Dick Magnusson

Between municipal and regional planning: the development of regional district heating systems in Stockholm from 1978 to 2010

District heating (DH) is an important part of the Swedish energy system and one of the most important climate measures at the municipal level. The Swedish planning system gives a large amount of power to municipalities, thus leaving the regional level weak. Despite this, the DH systems in Stockholm have developed into regional systems; how has this development occurred and what made it possible? Regional and municipal strategies concerning DH and energy from 1978 to 2010 have been studied through Regional plans and comprehensive plans. The conclusions show that the municipal DH systems have grown and become interconnected, thus fulfilling one of the most important regional strategies: to expand and interconnect the systems to be able to build combined heat and power plants. This is not entirely due to the regional strategies, however; the local importance of the system, economic reasons and supply security are other explanations. The study shows that regional importance generally has grown, and thus also the regional focus on DH. As environmental and climate issues have risen on the agenda, the importance of DH from the municipal perspective has become more evident, as well as a shift from supply orientation to more focus on energy efficiency.

Going back to the roots: the fourth generation of Swedish eco-villages

ABSTRACT Local reactions to climate change and sustainable development take various forms. The literature on grassroots innovation has grown recently, and it illustrates the myriad of initiatives that are actively working with the issues. The eco-village movement is one example of a grassroots innovation that reacts and adapts to its prerequisites, all striving for an alternative living with reduced environmental impact. This paper focuses on the development of eco-villages in Sweden, arguing that in recent years a fourth generation of initiatives has emerged, with ideals close to the pioneers of the first generation’s idealistic views and ambitions for alternative living as a way of reacting to global trends. The fourth generation is highly diverse in form and goals, but with an emphasis on outreach and networking as well as more focus on small-scale agriculture and permaculture. This paper presents, through literature reviews, database searches and interviews, how the eco-village idea has moved between initiatives and has taken various forms over the generations. In the first generation via books, reports and personal contacts, in the second and third also via contractors and professionals, and in the fourth via the internet and social media in order to attract members and have impact.

The cure for the hard core: the evolution of planning doctrines and organizational unbundling in the Stockholm regional energy system

ABSTRACT This paper analyses re-organization of district heating (DH) systems in the Stockholm region from the perspective of planning doctrines. It is argued that a regional doctrine emerged with the ‘spatial organization principle’ focusing on reducing the pressure on the city centre through suburbanization. The different infrastructure systems, especially transport systems, were an important part in implementing the doctrine, but as shown in the paper, energy systems and especially DH systems developed in accordance with the spatial organization principle were influenced by the doctrine. A regional energy company, STOSEB, was established, and from 1978 to 2003, it worked to create cooperation among the municipalities and energy companies. The doctrine was eventually weakened and modified, as the strategies of the organizational principle were actually implemented and focus shifted towards other issues. The regional energy cooperation was discontinued, as the deregulation of the electricity market led to privatization and new business logics of several energy companies.