Architecture for Everydeverybodyay Life Every Time Sustainability by Sweden
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everywhere everyone Architecture for everydeverybodyAy life every time sustAinAbility by sweden Sveriges Arkitekter, Swedish Association of Architects Produced by the Swedish Association of Architects, 2010 with support by the Delegation for sustainable cities Project leader: Pehr-Mikael Sällström Editor: Tomas Lauri, Katarina Nilsson Translation: Roger Tanner, John Krause Layout: Ina Flygare Printer: TSRB Nanjing ISBN 978-91-978353-5-0 Cover photo: Kastrup Sea Bath by White architects. Photo: Åke E:son Lindman Table of conTenTs architecture and sustainable Welfare 2 architecture matters 3 open to changes 8 Township without empty gestures 18 The magnetism of style 27 a system of the future 32 The strategist 39 The Politician 41 The Planner 43 examples from the municipalities: Planning for everyday life 46 examples from practice: sustainable architecture and planning 63 Directory of architects 107 1 architecture and sustainable welfare Sweden is a nation with a long tradition of comprehensive planning and of using architectural guidelines as a means of enhancing the quality of everyday life for our citizens while conserving our natural resources for future generations. In the 1960s and 1970s, to be sure, we had some very negative experiences of planning processes that damaged large parts of our historical city centres, but we have learned a lot from our mistakes. The Swedish Government is convinced that to build a sustainable society, many parties must be involved and work together to find innovative and more resource- efficient technical solutions to our social needs. Architecture has a crucial role in this as a bridge between human needs and technical solutions. But also as a means of cultural development and of communicating more sustainable lifestyles. Architecture can make such lifestyles more attractive and easily accessible for everyone. Opportunities for citizens to develop and be productive members of society wherever they live are a fundamental aspect of sustainability. Spatial organisation can include or exclude. We have a strong belief in the open society. It is our experience that this has resulted in a high degree of participation, initiative and responsibility at the local level, a sense of trust and security which is the basis of our welfare. The right of our citizens to participate in the spatial planning process is laid down in the law. The development process may be time consuming, but makes it possible in the end to produce large quantities of high quality and even unique housing. Today international delegations visit our urban development schemes and our way of working is regarded as a model by many. We believe that our approach to building sustainable cities, based on great care for the quality of everyday life of citizens, is something that other countries can benefit from. It is our experience that careful planning and architecture are part of the foundation of a sound economy in the long term. In a post-industrial society, increasingly dependent on access to knowledge, the economy will flourish in places where people want to make their lives. Sweden has long been a nation of industrial exports. We are now entering a new era where the service and knowledge-producing sectors are becoming more important. Architecture and planning provide an exciting example of this new trend. It is therefore our great pleasure to hereby present this catalogue with many examples of how Swedish architects and planners are working to develop a sustainable society. Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth Andreas Carlgren Minister for Culture Minister for the Environment Photos: Pawel Flato 2 architecture matters The dream of a better life is what attracts people to move to the city. 2008 was a banner year in that respect. For the first time, more than fifty percent of humanity now lives in urban areas at the same time as the world’s population reached seven billion. The urban population is expected to double in the next forty years, while the total global population grows to ten billion. By then seventy percent of the population will live in cities. The challenge will be to deal with all that growth in the face of diminishing natural resources. Sustainability is going to be about human health and about maintaining productive, profitable ecosystems that can provide for our needs while keeping the planet in good shape even for future generations. Planning and architecture are going to be important tools for creating the sustainable cities and buildings of the future. Tomorrow’s sustainable solutions need to be both technologically smart and attractive for people’s everyday lives, for everyday architecture. The more people that will live in the city, the easier it becomes to deal with environmental problems and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with smart technologies. But for that to happen, the sustainable city needs to offer its inhabitants a better quality of life. Sustainable technical strategies must be designed from a human perspective while solving the environmental problems. Swedish efforts to develop sustainable cities and architecture are getting a great deal of attention internationally these days. In Sweden there are planning methods and an approach to the work process to achieve holistic solutions, which starts with a balanced integration of social, economic, and ecological demands and conditions. It’s what we call SymbioCity. Our approach to building a sustainable society is anchored in legislation and a regulatory process that gives all stakeholders a voice. That allows a high level of both systematization and citizen participation in our work with planning and design. It also provides good conditions for interdisciplinary collaboration among a variety of actors of complementary expertise. What it means is that the solutions we arrive at are already adapted to local conditions and have the support of the people affected. And that makes the execution of the project much more effective. We call it consensus. For this catalogue, we have gathered together a number of talented writers to describe the Swedish model in more detail and from several different perspectives and to discuss what it means to work with Swedish architects and planners. We have also invited municipalities and architecture firms to explain how they work. Several of the contributing architects also present some of their international work. These Swedish architects can and will contribute to building sustainable buildings and cities around the world. Sweden has a long history as an export nation. We can contribute the knowledge and expertise it takes to find solutions that always are based on local conditions. What makes us so successful is our ability to come up with new solutions. We are a country built on innovation. We would like to give warm thanks to the Swedish government whose investment in exporting sustainable cities has provided the support needed to produce this catalogue. We also want to thank all of the companies and municipalities who made the effort to make this unique compilation possible. The Swedish Association of Architects Laila Strunke President of Swedish Association of Architects Photo: Urban Orzolek 3 4 everywhere everyone Architecture for everydeverybodyAy life every time sustAinAbility by sweden 5 6 Photo: Åke E:son Lindman 7 open to changes Sweden stands for a socially conscious architecture. It is an architecture of wood, of prefabrication, and of nature, with roots that extend back to the industrial revolution and the will to create a united and participatory society. Page 6–7: Restaurant Tusen in the Ramundberget everyone and grants on offer, a certain standard had to be met, ski resort, not only spatially but also in terms of urban planning. by Murman ”It seems we all agree.” The good home was defined in codes and regulations. Architects, won That’s how every successful meeting in Sweden is Since the market took over the task of providing the the award for summed up. Everyone is on the same page. All of country with new homes, the importance of the codes best holiday the Nordic countries can be described as consensus has diminished, but the vision of the home as the building at democracies. The stability of their development during nucleus of the welfare society lives on. the World practically the whole of the 20th century is rooted in a Architectural policy of consensus which has been both unusual and Consensus between citizens and government requires Festival in victorious. This pursuit of consensus has been most confidence. The perception of the state as good for one’s Barcelona in energetic in Sweden. A good solution is a solution for own welfare goes back to more indigent times than our 2009. everyone. own. Thanks to a reasonable symmetry between taking and giving, a process of urban construction was able Page 9: Playground in The policy of general welfare is visible in what has been to slowly evolve. Civil registration in Sweden, the very Vasaparken in built and planned. The general means that Sweden has foundation of governmental planning, dates back to the the center of never had any specific social housing production for the 17th century, making it the world’s oldest. And in the Stockholm. The poor. All homes must satisfy the same requirements, local community at that time, decision-making bodies redevelopment of and so Sweden today has the world’s highest housing already existed which were consensus-based. Vasaparken won standard in terms of square metres per inhabitant. The the Siena Prize greater part of Sweden’s housing stock materialised in The ironworks quickly became the pioneers of urban for best Swedish the second half of the 20th century, with the assistance development. Industrialists with strategic acumen landscape design of state funding. To qualify for the favourable credits organised not only production but also their employees’ in 2007. 8 Photo: Mauro Rongione 9 10 Photo: Åke E:son Lindman 11 lives in accordance with rational principles.