 EUR per year; households with objective of this process is the unified more than three people pay ca 200 EUR management of integrated water services per year. The tariff for commercial activi- under provincial bodies (ATO Idrico – ties ranges from 180 EUR to 500 EUR per Ambito Territoriale Ottimale). However, year, depending on the municipality and currently the distribution and management the type of the business. The payment for of domestic water is still in the hands of the water treatment (when in place) is in- municipalities. Even if the ATOs will be cluded in the waste tariffs. The current requested to introduce improvements, like practice of wastewater treatment in Val di metering systems in households, munici- Noto is to release brownwater or untreated palities are reluctant to give away their re- wastewater into the rivers. sponsibilities. They fear that under the There are many illegal withdrawals of wa- ATO both the maintenance will be lower ter, mainly by farmers. Uncontrolled with- and the excessive use of water will worsen drawal adds to the problem of excessive due to a lack of interest in informing water use in agriculture. Together with the households about the importance of ap- losses in the municipal distribution system propriate water use. and the current tariff system, inefficient Observing the situation in Rosolini, the use of water in agriculture was reported as public water distribution consists of two a major cause of diminishing levels of wa-

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ter in the aquifers in the recent years. duction is further described in the Food Moreover, some natural springs have been section. contaminated with bacteria and the inten- The other important aspect of our vision is sive agriculture imposes the risk to further to reduce the excessive water use through contaminate the groundwater with fertilis- efficient delivery of water to the main users and pesticides. ers, efficient use of water and using alternative water sources, as well as recycled water. The vision is to reduce water use to a point where the water tables of the aquifers stabilise or rise again and the pollution of water is prevented. The two main DE ideas developed to fulfil the objective of reduced water use are: boosting the efficiency of water use and closing the water system. The lack of metering, control and information creates wrong incentives for the use of Well in Rosolini water. Water use in Val di Noto is very inefficient. To boost the efficiency, one DE Another problem in the area is salt-water approach is the involvement of and coordi- intrusion into the aquifers. Paradoxically, nation between stakeholders. This could be slightly salty water is beneficial to the Pa- established through a sound management chino tomato, which is one of the main ag- of competing water users that are extract- riculture products of the region. Drinking ing from the same aquifer. The first steps water, nevertheless, should be free of salt in that direction could be prevention of and pesticides. unlimited access to water and its illegal use, implementation of a tariff system Distributed vision – Water based on actual water consumption and The prevention of further pollution of aqui- better information to the users about the fers with pesticides and falling water tables importance of efficient water use. in Val di Noto are strong arguments for a Another principle of DE is adaptive water more sustainable approach to agriculture. management that fosters capacity to detect Our vision is to emphasise and fully exploit and respond quickly to new conditions. the cultural aspect of the agricultural prod- Renovation of the old distribution system ucts of the region. Organic production of that is causing relatively high inefficiency high quality agricultural products instead and introduction of a measuring system are of intensive farming could not only reduce first two steps towards adaptive water the water use and reduce the pesticides in management. A sound management of the the groundwater but could also add to the water system is important to reach the sus- exploration of the anthropological and nu- tainable levels of water use. There is, how- tritional values of the products of the re- ever, also a lot of space for improvement in gion. The vision of high quality food pro- the irrigations systems in the agriculture.

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Distributed Idea 3: Distributed water Food recycling, in towns and countryside [3] Agriculture plays a crucial role in the econ- In the town omy of Val di Noto, while the food process- The different buildings, independently or linked ing industry is just of minor importance. by a separate pipeline for grey water, should be all Grapes, lemons, oranges, almonds, carob active points of rainwater collection. The independent way is easier to implement and and vegetables, in particular the small to- integrate to each water system of the house. The mato named “Pachino”, are the main agri- collected water could be used in garden watering cultural products. or toilet flushing. The same can be done in municipal buildings to support common green Several actors are involved in the system. spaces. The group of the farmers is very diverse. In the countryside There are small and large scale farmers, A system of canals and tanks could be used by practising many different kinds of agricul- every farmer to collect rainwater and use it for ture, like organic, subsistence or intensive irrigation. The potential of treated waste water for farming. The intensive production has the irrigation could be even more significant. largest share of the income generated from The emerging framework is a multi-source system agricultural activity and has the highest where each actor is a “Prosumer” that uses the larger scale and one-way distribution system only impact on the land. in a complementary way. The resulting spotted The farmers, except for being members of and connected system is more flexible and less exposed to risk of failure in facing water scarcity sectoral national associations like Coldi- period. retti, Confagricoltura and CIA – Confed- erazione Italiana Agricoltori – are some- The second main area, closing the water times grouped together in local Consortia. loop, builds on the local recycling and re- Consortia are private organisations that use of water. To prevent the loss of water support the farmers in the certification resources, the DE principle of learning process and provide legal consultancy. from experience and experimentation Moreover, they check and control illegal could be exploited through the introduc- imports in defence of the high quality stan- tion of an alternative water collection sys- dard of local production. The main Consor- tem and water reuse system. Already in the tia are the “Pomodoro Pachino”, “Strada past, farmers and households have been del Vino”, limone “Femminello”, melone collecting the rainwater that was used for “Cantalupo”, “Mandorla Pizzuta” and “Ca- watering and cleaning. Rainwater collec- rota Novella”. tion systems are not a sole alternative to The distribution of agricultural products is the current groundwater sources. However, dominated by few multinational distribu- they could be a relevant complementary tors with substantial negotiation power. source to improve service security, reduce Direct distribution exists but the share is risk of system failure, reduce costs and re- negligible. The existing situation is per- source use and protect and regenerate the ceived as problematic by many farmers be- natural environment, that are all objectives cause they feel locked-in by existing rela- of DE. The concept of short distances ap- tions and are forced to accept prices and plies, since the water is collected where it is quantities to a large extent decided by the used. strong distributors.

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Sales of agricultural products involve Projects for agriculture in Val di Noto mainly supermarkets, but also directly the 1) Leader – PSL Eloro farmers. The greatest part of the produc- The programme is locally implemented locally by tion is currently exported abroad. Restau- the GAL – Local Action Group – constituted by rants, final consumers and processing in- private and public members. At its third edition dustry are the final users of the products. (2010-2013), the PSL Eloro is financing projects in three areas: tourism, agriculture and environ- The local institutional setting is composed ment. In agriculture the fields of intervention are: of the municipalities and other entities. production, marketing and shortening the distances. The previous editions have contributed to These are consultants or bodies like the the formation of a local common identity. CSA – Centro Servizi Agricoli (Centre for 2) Patto Territoriale Agricultural Services), GAL – Gruppo di Rosolini is the leader and coordinator for the Azione Locale (Local Action Group), or project. The process has been developed, ASCA – Analisi e Servizi per la Certificazi- managed and checked by five consultants. The one in Agricoltura (Analysis and Services Patto aims at boosting agriculture and reducing for Certification in Agriculture), crucial ei- unemployment and environmental impact. A fund of 19 million EUR has been allocated to 75 ther in coordinating the 5 municipalities’ companies (90% agriculture, 10% fishing). actions or in providing services for imple- Almost all of the projects have been started or are menting development projects for the area. already operating. 3) Centro Servizi Agricoli & Innovazione The current situation encompasses some Tecnologica critical challenges. Agriculture is facing a Five offices in the five municipalities support ag- crisis, mainly caused by the strong focus on riculture and promote the anthropological value price reduction adopted in the past. This is of the productions. The offices essentially distrib- emphasised by the competition from North ute information to farmers (about certifications, available financing and so forth). African countries that are increasingly en- The innovation project deals with: anthropologi- gaged in growing similar products but have cal value; internationalisation of the economy; relatively lower labour and production introduction of technology in the area. costs. Moreover, North African products 4) Local farmers’ markets – mercato del are illegally brought to Sicily to receive lo- contadino cal certifications of their quality and their There are five planned or existing (in Noto and Sicilian origin. The existing framework is Rosolini) markets for the five municipalities. To- characterised by low prices, an increased day they take place every one or two weeks. The level of unemployment, inability to place current municipal management misses proper advertisement, facilities and location. They try to the whole production on the market and promote local productions and consumption and incapability to expan§d the borders of the rebuild the relationship farmer-consumer. For business. farmers they still represent a small source of income.

Other issues that the current agricultural 5) Purchasing groups system has to face are soil degradation, wa- The GAS- Gruppo di Acquisto Solidale- are ter exploitation, the competition among emerging in the Province of Siracusa. One group different land uses and the almost not ex- is present even in Noto. They are voluntary groups of consumers that self-organise a direct isting organic waste management for agri- purchase from the local producers. [12] cultural by-products.

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A number of projects and actions are today resilient, comprehensible, diversified and in place, representing a cornerstone to dynamically collaborative and communica- catalyse a sustainable food system. tive. Manzini uses four summarising concepts in defining a distributed system: Distributed vision – Food small, local, open and connected [14]. Both the large ecological footprint of the The ideal future of the region should be current food system and the occurrence of identified with a framework where high economic crisis in the agricultural sector quality and organic productions, outside call for long term sustainable solutions that the greenhouses and integrated with the are economically viable, environmentally natural landscape, will be dominant and sound and socially responsible. diffused. This kind of agriculture should address both local inhabitants and tourists’ At international level, the Slow Food move- needs and niche markets in Italy and ment is suggesting an alternative way aim- abroad. ing at preserving the biodiversity and the variety local culinary traditions, promoting A first element of the vision is related to small-scale processing and farming, “taste material flows. Ideally, a new development education” and ethical buying, avoiding the path should be chosen, leading to an agri- several drawbacks of fast food, agribusi- culture with a limited and sustainable im- ness, factory farms and monocultures [13]. pact on the environment and its resources. The areas to focus on are both the methods The application of the theory of DE to the of production and the way to distribute and food system of Val di Noto pursues the sell the products. It should be opted for the creation of a sustainable and context- small-scale cultivations of the several local related option. The achievement such a species that not only match with the physi- model should lead to is a higher quality of cal peculiarities of the territory but also are life, which incorporates aspects such as unique and embed a strong cultural heri- wealth, supply of tasty and healthy food, tage. Moreover, intensive methods should preservation of biodiversity, a low envi- be avoided. Intensive practices that employ ronmental impact and stability. There are large amount of water, chemical fertilisers various approaches and strategies to reach and pesticides, are already strongly stress- this goal. The resulting system should be ing the ecosystems during the whole year.

Greenhouses nearby Pachino

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The quality and quantity of the water re- market, providing local food to the local sources, the natural properties of the soil, people, could be an option and maybe a the landscape and other activities, like viable and strong enough alternative to the tourism are negative affected by them. existing supermarkets services. Currently In order to catalyse methods ‘alternative to the farmers think that the existing Mercato the greenhouses’, markets must be del Contadino are weak, because the adver- enlarged or created. Here the second side tisement, facilities and locations are not of the vision, related to actors’ network appropriate. The management of such a creation, begins to be relevant. structure should be in the hands of a third party running its own business. Maybe it In order to shorten the distances, the local would be good start with such a centralised market should be expanded. The experi- model, that can be split into many parts ence of the Mercato del Contadino (Farm- once the practice is established and well ers’ Market) can be considered a starting working. point. But further improvements should be thought and put in place to strengthen it. Additional ways to put in practice the con- For example, one instead of five, well- cept of filera corta (short distances) are the structured and permanent local farmers’ purchasing groups and a community-based

Distributed Idea 4: The Local Market – A hub in the network A formal and well-established network is essential in a distributed system. It can help to make a system actually flexible, able to evolve, open and ‘democratic’, involving even the weak actors that in an informal net can be left outside. In the food system of Val di Noto some initiatives promoting a sustainable and local production and consumption are existing. But the lack of a general, recognisable and set vision, together with weaknesses and bottlenecks in the coordination among actors and actions, seem to represent two of the crucial obstacles to the implementation of a sustainable food system. The creation of a structured and formal network could represent one possibility to establish a distributed agriculture in the context of Val di Noto. It can support actions, enable synergies and avoid overlapping interventions. The network could be centred on a unique Hub, where both material and immaterial flows take place. This local Hub is the point where both food and information are exchanged. It can be seen as a Local Market for two different kinds of goods. The food is organic and locally produced by the farmers. The information flow takes place not only among farmers but involves even other stakeholders like final consumers, restaurants, hotels and tourist service providers or municipal departments. The consumer can obtain in this place information on the sold products but even additional education about ‘good behaviours’ in additional area, like the waste, energy or water uses. An interesting activity could be providing news on the economic incentives and some practical tips for the recourse to renewables, like the installation of a PV panel. The Hub could be the arena where other services can be provided, like marketing, knowledge sharing (best practices, exchange of contacts and meetings and educational lectures. Such a Local Market-Hub is a new structure that can at the same time benefit and start from what already exists. Both the experience and the connections already created by the Mercato del Contadino and by the Centro Servizi Agricoli could be the starting point for the development of such a kind of Hub and Net. In addition, infrastructure, like a new destined space, and the definition of the management of such a structure are essential.

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NOTO, SICILY, ITALY agriculture. The latter is particularly posi- Enabling the DE vision tive because it is able to significantly re- The distributed visions that are outlined duce the farmers’ risks. At the beginning of above provide suggestions on possible di- every year a group of consumers would de- rections for sustainable development in Val cide in accordance with the farmers the di Noto. But the challenge of how to enable amount and varieties of fruit and vegetable such a sustainability transition remains. that will be demanded, and provide the producers with a financial cover (repre- According to the literature, the important sented by the quotas that has to be paid for types of institutional settings that are the bought share) [15]. needed for enabling a DE type of development include: The development of the connections with tourism represents another way to increase Coordination: Local governance enables the agricultural business. The creation of networking and links between planning formal and reciprocal enhancing linkages processes and local decision [3]. could help the development both of high Participation: Local actors are included in quality tourism and high quality agricul- the decision-making processes [16]. ture. Ownership: Local ownership gives stake- It is known that the current production is holders more weight and enables the rein- mostly destined for markets abroad and vestment of the local returns in the region that the local one is not able to absorb the [16]. whole production. It is reasonable to as- Before any specific enabling measures can sume that foreign markets represent a cru- take place, the first step is to create a cial arena even in the future. More sustain- common vision for the five municipalities. able opportunities can be seen in making From this vision a sustainable development the certification system stronger and creat- plan can evolve that can be used to steer ing a solid branding that allows to reach the efforts of the different municipalities. new niche markets even abroad. Smaller The development plan should include but higher value production is easier to common objectives and targets for Val di place in the market and can represent part Noto. These targets and objectives can be of the solution to the current (and past) quantifiable, like renewable energy pene- crisis of agriculture in Val di Noto. tration rates or the share of agritourism, or An additional opportunity is represented aim at processes, like issuing building by the introduction of food processing in- permits or establishing a consultation cen- dustries in the area. It is easier (especially tre for farmers. By doing so, the local plan- in the bargaining with the strong distribu- ning process becomes more transparent tors) and safer to sell narrow amounts of and open for regional influence. Expert processed and certified products instead of knowledge (planners, engineers, research- large amounts of perishable and “imitable” ers, environmental experts etc.) from both raw goods. In order to enable the existence inside and outside Val di Noto should be of a distributed agriculture, the creation of utilised to develop the plan. Once in place, a structured network would be useful (see the plan helps to monitor the success of the Distributed Idea 4). sustainable development process.

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The coordination of scattered efforts in Val eral vision the report does not end with di Noto to implement the sustainable de- comprehensive recommendations. Some velopment plan could be done through a helpful steps towards sustainable devel- ‘sustainable development office’ that coor- opment in Val di Noto have been outlined dinates the communication and coopera- in the section about enabling DEs. The tion between different actors. The sustain- ‘Distributed Ideas’ that are presented able development office could organise above show that the concept of DEs can be seminars, talks and workshops in order to applied in the local reality of Val di Noto. connect relevant actors to reach the sus- Several actors in the region have recog- tainability objectives of the region. nised the need for sustainable development Inclusion and participation of local actors and the opportunities it offers. The best can be enabled through making informa- indicator for this awareness is that the Sus- tion more easily accessible and attainable. tainable Culture in Sicily project around This could also be supported by a common this report has been initiated and will pro- sustainability office. Furthermore, munici- ceed. Despite a general level of awareness pal decision making has to be open for all crucial infrastructure and expert knowl- stakeholders. This means to actively con- edge are still missing. Furthermore, pro- tact all relevant actors and have consulta- jects and visions around sustainable devel- tions with them. The relevant actors in- opment in Val di Noto are scattered. No clude farmers’ associations, cooperatives, common sustainable development plan the tourism sector, local NGOs. A high de- with concrete targets exists. This report is gree of transparency can prevent influence not a development plan but just an inspira- from interest groups and criminal societies. tion, a starting point for further research. If everything is discussed with local stakeholders and presented in the media it be- While the research that was conducted for comes harder to hide irregularities. this report explored the area, future research should focus on one problem or area The third approach for enabling DE is to at a time and try to bring together local de- promote local ownership, for example the cision makers, local knowledge and exter- ownership of wind turbines or photovoltaic nal expertise. The lack of data, e.g. no in- systems that was mentioned in the energy formation about the in- and outflows of the chapter. Through local ownership more natural aquifers, should not be used as an weight is given to local interest and profits excuse to delay actions. Even without com- will be returned to the region. prehensive data problem indications exist. Similarly the lack of (EU) funding might Conclusion lead to a passive approach towards sus- As stated in the introduction, this report is tainable development. It is the spirit of the part of a bigger research project on Sus- DE concept to have a more active role, try- tainable Culture in Sicily in Val di Noto. As ing to connect to all stakeholders that the purpose was to screen the four areas might benefit from a specific project and energy, water, food and waste, to identify figure out how a project might be financed the main problems and to develop a gen- corporately.

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[12] Grupi di Acquisto Solidale (2010). What’s a References G.A.S.? Retrieved April 20, 2010, from [1] Folke, C. et al. (2002). Resilience and Sustainable www.retegas.org. Development: Building Adaptive Capacity in a World [13] Honore, C. (2004). In Praise of Slow. Orion of Transformations. Ambio, 31(5), 437-440. Books. [2] Johansson, A. et al. (2005). Distributed econmies [14] Manzini, E. (2008). New design knowledge. – a new engine for innovation. Journal of Cleaner Retrieved April 24, 2010, from blog “Sustainable Production, 13(10-11), 971–979. Everyday Project”, www.sustainable- [3] Biggs, C. et al. (2010). Distributed Systems: A everyday.net/manzini . design model for sustainable and resilient infrastruc- [15] International Institute for Industrial Environ- ture. Retrieved March 20, 2010, from mental Economics (IIIEE). (2009). The Future Is www.ecoinnovationlab.com. Distributed: A Vision of Sustainable Economies. [4] Smith A. et al. (2005). The governance of sus- Lund: IIIEE. tainable socio-technical transitions. Research Policy, [16] Mirata, M. et al. (2005). Production systems 34(10), 1491-1510. aligned with distributed economies: Examples from [5] Ryan, C. (2010, forthcoming). Eco-Acupuncture energy and biomass sectors. Journal of Cleaner Pro- 2010. Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab, University of duction, 13(10-11), 981-991. Melbourne. List of people interviewed [6] Danmarks Vindmølleforeningen. (2009). Coop- eratives – a local and democratic ownership to wind Lorenzo Aiello, University of Catania turbines. Retrieved March 24, 2010, from Piero Argentino, Manager recycling depot Avola www.dkvind.dk/eng/faq/cooperatives.pdf. Nicola Campo, City Council Pachino [7] Allen, A. (2010). Bioenergy from olive oil. Re- Salvatore Cavallo, CUMO trieved March 24, 2010, from Dott. Cicero, Agenzia di Sicurezza Alimentare www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/7438/bioener gy-from-olive-oil. Fausto Fiorini, Centro Studi e Iniziative per lo Sviluppo Locale ed Integrato (CESIS) [8] Princen, T. (2005). The Logic of Sufficiency. MIT Press. Giovanni Fugà, Local Agenda 21, Noto [9] ARPA Sicilia. (2008). Annuario Regionale dei Alfonso Lapira, Heritage and Tourism Manager dati ambientale, Rifiuti. Retrieved March 24, 2010, Sebastiano Mandalà, City Council, Pachino from Salvatore Muscoiona, Botanist and herbalist http://www.arpa.sicilia.it/UploadDocs/1898_CAP_ Antonino Savarino, Mayor of Rosolini VI.pdf. Tino Scala, Water Engineer, Rosolini [10] McDonough, W. & Braungart, M. (2003). Cra- dle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. Sebastiano Tiberio, President Legambiente, Noto Rodale Press. Agata Tramontana, City Council Rosolini [11] www.effecorta.it Corrado Valvo, Mayor of Noto

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Future Waste Management in Belarus: Bringing Private and Public Actors Together By Carla Fierro, Laura Kazlauskaitė, Maurice Koffi, Nora Smedby

Belarusian waste management is, to a large ests is to introduce the so called ‘public extent, based on landfilling. The environ- private partnerships’. mental standards of the landfills are gener- The purpose of this project has been to in- ally poor, with environmental harm, detri- vestigate the feasibility of different options mental health effects and waste of natural for improving the Belarusian waste man- resources as a consequence. The develop- agement system by developing the coop- ment of a more organised waste manage- eration between public and private actors. ment system requires initiatives within The work forms part of a project of IIIEE investment, coordination and regulation. and the Swedish EPA aiming to strengthen By assigning environmental responsibility the development of Extended Producer of a product’s full life cycle to the producer Responsibility (EPR) in Belarus. A special (so called Extended Producer Responsibil- focus has been put on the management of ity, EPR), sufficient capital for the waste packaging waste and waste from electrical management can be secured and the prob- and electronic equipment (WEEE). lem of waste will be addressed at its root. However, EU experiences show that implementation of such a system requires EPR and its implementation substantial efforts regarding coordination The concept of EPR between different actors. One approach for Extended Producer Responsibility is a con- merging the private and municipal inter- cept based upon preventative environ-

The Minsk city

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Waste collection from countryside mental strategies with the aim to encour- IPR System age producers to improve the environ- The implementation of an IPR system re- mental performance of their products by quires direct financial responsibility of assigning the responsibility for end-of-life each producer. IPR gives stronger incen- management to the producers [1,2]. Within tives for eco-design practices by directly this context the producer includes any linking the producers to end-of-life costs party that professionally manufactures, [4, 5]. imports or sells the relevant product [26]. The system can provide capital for recy- National Collective System cling/recovery of materials, and give incen- In a national collective system, the total tives to design changes in order to lower costs for all producers, according to their disposal costs in the production process market or return shares, are shared among [3]. the producers through a state-run administration; it leads to a collective responsibility among all producers for the collection, How to design an EPR system? recycling and financing of their collective The design of an EPR system must ensure waste. the compliance and the respect of environmental standards, and also the deter- PRO-based System mination of responsibilities and coopera- Here the producers are coordinated tion between producers. The choice of an through one or several producer responsi- EPR system can also be influenced by: the bility organisations (PRO – an organisation producers’ market share, the demograph- created by producers and accredited by ics, consumer’s awareness or acceptance, authorities to coordinate the producers and the culture as well as the producers’ financial contribution to manage the waste acceptance of other manufacturers’ waste. of the products they put on the market), to There are three main design options for an facilitate the collection and recycling of EPR system: an individual producer re- waste. This system is the most used in the sponsibility (IPR) system, a national collec- EU member states. It is favoured as it fa- tive system or a PRO-based system [3]. cilitates government control, as compared

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MINSK, SALIGORSK & VILEYKA, BELARUS to individual systems, and is believed to EU and EPR legislation keep the costs lower than the alternatives. The European Union (EU) Waste Electrical It is, in principle, possible to implement and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Direc- both the IPR and PRO-based systems by tive is a legal document which promotes calculating the actual recovery costs for the collection and recycling of WEEE. Ac- products of each brand and allocating these cording to this Directive consumers should costs to the individual producers [6]. be able to return their products free of charge. PPP for waste management The main objectives of the directive are: There is no standard definition of what • To prevent electrical and electronic constitutes a Public Private Partnership waste; (PPP). The OECD [7] defines a public- private partnership as: “an agreement be- • To increase the recycling and reuse tween the government and one or more (separate collection, treatment and re- private partners (which may include the covery). operators and the financers) according to According to the Directive, there are differ- which the private partners deliver the ser- ent responsibilities that need to be defined vice in such a manner that the service de- in order to have a successful system: physi- livery objectives of the government are cal, financial and information [11,12]. aligned with the profit objectives of the The EU was a pioneer in the legislation of private partners, and where the effective- EPR for the WEEE with the Directive, but ness of the alignment depends on a suffi- the implementation is still at its infant cient transfer of risk to the private partners”. The main idea behind PPP is the risk stage. The transposition and its implemen- transfer to the party who can manage it the tation vary across the EU; in the majority best; other issues are of secondary impor- of the member states the individual re- tance. sponsibility is not encouraged [13]. Success factors of a PPP include transpar- The intention of the EU Packaging Direc- ency, accountability, external auditing, tive is to harmonise measures to prevent commitment from all partners, and well- the impact of packaging waste on the envi- defined definitions of responsibilities ronment of member states and third coun- [8,9]. The advantages of this form of contract are multiple: acceleration by pre- financing of the realisation of a critical project; contribution to the community by the dynamism and the creativity from the private sector; a guarantee of performance in time; an optimal spread of the risk between the public sector and the private one, each one supporting the risks which it controls the best [10].

Waste collection point in Saligorsk

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MINSK, SALIGORSK & VILEYKA, BELARUS tries, and to ensure the functioning of the The Republic of Belarus internal market through the application of Since 1994, Belarus is governed by presi- EPR. The Directive stipulates provisions dent Lukashenka, who has developed a for the prevention; reuse, and recycling of system which he labels as market social- packaging waste and also promotes energy ism. The Government openly states that recovery. they want to control all economic activity The Directive covers the industrial and [17]. commercial entities as well as the house- Belarusian private sector is small com- holds in the member states. pared to most countries. According to a The objectives of the Directive are: foreign expert on Belarusian politics, the • Reduction of the overall volume of private sector is approximately 25%. The packaging for final disposal; challenges in operating private businesses • Collection; and are mirrored in the Index of Economic Freedom, in which the country is rated • Recovery and recycling [14]. 150th with a score of 48.7. According to the Experiences from three EU member coun- Index, recent reforms have somewhat in- tries; France, Sweden and Lithuania, are creased the business freedom. Concerning given in boxes below. The implementation freedom for international trade, major bar- of a relevant waste management system in riers include considerable import restric- any country must be built according to the tions, quotas, licensing requirements, non- characteristics of the country. Therefore, transparent and arbitrary regulations, poor an overview of the characteristics of the enforcement of property rights, govern- Republic of Belarus is presented first. ment procurement giving preference to domestic actors, and government subsidies. The economy is also characterised by

Landfill in Saligorsk

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a high rate of inflation (12.6% between French EPR experience 2006-2008). The preferable treatment by Since 1992 the EPR system exists through the government of state-owned companies PROs mandated to collect producers’ makes investment difficult and still many financial obligations, and ensure the sectors are exclusively owned by the gov- redistribution towards the municipalities in ernment [17]. charge of the waste management, or to select the recycling companies for the However, the state has lately made efforts treatment of the waste collected by to open towards the international market. municipalities. An expert on Belarusian politics stresses The WEEE EPR system is managed through that foreign investment is a very important a group of 4 PROs coordinated by a clearing house since 2006. Today the WEEE system way for the country to acquire capital, es- is the most effective compared to the pecially in light of the phase-out of Russian packaging one, because of: oil subsidies. To support foreign invest- • the clearing house role, supervising the ment, an ordinance has been introduced PROs and allowing synergy effects in [18]. Among other things, the ordinance the system; guarantees certain tax exemptions and • relatively beneficial subsidies for the possibility to buy land without an auction. collection of WEEE; The effects of this ordinance remain to be • a well-developed network for WEEE seen. collection; and • a good communication on alternatives to discard WEEE. Belarus General Facts (2008) [3]

Population: 9.7 million Urban/Rural: 70/30 According to the Index of Economic Free- dom, private property is not fully ensured Area: 208 000 km2 by the legal system and the courts do not Capital: Minsk (pop. 1.7 m) always enforce contracts consistently. In GDP/capita: 8 000 EUR (2008 est.) addition, the judicial system is not independent and objective compared to inter- GDP growth: ~ 9% per annum (2006) national standards. Human Development Index ranking: 53rd (2002) General waste management Language: Belarusian and Russian The waste management system in Belarus Political system: Former Soviet state, in- is mainly based on landfills. It is prohibited dependent since 1991. by law to landfill secondary raw materials [19,20,21], therefore household waste is Economy: agriculture 8.4%, industry 41.5%, services: 50.1% (2008 est.) collected in at least two streams: mixed waste and recyclables. However, the exist- Main trading partners: Russia 36.5% ing waste chutes in the apartment build- metals and energy, Netherlands 17.8%, UK ings make the public participation in 6.3%, Ukraine 6.1%, Poland 5%, Latvia 4.1% source separation difficult. Bulky waste Neighbouring countries: Russia, and WEEE are so far collected together Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia. with other household waste.

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In addition to conventional collection however, the prices are not set high enough points next to the apartment buildings, to motivate the returning of material, ex- shops, mainly in rural areas, are function- cept for limited amounts of metal. ing as collection points for recyclables. In Mixed waste ends up in landfills, while re- these shops, people are being given com- cyclables are supposed to be treated and pensation in relation to the raw material utilised as a secondary material. However, price of the material they have brought municipal actors experience a lack of ca- there. The most valuable are paper and pacity for treatment. scrap metal, but people get paid even for The Ministry of Natural Resources and En- PET bottles (other types of plastic are not vironmental Protection (MNREP) sets the collected so far). According to a researcher, waste management policy and objectives and afterwards monitors the implementa- Swedish EPR experience tion of these [3,22]. Local authorities are The cooperation within EPR works responsible for organisation of waste col- relatively well for the WEEE as compared to lection from households. packaging. This is also mirrored by recycling Tariffs for the waste management are more statistics in which Sweden, together with Germany and Denmark, has the highest or less the same in all regions, and are set collection rates in kg per capita of electronic by the Council of Ministers. Households do waste in the EU [15]. not pay the landfilling and decontamina- A national agreement between the PRO for tion costs, while companies have to pay for WEEE, Elkretsen, and the municipalities, that. Currently, the State is subsidising ap- stipulating that the municipalities are proximately 40% of the waste management contracted by Elkretsen for taking care of collection at recycling centres and from costs for the households; the rest (60%) is there, the producers are responsible for paid by the households [22]. Non- transporting, treating and recycling the differentiation of the waste tariffs for the waste. households also adds up to the difficulties Cooperation regarding packaging and when motivating people to separate waste newsprint, on the other hand, shows more at source. problems. The system is less centralised than for WEEE and the main conflict here Existing EPR programs in Belarus relates to whether the targets are set high There are two EPR programs in Belarus: enough, and whether producers are responsible also for that share of their waste for rubber products (mainly tyres) and for that ends up in the mixed waste. Another plastic packaging [25]. problem is that, when consumers/citizens According to the Decree of MNREP No 5 of are discontent with the collection facilities, January 25th 2008, from January 1st 2009 they normally turn to municipalities. manufacturers and importers of tyres have Possible explanations why the WEEE system works better than the packaging to ensure the collection and recovery of include: waste according to 50% of the products • The clarity of the legislation; they produce or import. This can be done • The attitude of the industry; in two ways, either by collecting and recov- • The relatively low costs for collecting ering themselves, or by contracting organi-

WEEE; and sations that provide such services [25]. • The compatibility of the EPR with EPR for plastic packaging is based on a tax, current system. which is paid by producers and importers

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to the Environmental Protection Fund. The Lithuanian EPR experience money collected to the fund is only in part Since 2005, a waste management system for used to finance the activities related to the WEEE based on EPR was introduced. The treatment of waste plastics, the rest goes to management of WEEE is left for the free mar- financing other investments within the en- ket. vironmental area [25]. Involved parties include: The Ministry of En- vironment, the importers/producers, the pro- There is also a possibility within the EPR ducers’ organisation, waste treatment compa- system for plastic packaging to opt out of nies, municipalities (RWTC), municipal waste the tax and organise your own waste man- collection operators, waste collection operators, consumers/waste owners (households, agement. According to a private actor offices, organisations). within waste management, this obligation The system is constrained by a number of only concerns the recyclers, but not the problems, including: collectors of plastic. Therefore, if you are • Producers focus on collection rates but do providing the collection service, but not the not address prevention and consumer recycling, your expenses are not covered by education; this solution. • Lack of an official reuse system; • Existence of informal sectors; There is also a tax for the paper produc- • Discrepancies in the collected amount of ers/importers forming a type of collective waste Æ questionable monitoring system; EPR program [20]. and • Recyclers operating without a licence. One of the major challenges for MNREP is that it cannot independently set the EPR for any type of waste without collaboration ent (from other municipal services) com- with other ministries. For example, for pany Ecocomplex, which ensures the col- WEEE it is likely that the Ministry of In- lection and transportation of household dustry has more power, as it is responsible waste and is also responsible for managing for the ferrous and nonferrous metals in- the landfills in the Saligorsk region [19]. As cluding their recycling. There is a draft ver- a result of the recent economic crisis, some sion of an EPR law for WEEE but the dif- investments are necessary and must be ferentiation of responsibilities for secon- done through the municipality or the min- dary material is a serious constraint in the istry’s funds. legislation process [22]. Households in the city separate their waste Case study: Saligorsk into at least four fractions. Different types The City of Saligorsk is one of the newest of containers are placed next to the build- cities in Belarus (established in 1958), with ings: for mixed waste, paper and card- a population of 101 400 in 2007 [23]. board, PET and glass. A researcher within the field of waste man- The main advantages of the waste management, Professor Sarhei Daroszhka, de- agement in Saligorsk according to the mu- scribes it as a pioneer and leader within nicipal interviewees are: waste management in the country. • Regional waste collection targets are In Saligorsk, the waste management duty is confirmed after research on the com- transferred to the state-owned independ- mon waste composition, quantity, etc.;

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Sorted glass for recycling

• The independence of Ecocomplex al- the Vileyka region (2009 population of the lows for the possibility to raise capital region – 55 000 people) [24]. Municipal for upgrading the equipment; actors interviewed explain the lack of private investors and the small size of the re- • Separate collection of recyclables (three gion as important obstacles. On the other waste streams: paper & cardboard, hand, the small size of the town facilitates PET, glass); and the raising of awareness among the citizens • Relatively high awareness of the [20]. households. Vileyka town has a relatively large collec- The difficulties mentioned include: tion network in geographical terms. Local • Fluctuation of the secondary raw mate- municipal services are the main actors in rial prices; the waste management chain in accordance • Slow market development with regard with Belarusian legislation, and the main to companies buying recyclables, exist- collectors. In addition to collection points ing monopoly; next to the households, shops (mainly in the countryside) are functioning as addi- • Lack of freedom in taking decisions on tional collection points for the recyclables. the local level; In addition, schools and local council act as • Low capacity of waste treatment; and collection teams on a small scale. • Lack of capital for investment to up- There are no recycling facilities in the town grade the existing machinery/equip- because the amount of generated waste is ment. too small. Therefore collected materials are Case study: Vileyka transported across the country, but mainly The town of Vileyka had a population of sent to state-owned enterprises in the 30 000 people in 2009 and is the capital of Minsk’s region [20].

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The problematic waste streams in this dis- According to actors in the relatively pro- trict are the used cars and home appli- gressive municipality of Saligorsk, a key ances. According to the municipal actors factor for success in efficient use of re- interviewed, the lack of a running system sources and positive results within munici- for the EPR in this sphere has, for example, pal waste management is the development led to the situation when not a single plant of ambitious, yet realistic, long-term plans. in the country can treat used cars. Regard- To do this, careful analysis is needed. Ac- ing home appliances, the municipal ser- cording to their view, many municipal vices collect the unit, then dismantle it lo- plans for waste management are patchy cally, and send the secondary materials to and do not provide realistic solutions on a recycling facilities, e.g. scrap metal is sent full scale. to the state-owned company BelVtorMet. What cannot be used is deposited to the landfill. In the town of Vileyka the coverage Remondis in Belarus [19,22] of waste management services is almost Remondis’, a German company, negotiation 100%, whereas it is about 40% in the rural to enter the Belarusian market is a good case areas. illustrating possible strategies and constraints for a PPP in waste management in According to the interviewees, the most Belarus. According to the governmental ac- wanted changes on governmental level for tor in the area, one of the usual reasons why improving local waste management would the private actors give up PPP projects in Belarus is that they normally want a big be investment in recycling facilities, as a lot ownership share (more than 51%). It is be- of recyclable material needs to be trans- lieved that Remondis is ready to accept the ported across the country and/or stored 51%/49% partition with the Minsk and Sali- due to the lack of recycling capacity. In ad- gorsk authorities, for the building of treatment facilities. One of their strategies in a dition, they express a wish for more fund- context of complex bureaucratic system like ing for the municipalities to organise the in Belarus is said to be to involve the public collection sites and buy the containers for partners to make the business easier. Ac- the separate collection of recyclable mate- cording to the local experts in waste man- rial [20]. agement, even if they are able to take 100%, Remondis prefers to share at least 20% with Lessons learned and the public authorities. avenues for the future waste management A lack of long-term strategy incorporating According to the law, the Belarusian Gov- all steps of waste management has led to ernment has defined certain recycling tar- unsystematic investments and inefficient gets to be met but the waste management waste management. With a higher degree actors argue that it is impossible to fulfil of investment (more money allocated to these objectives. The lack of infrastructure waste management) and more systematic and the low awareness among the public approach for investment decisions, Belaru- are two problems that the municipalities sian waste management can take a leap have to work with. forward towards sustainable management The Belarusian Government seems to pri- of waste and more security in raw material oritise other areas than waste, such as agri- supply. culture. As municipalities’ lobbying power

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is weak, changes in waste management at One strength of a state-funded waste man- the regional level have been lagging be- agement system is that it facilitates coordi- hind. The municipalities cannot ignore the nation between various waste types and law in its activities. They are responsible of regions. It can also be easier to address collecting the waste and for providing the political issues such as equity or support of place of final destination. national industries with a state funding. In

Financial responsibility The investments necessary for making Belarusian waste management more environmentally efficient require considerable amounts of capital. Fur- thermore, additional funding is needed to cover the running costs of a more modernised system. There are mainly three sources of financing that can be combined with one another: 1. State/municipal funding through taxes; 2. Producers funding through an EPR system; and 3. Funding through higher tariffs. In addition, organisations such as the UN can contribute by financing pilot projects. The current waste management system for plastic packaging in Belarus can be described as a mix between the first and the second forms of funding. The Environmental Protec- Industrial site in South-western Belarus tion Fund, which earns parts of its revenue from taxes on packaging, can be used for subsidising major investments. this solution, the costs are ultimately cov- One recurrent concern during the inter- ered by tax payers, and the distribution of views with researchers and some municipal the financial burden will depend on how actors is that the fund’s broad scope of ap- the tax structure looks like. plication, it can for example involve spon- A well-designed EPR system offers the soring of sport events, diminishes the strength of ensuring supply of capital for amount of resources allocated to waste waste management and providing incen- treatment (see for example, [26]). tives for design changes and waste minimi- For electronic waste, the costs are still sation. The more direct the responsibility completely covered by state and municipal- is, for example with an individualised ity or indirectly by other actors contribut- physical responsibility, the stronger incen- ing to the Environmental Protection Fund. tives can be expected. On the other hand, a

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more direct, individualised system also In an EPR system, the cheapest ways to risks being connected with losses in terms reach the set recycling targets will most of economies of scale and higher transac- likely be chosen; therefore, there is a risk of tion costs. remote areas not being covered by the sys- A common conflict within EPR systems, tem. From an efficiency perspective, this reflected by, for example, Swedish experi- does not have to be problematic as recy- ences, concerns the definition of responsi- cling might be unprofitable from a socio- bilities between producers and municipali- economic point of view with the long dis- ties. Many municipalities are unwilling to tance transportation needs characterising hand over responsibility to the producers. these areas. It is, however, important that The reasons for this government and can, for instance, in- producers clearly clude a willingness to communicate such keep a big municipal prioritisations, for organisation or keep ensuring the le- control as citizens gitimacy of the tend to turn to the system. Yet, the municipality if the Swedish experi- waste management is ence shows that an not working properly. EPR system can be In Sweden, the prob- very effective for lem has been larger in gathering capital the case of packaging for waste man- waste than for WEEE. agement invest- It seems as critical ments. factors in this context A private actor is the compatibility within waste man- with existing waste agement in Minsk management systems, supports the view the approach of the Everyday shopping in Minsk that EPR systems different actors in the can provide impor- negotiations and the nature of the waste. In tant capital for investment, but argues that the Belarusian context, there are, in many the current system does not function as cases, no existing systems to build upon. intended. It is difficult to get money for There, instead, a common view on how to investments from the Environmental Pro- develop these systems and incorporate tection Fund, as tax incomes from packag- them in the country’s infrastructure is nec- ing producers are not earmarked for the essary. It is important to keep in mind that, purpose of waste management. If produc- in the case of packaging, a lot of overlap ers choose to opt out of the tax, they have with mixed household waste exists. To to organise waste management themselves, minimise areas of conflict, this has to be but, according to the interviewee, in prac- resolved by clearly defining targets and tice, the responsibility does not cover col- responsibilities. lection of waste.

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Government is highly concerned with ensuring the political support of the population (according to an interview with a foreign expert on the political situation of the country). Another sensitive issue is that tariffs set by the market would imply po- litically unacceptable differentiation of tariffs, e.g., higher tariffs in the countryside. For a system with private funding to work, there needs to be an institutional framework in place, ensuring, for instance, that payments can be collected.

According to a private actor within the waste management field, his major business risk is unpaid bills. If approaching these customers (often municipal actors) with his demands for payment, the re- sponse often is to threaten to stop buying his services and instead turn to municipal waste management services.

In some of the interviews, a fear of private actors of doing too well was also expressed, Container for waste as the government might choose to nation- alise successful companies. If the funding is done completely through According to actors at municipal level, tariffs on waste management, this can po- costs for investments are normally covered tentially provide incentives for citizens to by the Environmental Protection Fund. minimise waste. There is, however, a risk This leads to capital costs being largely ne- that waste ends up outside the waste man- glected by each specific municipality in agement system as a way of avoiding waste their waste management. The weak link fees, with environmental harm and litter- between capital and running costs can lead ing as a consequence. The magnitude of to investments not being prioritised in a this risk depends on enforcement and risk cost-effective way. Running costs can po- of being caught, but also on the culture of tentially be considered when allocating the the country. As public space in general is resources of the Environmental Protection very clean from litter in Belarus, the risk Fund, but, as the Environmental Protection for such behaviour might be limited. Fund and its decision makers do not have a Depending on the level of the tariffs, these clear connection to the running costs of can provide capital for investments in waste management, there are no strong waste management. The setting of high incentives for this. tariffs for waste management is often po- Putting the financial responsibility for in- litically sensitive. The current Belarusian vestments, as well as, for running costs

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Housing area in Minsk within the same organisation, regardless of whether it is municipalities, producers or private actors, can lead to a more cost- ered secondary materials. These are set by effective prioritisation of investments. the different ministries. Often, the prices are artificially low, resulting in decreased There are many international private ac- incentives for investments in recycling [3]. tors within the waste management field. Regulation of prices could theoretically These often have unique experiences when encourage recycling through the provision it comes to assessing investments. A fur- of stable prices of raw materials. But in an ther opening of the Belarusian market for international market, the price regulation waste management could, therefore, poten- constitutes a source of risk and constrains tially lead to more efficient allocation of foreign investment in the country. resources. In addition, these actors have access to important sources of capital, such Different ministries are legal owners of as shareholders or cooperation partners. It various secondary materials. This consti- follows from the interviewee that the Bela- tutes a hinder for treatment outside the rusian market and legal framework is not borders of Belarus. This ownership, and perceived as mature and predictable the involvement of several ministries in the enough to be able to attract investors. For area, has also constrained the possibilities many western European companies, there for developing an EPR system for elec- are also major cultural barriers for operat- tronic waste. ing in this part of the world. One way to facilitate the introduction of Physical management of waste foreign investors could be through the de- There are roughly two options for the velopment of PPP. Within these partner- physical management of waste: ships, risks can be shared and foreign in- 1. Municipality, vestors can obtain a better insight into the • as part of general municipal services; national context. • or as an independent municipal Pricing and ownership of waste company; or An important aspect for investments in 2. On a market with private (and possibly waste management is the price of recov- municipal) actors.

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The most common solution in Belarus is that increased competition on the market that municipalities, sometimes through forces him to be more customer-friendly independent companies which are munici- and flexible. On the other hand, in terms of pality-owned, are responsible for the col- economies of scale there are also gains lection and transportation of waste. An from having one actor doing the municipal interviewed Belarusian municipal actor services. The existence of economies of with experience of independent municipal scale implies a tendency of monopoly on companies prefers this form as it provides the market. In many countries, this issue is more flexibility and ensures certain finan- addressed by the awarding of time-limited cial allocation to the waste management. contracts on waste management. However, If the purchase of waste management ser- experiences in, for example, Sweden reveal vices is not done on a market with several a tendency of contracts not to be actively actors, the incentives for efficient waste renegotiated. management become weak and waste Belarus has lately been showing a willing- management runs the risk of being too ness to open up for foreign investment. costly, of bad quality or both. However, there are still several hurdles for A way for municipal actors to make use of foreign private actors to enter the Belaru- the know-how and capital of private actors sian market, including complicated adminis to involve in a PPP. This could for exam- istrative and legal framework, and reluc- ple be a way of avoiding the conflicts with tance of municipalities to hand over their the private sector that the Swedish munici- responsibilities. The companies with the palities sometimes have had to deal with. capacity to invest in good waste manage- The PPP can open up for private actors ment are mainly western, which want to go while the states still have some influence. into markets which offer sufficient legal security and the reality is that Belarus lacks Private actors often have more flexibility in sufficient transparency and predictabil- and a competitive market for waste man- ity. agement services can lead to increased efficiency and service level. A private actor One potential solution to this, according to within waste management in Minsk argues a Swedish actor on the international mar-

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ket for waste management, is to treat Bela- public sectors to manage the waste in an rusian waste in nearby countries. To some environmentally efficient way. extent, this has been done in, for example, Lithuania. However, for a larger scale application, changes in the legal framework are necessary for this solution to have an References acceptable administrative burden. [1] Ökopol. (2007). The Producer Responsibility Principle of the WEEE Directive, (DG ENV, Study Contract No. 07010401/2006/449269/MAR/G4). Conclusions Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the The investigation of the waste management European Communities. system through the interviews with Belaru- [2] Lindhqvist, T. (2000). Extended Producer Re- sponsibility in Cleaner Production. Lund: Lund sian actors of the waste management sys- University. tem, both public and private, has provided [3] Breitholtz, C., Finney, D., Maneschi, D., Montero, us with an overview of the difficulties for G. & Rantanen, J. (2009). Strategic Environmental enhancing the cooperation between the Development: Implementing EPR for WEEE in Bel- public and the private sector. arus. IIIEE, Lund University. [4] Tojo, N. (2004). Extended Producer Respon- The legal framework, as well as the over- sibility as a Driver for Design Change – Utopia or lapping responsibilities between the differ- Reality? Lund: Lund University. ent ministries in charge of the ferrous and [5] Lindhqvist, T. & Lifset, R. (2003). Can we take precious metals contained in the WEEE, the concept of individual responsibility from theory and the inefficient way of the management to practice. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 7(2), 36. of the environmental funds regarding the [6] van Rossem, C. (2008). Individual Producer Responsibility in the WEEE Directive. From Theory packaging, continue to constitute con- to Practice? Lund: Lund University. straints for the waste management system. [7] OECD. (2008). Public-Private Partnerships: In Also the barriers for private investments, Pursuit of Risk Sharing and Value for Money, OECD such as the cost of capital and the business Publishing, Paris. climate for foreign companies, render less [8] CIFAL Plock. (2006). Public-Private Partner- attractive the waste management field for ships and Integrated Waste Management, final report from workshop 23 – 25 January 2006, Plock, investors. The environmental challenges of Poland. waste management when it comes to [9] Ordif, Observatoir Régionale des Déchets d’Ile- health risks linked to the waste, the grow- de-France. (2006). Le contrat de partenariat public ing Belarusian middle class with the asso- privé fait son apparition dans la gestion des dé- ciated increasing levels of consumption, chets. and the available experiences of the West- [10] Delmon. (2010). Understanding Options for Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructure Sorting ern countries are issues that ought to be out the forest from the trees: BOT, DBFO, DCMF, taken into account when searching for new concession, lease…. World Bank Policy Research solutions for waste management. The pri- Working Paper 5173. vate investors are important for raising [11] Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parlia- sufficient capital to make the investments ment and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Sub- necessary to improve the waste manage- stances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment. ment in Belarus. The condition of this pri- [12] Directive 2002/96/ EC of the European Parlia- vate investment must be improved to coor- ment and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on dinate the two forces of the private and the waste Electrical and Electronical Equipment.

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[13] Tojo, N. (2010). EPR in Practice: WEEE Sys- Siarhey Chopchits, Chief Engineer, Municipality of tems – Lecture 8 February 2010 at IIIEE, Lund Uni- Saligorsk Saligorsk/2010,04,17 versity, Sweden. Aliaksandr Kanivets, Manufacturing Director of [14] Directive 2004/12/CE of the European Parlia- Waste Management Organisation KP Domservis ment and of the Council of 11 February 2004 on Saligorsk/ 2010,04,17 Packaging and Packaging waste. Viktar Paulouski, Director of Communal Service [15] Eurostat. (2010). Waste electronical and elec- Minsk Region Vileyka/2010,04,19 tronic equipment. Vitalij Brouka, Director Ekologia Gorda (City [16] Breitholtz, C., Finney, D., Maneschi, D., Ecology) Minsk /2010,04,20 Guillermo, M. & Rantanen, J. (2009). Implementing Siarhei Kuzmiankou, Head of WM Inspection, Min- EPR for WEEE in Belarus. IIIEE, Lund University. istry of Nature Res. and Environmental Protection of [17] The Heritage Foundation & Wall Street Journal. Belarus Minsk/ 2010,04,20 (2010). Index of Economic Freedom, www.heritage.org List of people interviewed in Sweden [18] Presidential Decree Number Ten of August 6 Magnus Öhrnborg, FTI (packaging PRO), manager 2009. of Regional branch of west Sweden [19] Interview with Alexander Kanivets Telephone 2010,03,18 [20] Interview with Viktar Paulouski Peter Ingvarsson, FTI (packaging PRO), Information [21] Interview with Vitalij Brouka manager Telephone 2010,03,18 [22] Interview with Tatsiana Auramchyk Ulrika Eliasson, Elkretsen (PRO for WEEE), Infor- [23] http://www.by.allbiz.info/guide/population mation and Market manager [24] Shestakovsky, A. L. (2009). Применение Telephone 2010,03,19 принципа расширенной ответственностн Håkan Rosquist, NSR*, Research manager производителя по отношению к сложной Lund, 2010,03,19 бытовой технике в Республике Беларусь [Implementation of EPR for complex household Mats Jerslind, Sysav*, Advisor appliances in the Republic of Belarus]. M.Sc. thesis. Telephone, 2010,03,19 Minsk: Belarusian National Technical University. Göran Nilsson, Pressretur (PRO for paper), MD [25] Marino, A., Pitot, A,. Tekle, G. & Viswanathan, Telephone 2010,03,26 S. (2008). Who Can be Responsible for that Smell? Nils Lundqvist, Stockholms municipality, Traffic Analysis of MSW Management in Belarus and department Implementation of Extended Producer Respon- Telephone 2010,03,26 sibility. IIIEE, Lund University. Agneta Lanto Forsgren, Skellefteå municipality, [26] Tyson, G. J. (2005). Extended Producer Res- construction and environmental department ponsibility and Local Government. Exploring Mu- Telephone 2010,03,29. nicipal Roles in Managing Packaging and Paper Peter Wenster, Swedish Association of Local Author- Wastes. IIIEE, Lund University. ities and Regions Telephone 2010,04,03 List of people interviewed in Belarus Frank Tholfsson, Svensk GlasÅtervinning (PROGlass Sergei Darozhka, Professor of the Belarusian Na- packaging), MD tional Technical University, Minsk / 2010,04,14 Telephone 2010,04,03 Tatsiana Auramchyk, Vice-Chairman, City Environ- Peter Domini, Business Developer, Stena Metall ment Committee Minsk/ 2010,04,14 Telephone 2010,04,22 Aliaksandr Hnedau, Consultant and Researcher, Minsk/ 2010, 04,14 * NSR and Sysav are companies owned by a group of Alexander Shastakouski, Researcher, Minsk/ 2010, municipalities for managing waste in the region 04,14 Scania in South Sweden. NSR works in North-west Uladzimir Darozhka, Researcher, Minsk/ 2010, Scania and Sysav works in the South-west of Scania. 04,14

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A Sustainable Pathway for the Future

Future trends, such as an increased global For instance, the establishment of an EPR population, growing resource extraction system in Belarus or a sustainable city and material flows, will lead to a greater quarter in Sarpsborg is not completed after need for environmental strategies to deal implementation. Monitoring and reporting with higher resource constraints and envi- requires the system to be continuously up- ronmental problems. Technological im- graded and further developed. provements and sustainable consumption From a sustainable perspective environ- are two elements, which could contribute mental strategies should be first developed to lower total environmental impact. Al- using a preventive approach. Integra- though the four SED projects had different tion of sustainability into urban design regional and cultural backgrounds, they right from the cradle creates opportunities were all dealing with sustainable regional development in the areas of energy, waste, water, food and/or mobility. From our combined work, we obtained several lessons learned, which will be outlined below.

A general vision is needed amongst regional stakeholders to increase acceptability, coordinate tasks and strive towards the same targets. It could reduce the risk of a failure scenario. In several projects, different stakeholders had different targets, which were competing.

All our projects were still in the development and exploratory phase and thus point- ing out directions and potential solutions.

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A SUSTAINABLE PATHWAY FOR THE FUTURE

in which urban spaces can be utilised more cultural heritage, where traditional life- efficiently, leading to better quality of life styles might clash with unsustainable de- in urban areas. Increased transnational velopment. In the Val di Noto project, the trade in electricity and waste could lead to several local actors’ involvement and ac- the perception that resource usage is opti- ceptance are crucial ingredients in vision- mised. However, reducing the need for en- ing a distributed future. Awareness and ergy through higher energy efficiency and knowledge among the public concerning waste minimisation are to be prioritised environmental issues could lead to growing before end-of-pipe treatment, installation understanding and involvement in both of new energy capacity, and recycling sys- generating solutions and participation in tems. It should be stressed that all our pro- the implementation. In Shanghai, public jects aimed at reduced resource consump- opinion in urban redevelopment is crucial, tion and more sustainable production pat- particularly for a country where decisions terns. are traditionally made at the top. A bottom up approach ensures a more inclusive inte- The projects could benefit from commu- gration of ideas from different stake- nity participation and capacity holders, which is a pre requisite for sus- building. There could be a need to protect tainability.

Acknowledgements

The Norway Team would like to give our The Shanghai team would like to appre- thanks to Hafslund ASA and in particular ciate the following for making the project a Åsgeir Helland for his time and effort to success: organise the schedule for the interviews The Nordic Centre for facilitating and or- and the great accommodation in Norway. ganising the project. The Swedish Ministry We enjoyed visiting the interest groups of of Environment for financing the project. Hafslundbyen and discovering the great Göran Cars and the students of the Royal surroundings Norway has to offer. Second- Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, ly, the visit to Torleif Bramryd and Michael for their valuable inputs. Johansson at the Department of Environ- Students from the Urban Design Depart- mental Strategy of Lund University in Hel- ment of Lund University whose inputs singborg increased our understanding of from the urban design perspective are eco-cities. Thanks to all the persons we in- highly appreciated. terviewed, including the local people of Lecturers and students from Fudan and Sarpsborg. All interviewees have been very Tongji Universities that provided further useful. On top, our gratitude goes to our insight and ideas about Shanghai. supervisors Philip Peck and Lars Strupeit Shanghai Jing’an Planning and Land Ad- for their insights and guidance. ministration Bureau for opening up to new

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

and interesting ideas from Swedish stu- The Belarus Team would like to express dents. the sincere gratitude to: We certainly thank Mother Nature for de- Siarhei and Uladzimir Darozhka, for all the laying the intensity of the volcanic ashes organisational-administrative support and until after our departure lest the project the time devoted for us. Aliaksandr (Sasha) would never have been. Shastakouski who greatly contributed to The course supervisors Håkan Rodhe, Ca- the project by helping us not to get lost in roline Dahl and Thomas Lindhqvist for the translations, for the valuable time and their guidance and moral support. all the knowledge shared with us. Administrations of Vileyka and Saligorsk for the cooperation and extremely warm The Italy team would like to express its welcoming, especially Viktar Paulouski and gratitude and thank the following. Profes- Aliaksandr Kanivets. As well as all other sor Salvatore Cavallo at CUMO for his en- helpful people involved, without whose ge- thusiasm, knowledge and support. Thank nerous help this project would not have you for inviting us to your home for an un- been possible, in particular: Tatsiana Au- forgettable day of pizza and the Mediterra- ramchyk, Siarhei Kuzmiankou, Vitaliy nean Sea. Silvana Tuccio at Lacunae for Brouka and Aliaksandr Hnedau. your interest in a sustainable Sicily and for In Lithuania: Almontas Kybartas and his skillfully organising our interviews and team at EMP recycling, as well as, Rasa time. Your limoneto is wonderful. Marcello Uselytė, UAB Ekokonsultacijos. Scrofani (the Hub) for being the perfect The representatives of PROs and munici- host and for enthusiastic participation. palities in Sweden for generously sharing their time and experiences. Don’t worry! Maria Teresa Pomillo for Our supervisors Thomas Lindhqvist and warm Sicilian hospitality. We would also Andrius Plepys for the guidance, patience, like to thank staff and students at CUMO knowledge as well as nice moments and for supporting and welcoming us. All the places shared with us. Lars Hansson for interviewees for sharing their knowledge making the memories of the trip last forev- and experience, municipal staff and other er. participants contributing to our wonderful The Swedish Institute for making a multi- stay in Val di Noto, Sicily. The course su- year cooperation with Belarus possible pervisors Tareq Emtairah and Åke Thidell through their continuous support and, in for guidance and insightful advice. Tack! particular, this study.

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IIIEE – The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics

With the firm conviction that prevention is better than cure, the International Insti- tute for Industrial Environmental Eco- nomics (IIIEE) was funded in 1994 at Lund University to engage in multidisciplinary research and educational activities with the overall ambition to develop and spread knowledge about strategies and policies for sustainable solutions to the contemporary and future challenges. The Institute’s educational effort is focused on masters’ level courses and is carried out through two programs: MSc in and strategies. Students come from all con- Environmental Management and Policy tinents and the alumni represent some (EMP), and MSc in Environmental Sci- ninety different countries. However a ma- ences, Policy and Man- jority of the students are agement (MESPOM). from the OECD countries, with Sweden, Can- The EMP program is the ada, USA, Germany and original IIIEE masters China being the five degree that started in countries with most 1995. It is an applied alumni. and multidisciplinary program designed to Candidates arriving to provide graduates with Lund have a professional a solid foundation for action in the area of degree in subjects relevant for work with preventive environmental management issues around sustainable consumption and production, for instance, law, business, or engineering, and frequently have several years of work experience. The courses are intense and demanding but also rewarding: our graduates have done very well in the job market and essentially all move on as profes- sionals in the environmental field. Our education aims to be applied with many interactions with industry, government and NGOs.

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IIIEE – LUND UNIVERSITY

a very small part of the program. Consequently, the students are provided with the knowledge of how to act in enterprises or government when addressing these challenges and the tools that facilitate this work. The fourth semester is devoted to thesis research and writing and can take place on or off-campus. There is a variety of disciplines among topics covered: management of organisations, technical The EMP program starts with one semester systems, economics, law and policy, etc. In- on distance and at reduced speed in order house research related to most of these ar- to make it possible to limit the time spent eas gives excellent opportunities for re- on campus in Lund and the time period search papers and theses. The staff is ex- fully devoted to studies. During the dis- perienced and highly committed, several tance semester the students are provided have gone through the masters program an understanding themselves. The of the environ- staff is also inter- mental challenges national and and how the hu- represents various man activities in- disciplines with a fluence the environment. All students are common interest of making knowledge and also given basic knowledge in the fields of understanding useful in practice. business administration, management, en- The students experience close contacts vironmental technology and economics, so with an impressive and very active alumni as to facilitate understanding in fields ear- network for the sharing of new develop- lier not studied and to enhance possibilities ments and professional achievements. for communication with experts in various Alumni continue to keep frequent contacts fields. This first semester is followed by two on-campus semesters in Lund (from mid-August to mid- May) when the students gain further understanding of how to define and measure the various sustainability challenges and, in particular, how to address and solve these. The focus is on how to deal with problems at organisational and policy level; the natural science of the challenges is taken as a starting point but is

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also after leaving Lund; sharing experiences, knowledge and information through the IIIEE Alumni Network. Every two years the alumni meet in Lund for a two-day conference. IIIEE also runs educational programs at PhD level, participate in teaching on under- strategies and graduate level, and is involved in executive approaches for training. more sustainable business practice. In recent years, research has also focused on Research at the IIIEE focuses on policy and how to better understand the power of in- strategies for sustainable solutions. The novation and entrepreneurship to address research includes the design, application sustainability challenges. and evaluation of policy instruments from a governmental, as well as, corporate per- The research areas are numerous and cover spective, and special attention is given to topics of clean product and production- research that identifies and supports systems, consumption, waste management, renewable energy, energy efficiency, climate change, material flows, industrial ecology, the built environment, city development, tourism, mobility and information technology. The research is organised to encourage crosscutting actions and to allow for activities that address topical challenges and incorporate new approaches. Many researchers are active in more than one of the research areas and several of the research projects can be attributed to more than one of the areas. IIIEE was established by the Swedish Par- liament. It is a unique and creative re- sponse to the global challenge for sustainable development. It is part of Lund Uni- versity and governed by a Board appointed by the University and the Government.

For more information see www.iiiee.lu.se

The IIIEE building in the centre of Lund

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Sarpsborg 59° 17’ N :: 11° 07’ E

Shanghai 31° 14’ N :: 121° 29’ E

Noto 36° 52’ N :: 14° 59’ E

Minsk 53° 52’ N :: 27° 32’ E