Sara Gustafsson

Stakeholder participation in municipal energy and climate planning – experiences from Sweden

This article analyses the factors influencing stakeholder participation in municipal energy and climate planning, together with stakeholder experiences of participation in such processes. The article presents findings from a survey of 60 Swedish municipalities and detailed case studies of energy and climate planning in five Swedish municipalities to explore which stakeholders are involved, how and why they are involved, and the impacts of participation on both stakeholder experiences. The results of this study provide insight into the role of stakeholders in municipal energy and climate planning. The study proceeds as follows: the Introduction is followed by a discussion of theoretical perspectives on stakeholder participation and energy and climate planning. The Methods used to conduct the study are presented, followed by Results and Analysis. In the subsequent Discussion, the authors propose a conceptual approach that may assist municipalities in development of energy and climate strategies. The Analysis and Discussion inform Conclusions in which the authors advocate early and active stakeholder engagement in energy and climate strategy planning and emphasise the possible utility of their conceptual approach in supporting stakeholder participation.

Contesting sustainability in urban transport — perspectives from a Swedish town

This paper presents findings from the study of a Swedish municipality, Norrkoping. The empirical focus of the study is on the role of transport in municipal planning and transport’s potential contribution to urban sustainability in the municipality. The case study highlights a problem familiar to many municipalities – a transport sector largely dependent on fossil fuelled private vehicles generates significant impacts on the climate and environment, along with other economic and social costs. However, despite awareness of these negative impacts, it is difficult to generate consensus and implement measures to reduce use of private vehicles and enable transition towards a sustainable transport sector.In Sweden, municipalities have exclusive planning monopolies and an extensive range of other powers. Despite this, many Swedish municipalities are struggling to reduce car dependency and enable sustainable mobility. This paper uses perspectives from different disciplines to explore why, presenting results from a document study, survey, workshops and scenarios. The paper questions the extent to which the municipality and its governance processes are capable of contributing toward sustainable development, both locally and globally, in the absence of radical measures to promote sustainable urban development.In particular, the paper addresses a challenging question: why, despite having adopted objectives to promote sustainable mobility, does the municipality fail to implement measures enabling sustainable mobility? Why is there a difference between words and actions? Moreover, the study identifies comparable municipalities in other European countries with substantially higher performance in sustainable mobility than Norrkoping, and considers, what would happen if Norrkoping adopted similar targets and policies?This presentation seeks to inform an international audience about the contested nature of transportation in Swedish urban sustainability debates, and seeks input to help develop the paper and future research on this theme.

Excess heat supply collaborations within the district heating sector: Drivers and barriers

This article combines the theoretical field of Industrial Symbiosis (IS) with a business model perspective to increase the knowledge about drivers and barriers behind the emergence of excess heat supply collaborations between district heating companies and industrial firms. The increased knowledge is gained by identifying and examining drivers and barriers associated with collaborative efforts to funnel excess heat produced by industrial firms into district heating grids in Sweden. An increased recovery of excess heat has the potential to reduce the primary energy demands of district heating systems. This study examines both existing and potential developments of industrial collaborations of excess heat-based district heating systems. The focus of the study consists of two Swedish cases of existing collaboration between district heating companies and pulp and paper industries as well as 16 industrial firms that all produce unused excess heat as a by-product. Confirming earlier research results, this study shows that financial issues are both the main drivers and the main barriers behind the emergence and development of inter-organisational collaborations. In addition, this study confirms earlier research that found the trust, joint problem solving, and fine-grained information transfer are important elements of successful collaboration. This study complements and clarifies these three features by including honesty and shared visions on common goals as important qualities needed for well-functioning collaborations. Combining the IS and the business model perspective has made it possible to examine more factors related to collaboration. The business model perspective has contributed with knowledge about central components of the business agreement between the collaborating parties, and the IS-perspective has contributed knowledge of the important organisational factors behind the emergence and development of long-term sustainable business agreements between firms.

Implementing the Global Sustainable Goals (SDGs) into Municipal Strategies Applying an Integrated Approach

The UN emphasises the importance of collaboration and integrated approaches to effectively implement the SDGs. Much of the action will have to take place locally where municipalities will play an important role in coordinating the efforts towards SDG fulfilment. They are constant local actors close to citizens and they can also influence other actors through their strategies. This paper reflects on how the SDGs can be integrated into existing strategies in order to avoid parallel non-effective processes and to avoid the risk of the SDGs to become marginalised. Furthermore, the paper discusses roles and preconditions of municipalities in the SDG implementation process. This study focuses the implementation of the SDGs into a regional municipality’s strategic planning and management, Region Ostergotland, Sweden. The challenges and opportunities connected to implementing the SDGs will be problematized, and the paper gives recommendations on how this type of organisations can implement the SDGs taking advantage from qualities in already existing management and working procedures.

Local Spatial Planning Processes and Integration of Sustainability Perspective Through a Broad Systems Perspective and Systematic Approach

Cities play an important role in forwarding sustainability. In Sweden, municipalities have a monopoly on spatial planning and are, therefore, key actors for developing sustainable cities. Through integrating sustainability concerns early in the planning processes they have a significant possibility to have an impact on other actors’ towards increased sustainability. The aim of this paper is to discuss a process for how sustainability concerns can be addressed in municipalities’ spatial planning. It is based on experiences from an on-going planning process in Linkoping, Sweden. There is a rapid increase in the number of index-based assessment and planning tools for sustainable cities (e.g. BREEAM communities, LEED neighbourhood, CASBEE-City). In Sweden, there is a newly developed tool: Citylab action, which has clear connections to the UN sustainable development goals. However, from a city planning perspective the existing tools are often complex and lack conformity with other municipal processes. There is therefore a need for municipalities to reflect on which tools that are useful, what the local needs for support are, and to develop inclusive and broad planning processes with a broad systems perspective in which actor involvement is key, and where the city’s overall strategies and policies, as well as national and international goals, are clearly disseminated.