In the Formas research strategy for 2009-2012, urban and rural development have been prioritised as one of five key research areas for the future which are in urgent need of sustainable development and for which Formas intends to be a leading provider of finance. According to the strategy, research is needed to elucidate how cities can contribute to a better environment, be attractive and have favourable interaction with their surrounding countryside.
The century of the city
Today, more than one half of the world’s population lives in cities. A recently published UN report, State of the World’s Cities 2008/2009, states that this is the century of the city and that development of the world’s cities has never been more important than now.
Population changes, a globalised economy and climate changes are clear examples of the challenges which cities have to cope with, regardless of whether this is at the global level, in the EU, Scandinavia or Sweden. This applies irrespective of the country’s level of development, and irrespective of whether it refers to an aging population as in Sweden, or to countries with the inverted age pyramid; and regardless of whether it refers to rapidly growing or declining cities. The global perspective is clearly necessary: population increases and people who escape from wars and poverty in other parts of the world give rise to social and cultural repercussions in Swedish cities also. Cities and countries compete with one another for labour and investment. Climate and ecosystem changes do not respect frontiers.
Social harmony
The above UN report discusses urban development under the headings social, spatial and environmental harmony, and planning for harmonious cities. Under social harmony, statistics are presented and discussions conducted concerning income differences between different groups in society. Large differences create anxiety and insecurity, impede economic development, and are seen as an evident risk factor. On the basis of these indices, even many of the cities in North America are highly segregated; for example, in New York and Washington DC the differences are as large as in Nairobi or Abidjan. Cities in Europe are less segregated than those in other parts of the world, and they also represent more stable societies. Perceptions of injustice are due to relative differences and to people’s perceptions of these, and cannot be expressed as merely differences in numbers. Measures to improve or eliminate slum areas are necessary in large parts of the world, but Europe and Sweden also have similar issues to deal with in run-down and segregated housing estates in order to alleviate social differences.
Spatial harmony
The subject of an ongoing discussion is what the sustainable city is to be like and how it is to be designed. Is it to be a compact city in order to reduce everyday journeys and energy use, and improve the conditions for public transport and other supply systems? This is a point of view that is often asserted with emphasis. Or is it to be a sprawling city, which means that the various functions of green spaces and parks for the ecology of the city, people’s health and climate can be safeguarded and made use of? Research has shown that parks and green spaces not only have a positive significance for the physical and mental health and wellbeing of people but that the green spaces in a city also help reduce the differences among various socioeconomic groups. A new approach, “compact sprawl”, has been launched in an attempt to eliminate contrasts and to find new solutions for the design of the city.
The conclusions from the Formas-financed six year research programme “The sustainable city” are presented in a Review of Knowledge R1:2007. One conclusion is that there is no ready solution or simple tools for a sustainable city. Learning to deal with and to concretise the issue of the sustainable city in a certain situation requires greater awareness, broader knowledge and receptiveness to learning. Sustainable urban development demands adaptation to the place concerned and its circumstances. Those affected by the change should be involved. Social and cultural aspects should be included. One precondition for sustainable development is that the physical structure should match technical development and the way the households act to achieve resource effectiveness and a reduction of energy use and environmental impact.
Environmental harmony
Urban life gives rise to environmental problems, globally and locally. But urban development also provides unique opportunities for the implementation of technical and social innovations on a large scale which have an evident influence on environmental impact and people’s quality of life. Expansion of the underground rail network is a clear example. Another example is the way in which planning for safe and pleasant cycle routes, in combination with greater knowledge of the importance of exercise, makes people give up their cars. Value judgments as to what constitutes quality of life are also changed. A third example are methods to control heating in dwellings, where not only technical solutions but also the shape of the city and the green elements in this can be significant.
Planning for harmonious cities
Cities are changed by decisions taken in different forms, where different interests are given different importance. Sectors and institutions are involved, more or less controlled by laws and regulations. As conditions in the surroundings become increasingly obtrusive, there is a greater need of cooperation between different levels and societal sectors. Changes in the city are noted, and they affect people’s everyday lives in a specific way. There is both social and political value in people being engaged in their environment, and the residents also have a unique knowledge of how the environment functions. However, greater geographic mobility and diversity in society have made it more difficult to find good forms for citizen involvement. The formal democratic processes which have the function of securing citizen influence have received competition from a more informal influence from organisations and companies with their specialised interests. This complexity demands new competence on the part of the politicians and civil servants who are to be in charge of these processes.
The need for renewal also applies to plans and control documents, which are the concrete interpretations of the decisions made. Indicators which measure changes in various respects, and benchmarking which is a systematic record of one's own development and a comparison of this with similar developments in other cities, are aids to this. The complexity of the relationships between decision making processes and more or less inert structures increases as cities grow and global influence becomes greater.
Challenges
Integrated urban development is one of the themes in the Leipzig Charter on sustainable cities in Europe (adopted at the informal meeting of ministers on urban development and territorial cohesion in Leipzig on 24-25 May 2007). “Integration between the different dimensions of sustainability, integration between different sectors, integration between short term demands and long term goals, integration between the local and the global …”
Knowledge about cities is to be found in a large number of already established areas of knowledge – architecture, ecology, economics, geography, history, sociology, political science, etc. Urban research is characterised by the fact that its content and methods cut right across disciplines rather than make an in-depth study of any of these. In many cases, this requires interdisciplinary approaches. Owing to its close association with social problems, it is important to integrate an empirical approach with practical knowledge. One overriding objective is that such knowledge should be used in practice when cities are to be adapted or changed to cope with new demands.
Literature:
Formas Review of Knowledge R1:2007.
Formas state of the art report on sustainable urban development, Report No 3:2005, is still timely as regards issues and research needs. Apart from an English version, the report is now also available in Mandarin.