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Industrial ecology for sustainable urban development - the case of Hammarby Sjöstad SOFIE PANDIS IVEROTH Industrial Ecology Department of Sustainable development, environmental science and engineering School of Architecture and Built Environment Stockholm, Sweden 2014

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Page 1: Industrial ecology for sustainable urban development716823/FULLTEXT01.pdf · Industrial ecology for sustainable urban development - the case of Hammarby Sjöstad SOFIE PANDIS IVEROTH

Industrial ecology for sustainable

urban development - the case of Hammarby Sjöstad

SOFIE PANDIS IVEROTH

Industrial Ecology

Department of Sustainable development, environmental science and engineering

School of Architecture and Built Environment

Stockholm, Sweden

2014

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TRITA-IM-PHD 2014:01

ISBN 978-91-7595-123-2

Printed by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm, Sweden

Akademisk avhandling som med tillstånd av KTH i Stockholm framlägges till

offentlig granskning för avläggande av teknisk doktorsexamen måndagen den 2

juni kl. 13:00 i sal F3, KTH, Lindstedtsvägen 26, Stockholm.

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Abstract

Today, more than half the world’s population lives in cities largely dependent on

resources and ecosystem services from outside their physical boundaries.

Correspondingly, urban resource needs and waste generation have serious

worldwide ecological consequences, and urban areas have become a primary driver

of environmental change. In response, various sustainable urban developments

have been initiated worldwide. Quite a few of these rely on strategies giving urban

areas the characteristics of ecosystems, i.e., fostering urban symbiosis by

integrating infrastructural systems to optimise the environmental performance of

the system as a whole.

Whether or not the strategy of urban symbiosis actually contributes to sustainable

urban development is, however, debated. It may support only short-term system

optimisation, hindering the implementation of new technology crucial for the long-

term environmental improvement of society, as that might require no symbiosis

but substitution. Or it might actually support a complete transition to sustainable

urban development.

Consequently, this thesis explores the research question “How can urban

symbiosis contribute to sustainable urban development?” using the

implementation of urban symbiosis strategies in Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm,

Sweden, as a single-case study. The choice of a single-case study approach was an

attractive approach as the sustainable development strategy implemented in

Hammarby Sjöstad was clear and consistent: the approach aimed at sustainable

urban development by using innovative technical solutions such as urban

symbiosis, and not by changing the behaviour of the inhabitants of the district. This

fortuitous “natural experiment” was useful, as strategies for sustainable

development are often difficult to evaluate since they are often not very clearly or

consistently applied.

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Using results based on literature reviews, in-depth interviews, discussions with

focus groups, and quantitative data, this thesis concludes that urban symbiosis

strategies do not directly respond to path dependence, and that such strategies are

as dependent on radical behavioural change as are transition management

strategies. In addition, urban symbiosis strategies can optimise existing

infrastructural systems and advance the planning of the sustainable urban district.

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Preface

Since I was very young I have always had an interest in refining what is already

there. It started when I was a child, continuously changing the structure of my

room, trying to find the perfect place for all my things, creating an attractive and

optimised environment. I even tried to reorganise other rooms in my family house,

but my parents put a stop to that. When I grew older and moved into my own place,

it was not long before I knew everything about restoring apartments, including the

renovation of kitchens and bathrooms. This knowledge later came to good use, as I

helped my parents refurbish the old family house. At this stage, I was a student at

the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and needed something creative to

do outside my studies. I learned a great deal about rebuilding walls, building

bathrooms from scratch, and restoring household plumbing. In our family, we did

many things by ourselves, but we also relied on highly skilled professional

plumbers, electricians, and carpenters. As a result, I grew to understand not only

the theoretical aspects of systems as a student of chemical technology, but also the

practical aspects of such systems in houses. It seems that I can never leave things as

they are, as I always think there is room for improvement. As a result, the concept

of industrial ecology came to interest me, as it links my interest in optimising

things to my growing concern with the lack of sustainable development in society.

Stockholm March 2014

Sofie Pandis Iveroth

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Acknowledgements

Many people have travelled alongside me on the journey to this dissertation, and it

would be impossible to acknowledge all who have in some way supported me

during this period. I hope you feel my appreciation even if your name is not

mentioned below.

I wish to start by expressing my thanks to my family for their admirable patience

and steadfast love and support. Without them I would never have been able to

finish this work. I especially want to thank my mother and father for teaching me

never to give up, my sister and her family for being my long-term support team, my

children for their unconditional love, and finally my wonderful and loving husband,

who has always supported me in so many ways. I love you all so much!

Next, I would like to thank my dear colleague and friend Anne-Lorene Vernay for

her great co-operation in both analysing data and writing articles. Without your

support and input, the journey to this dissertation would not have been as

enjoyable and productive.

I would also like to thank all my dear colleagues, both old and new, at the Royal

Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden. I thank you all for your support,

companionship, and all the enjoyable times we have spent together. I particularly

thank Stefan Johansson, Isabelle Dubois, Kristin Fahlberg, Louise Årman, Hossein

Shahrokni, Per Olof Persson, Karin Orve, and Olga Kordas.

My co-supervisor Nils Brandt deserves thanks for guiding my work from the start

with constructive criticism and helpful suggestions. Karel Mulder, my second co-

supervisor, deserves thanks for introducing me to the world of science, always

pushing me one step further to improve the quality of my work. To Ronald

Wennersten, my initial supervisor, thank you for believing in and supporting me.

Fredrik Gröndahl, although stepping in as my supervisor at a late stage, provided

equally appreciated support: besides lending me your critical eyes, your patience

when times were difficult for me was greatly valued. I want to thank Örjan Svane

for critically reviewing my work, giving me valuable comments that improved its

quality.

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This research was made possible through generous funding from Stockholm’s

Executive Office, for which I am truly grateful. Special thanks go to Carina Tensmyr

Hildinger and Elisabet Söderström for initiating this work, which would have been

impossible without the contributions of all the respondents and stakeholders who

participated in in-depth interviews and focus group meetings. In particular, I

would like to thank Berndt Björlenius, who gave me much insight into and

knowledge of the process of forming and developing the integrated infrastructural

system in Hammarby Sjöstad (i.e., the Hammarby Model).

Finally, I would like to warmly thank all my friends for being there for me

throughout this time. Special thanks go to Anna Jones, Carina Ulvegren, and Sofia

Rydin.

Stockholm March 2014

Sofie Pandis Iveroth

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List of appended papers

This thesis is based on the following papers, which are cited in the text using roman

numerals. The published papers are reprinted with the kind permission of the

copyright holders.

Paper I

Pandis Iveroth, S. and Brandt, N. (2011), “The development of a sustainable urban

district in Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm, Sweden?”, published in the Journal of

Environment, Development and Sustainability, vol. 13, no. 6, April 2011, pages

1043–1064, ISSN: 1387-585X.

My contributions to this paper were data collection and analysis, and writing the

paper.

Paper II

Pandis Iveroth, S., Johansson, S., and Brandt, N. (2013), “The potential of the

infrastructural system of Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm, Sweden”, published in

Energy Policy, vol. 59, August 2013, pages 716–726, ISSN: 0301-4215.

My contributions to this paper were data collection and analysis, and writing the

paper.

Paper III

Pandis Iveroth, S., Vernay, A. L., Mulder, K. F., and Brandt, N. (2013),

“Implications of systems integration at the urban level: the case of Hammarby

Sjöstad, Stockholm”, published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 48, June

2013, pages 220–231, ISSN: 0959-6526.

My contributions to this paper were data collection and analysis, and writing the

paper.

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Paper IV

Vernay, A. L., Mulder, K. F., Pandis Iveroth, S., and Brandt, N. “Urban symbiosis as

the development of a socio-technical network: the case of the introduction of

kitchen waste disposers in Stockholm”, re-submitted to the Journal of Industrial

Ecology, February 2014.

My major contributions to this paper were data collection and analysis, and

critically reviewing the paper.

Paper V

Levin, Paul T. and Sofie Pandis Iveroth (2014), “(Failed) mega-events and city

transformation: the green vision for the 2004 Olympic village in Stockholm”, in Per

Olof Berg and Emma Björner (eds), Branding Chinese Mega-Cities, Cheltenham,

UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, pp. 155–167.

My major contributions to this paper were data collection and analysis, and

critically reviewing the paper.

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Table of contents

1.  Introduction ................................................................................... 1 

1.1.  Sustainable development .......................................................... 1 

1.2.  Strategies for sustainable development ..................................... 2 

1.3.  Hammarby Sjöstad: a fortuitous “natural experiment” ............. 3 

2.  Sustainable urban development .................................................. 5 

2.1.  The implications of urban symbiosis strategies ......................... 6 

2.2.  The carrying out of urban symbiosis strategies ....................... 8 

3.  Aims and objectives ..................................................................... 9 

4.  Theoretical background ............................................................. 11 

4.1.  Defining sustainable urban development ................................. 11 

4.2.  Strategies for sustainable urban development ...................... 13 

Urban symbiosis: a developing field in industrial ecology .......................................................... 13 

The emerging field of transition management............................................................................. 15 

4.3.  Industrial ecology versus transition management ................ 18 

5.  Methodology ............................................................................. 21 

5.1.  Urban symbiosis strategies in Hammarby Sjöstad: a single-case

study ............................................................................................... 21 

5.2.  The choice of a single-case study approach ........................... 23 

5.3.  The emerging research field of industrial ecology ................. 25 

5.4.  A multidisciplinary theoretical approach ............................. 26 

5.5.  The analytical process .......................................................... 28 

6.  System boundaries .................................................................... 33 

7.  Limitations ................................................................................... 37 

8.  Results of appended papers ....................................................... 39 

8.1.  Paper I .................................................................................... 39 

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8.2.  Paper II ................................................................................ 42 

8.3.  Paper III ............................................................................... 43 

8.4.  Paper IV ............................................................................... 45 

8.5.  Paper V ................................................................................ 46 

9.  Discussion ................................................................................. 49 

9.1.  What were the direct and indirect environmental achievements

in Hammarby Sjöstad? .................................................................... 49 

9.2.  To what extent were certain aims and goals of the

environmental achieved and why? .................................................... 51 

Measures used to support the implementation of the environmental programme .................... 51 

How did the applied measures work in practice? ........................................................................ 52 

9.3.  In the quest for sustainable urban development, what can we

learn from the results achieved by the urban symbiosis strategy

applied in Hammarby Sjöstad? ........................................................ 57 

9.4.  Recommendations for urban symbiosis in the quest for

sustainable urban development ....................................................... 59 

10.  Further research ....................................................................... 65 

11.  Conclusions ............................................................................... 67 

12.  References ................................................................................. 69 

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1. Introduction

1.1. Sustainable development

In A Blueprint for Survival (Goldsmith et al., 1972), a distinguished panel wrote

that “the principal defect of the industrial way of life with its ethos of expansion is

that it is not sustainable” (p. 15). By this they meant that the foundation of survival

for humans is endangered by the disruption of ecosystems, population growth, and

resource consumption and depletion. A sustainable society would, according to the

panel, cause minimum ecological disruption, practice conservation, and maintain a

constant population.

Later, in the “Brundtland Report”, the call for sustainability was renewed and

sustainable development was defined as “development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own

needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 37). This

definition of sustainability was later reiterated at the first World Summit on

Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 with the creation of Agenda 21,

calling for all countries to formulate policies to minimise environmental impact

and improve the social conditions of individuals and the community (United

Nations, 1992).

In the present day, 22 years later, the question of how to achieve a more

sustainable way of life is still unresolved. According to the synthesis of national

reports for Rio +20, considerable evidence indicates a gap between stated

commitments to sustainability and the reality of implementing sustainable

development policies in all countries and regions reviewed (DESA and UNDP,

2012). Consequently, the challenge today is chiefly how to implement various

sustainable development strategies (DESA and UNDP, 2012).

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1.2. Strategies for sustainable development

The challenge of sustainable development1 at the global level is clear: to provide

sustenance for all people living on this planet, now and in the future. However, this

is not a problem statement that inherently implies “doable” solutions, such as the

starting point for a scientific research project, as the challenge it presents is both

broad and complex. Such problem statements for research require the creation of a

large number of specific thematic alignments at various levels of work organisation

in order to work towards solutions (Fujimura, 1987).

In response, the formulation of problems with inherently doable solutions requires

articulation, i.e., aligning work organisation at various levels around specific sub-

themes.2 For sustainable development, such sub-themes might be resource

depletion, declining biodiversity, climate change, etc. (Mulder et al., 2011).

Accordingly, there are different ways to frame sustainable development (Mulder et

al., 2011) and diverging perspectives on what changes are needed to achieve

sustainability. In addition, some environmental concerns (e.g., climate change)

might be prioritised due to strong interest groups influencing the political agenda.

In the process of aligning levels of social organisation to favour sustainable

development, negotiation occurs and the question “What is the best strategy for

sustainable development?” emerges. Will population reduction solve our problems

or will reducing consumption be enough? Does industrial symbiosis create

sustainable development? What sustainable development strategies have the

highest environmental performance? What will such strategies cost? What are the

risks? What services will such strategies provide society? Will society accept them?

1 This thesis relates primarily to the ecological aspects of the term sustainable development and not to its social and economic aspects, as discussed in chapter 7. 2 Changes in public priorities and success in solving a specific problem might lead to less support for a certain articulation (i.e., dissolving the alignment).

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Technical innovations might create an opportunity to forge a new consensus to

solve the sustainability problem. Even so, a choice must be made between taking

small steps to optimise an existing system, and making the big leap of introducing a

new system instead.

1.3. Hammarby Sjöstad: a fortuitous “natural experiment”

How can one choose between the many possible strategies for sustainable

development? How can one avoid suboptimal results? Social praxis is often difficult

to follow, and the sustainable development strategies applied have not been

consistent over time. The introduction of sustainable technologies, for example,

almost always requires that users adapt their behaviour, and social measures to

reduce the environmental burden almost inevitably require that consumers be

offered alternative technologies. This implies that strategies for sustainable

development are difficult to evaluate, as they are often not very clearly or

consistently applied.

For this reason, any implementation of a clear and consistent sustainable

development strategy, as was the case in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1996, constitutes a

fortuitous “natural experiment”. In this case, a specific environmental programme

for Hammarby Sjöstad was approved by Stockholm City Council, in order to

develop a sustainable urban district primarily by implementing innovative

technologies, such as urban symbiosis strategies (i.e., the integration of

infrastructural systems in order to improve the environmental performance of the

system as a whole), heat storage, solar panels, photovoltaics, fuel cells, and biogas

stoves.

The idea was that the technical systems by themselves would create a sustainable

urban district without inducing residents to radically change their behaviour

(Pandis and Brandt, 2009). The environmental programme stated that “the

technical support system is to be designed jointly, with the goal of achieving

synergy effects from environmentally effective solutions with regard to energy

supply/usage, water and sewage management, and waste management”

(Stockholm Municipality, 1996a, p. 9). In addition, the programme stated that “by

procurement of technology, it will be possible to achieve far better performance

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than that available at the present time, for example, in terms of energy efficiency,

waste discharge and use of resources – regarding both individual aspects and the

neighbourhood as a whole – without having to compromise quality aspects in other

areas” (Stockholm Municipality, 1996a, p. 13), and “district planning and

environmental efforts will facilitate user responsibility in regard to environmental

issues” (Stockholm Municipality, 1996a, p. 12).

In summation, the specific environmental programme for Hammarby Sjöstad

specified that the implementation of urban symbiosis strategies, defined as “the use

of by products (waste) from cities (or urban areas) as alternative raw materials or

energy sources for industrial operations” (Van Berkel et al., 2009, p. 1545), was to

ensure the achievement of the environmental goals for Hammarby Sjöstad.

Consequently, a good opportunity was created to evaluate the use of urban

symbiosis strategies in the quest for sustainable urban development,3 independent

of parallel strategies simultaneously aiming to change the behaviour of inhabitants

of the district.

3 Section 4.1 and chapter 7 reveal how the concept of sustainable urban development is defined and used in this thesis.

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2. Sustainable urban development

Today, more than half the world’s population lives in cities. The ratio of rural to

urban dwellers declined from approximately 7:1 in the early 1900s to less than 1:1

today (Satterthwaite et al., 2010), and the world’s urban population grew from 260

million in 1900 to over 3.4 billion in 2011 (Bairoch, 1991; DESA, 2011). Growing

urban regions increase their dependence on resources and ecosystem services

outside their physical boundaries. As a result, urban resource needs and the

resulting waste generation have serious ecological consequences locally, within and

near the city, regionally, as resource needs and waste flows influence a wide region,

and globally, through effects such as climate change and natural resource depletion

(Satterthwaite, 2011).

In response, urban areas have become a primary driver of environmental change,

and sustainable urban development has climbed high on the political agenda

worldwide. To come up with strategies and measures to create a comfortable and

healthy living environment while minimising environmental degradation, various

sustainable urban development approaches have been initiated relying on

strategies giving urban areas the characteristics of ecosystems. Take, for instance,

Masdar in Abu Dhabi (Joss, 2010; Nader, 2009), Caofeidian in China (Joss, 2010;

Joss and Molella, 2013), Almer in the Netherlands (DuurzaamheidsLab Almere,

2010; Joss, 2010), Hammarby Sjöstad in Sweden (Joss, 2010; Pandis and Brandt,

2009), or the eco-town programme in Japan (Van Berkel et al., 2009).

The strategy of developing urban areas with integrated infrastructural systems, to

improve the efficiency of the system as a whole and reduce waste, is inspired by

researchers who argue that, to attain sustainable urban development, urban

production and consumption systems need to be viewed as circular rather than

linear processes. For example, both Girardet (1996) and Rogers and Gumuchdjian

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(1998) argue that urban areas need to transition from a linear to a circular urban

metabolism4 (Rogers and Gumuchdjian, 1998). Later Newman (1999) and Kennedy

et al. (2007) extended the model of urban metabolism, and scholars in the field of

industrial ecology have promoted the concept of industrial symbiosis as a means to

improve the environmental performance of industrialised society (Ayres et al.,

1997; Korhonen, 2001; Tibbs and Little, 1992). In addition, Van Berkel et al. (2009)

has introduced the concept of urban symbiosis, an extension of industrial

symbiosis referring to the integration of infrastructural systems making use of by-

products (e.g., wastes and secondary energy) from urban areas as an alternative

source of raw materials and primary energy.

However, while a great deal of research advocates systems integration, such as

urban symbiosis strategies, in the quest for sustainable urban development, few in-

depth analyses have sought to explain its possible implications and the process

through which the integrated systems are realized in practice.

2.1. The implications of urban symbiosis strategies

The integration of infrastructural systems may increase the innovative capacity of

the system as a whole and thereby contribute to the continuing improvement of the

new system. Alternatively, it may create barriers to future fundamental change,

blocking the implementation of radical innovations needed to improve the

environmental performance of the system as a whole.

As mentioned later in section 4.2, regular development processes display path

dependence (Nelson and Winter, 1977), limiting the options for change. That is, the

implementation of urban symbiosis strategies (i.e., integrating existing

infrastructural systems to optimise the environmental performance of an urban

area) might actually hinder the implementation of innovative technologies,

4 The term “urban metabolism” was coined by Wolman (Wolman, 1965) in the 1960s to express how energy and material flow in and out of the city just like in human bodies.

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resulting in short-term gain and long-term disadvantages. In addition, innovation

researchers claim that “expectations, visions and beliefs can have the dynamic of

self-fulfilling prophecies as they guide research and development activities that

work towards realising them” (Geels and Raven, 2006, p. 376). For strategies of

urban symbiosis, this might result in the exclusion of innovative technologies in the

early planning stage of the system.

From this perspective, the urban symbiosis strategy would only enhance old

patterns of behaviour and certainly not support long-term sustainable urban

development. However, in the doctoral thesis Circular Urban Systems: Moving

Towards Systems Integration, Vernay (2013) concludes that small changes in

integrated infrastructural systems, resulting from urban symbiosis strategies, can

indeed set in motion events leading to complete transformation in the quest for

sustainable urban development (Vernay, 2013). This finding is supported by

innovation management researchers who state that change within a technological

innovation system can be initiated by the creation of positive feedback loops,

resulting from the full operation of a given innovative technology (Jacobsson and

Johnson, 2000). This means that the growing use and acceptance of an innovative

technology might reduce its dependence on subsidies and public procurement

policies, improving its competitiveness and enabling its diffusion in society.

In addition, Kemp and Rotmans argue that there may be system improvements

that could serve as stepping stones to system innovation (Kemp and Rotmans,

2005). Consequently, strategies of urban symbiosis might act as stepping stones in

the transition to sustainable urban development. However, researchers in the field

of innovation have paid little attention to the types of innovations resulting from

industrial ecology strategies, such as urban symbiosis. Instead, the focus has been

on understanding the emergence of innovations within individual systems, not due

to the integration of initially separate systems (Vernay et al., 2013).

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2.2. The carrying out of urban symbiosis strategies

Furthermore, implementing strategies of urban symbiosis, to mimic eco-systems in

the quest for sustainable urban development, has proven to be difficult. As Gibbs et

al. (Gibbs et al., 2005) observed, attempts to create symbiotic relationships

between technological systems, to foster industrial symbiosis, often fail. This is

clear in urban areas, as most cities worldwide still rely on linear production and

consumption systems relying on fossil energy resources and generating a vast

amount of waste.

In the field of industrial ecology, important research has been performed seeking a

better understanding of why the implementation of industrial symbiosis strategies

sometimes fails. A number of technical, economic, organisational, and institutional

barriers have been found that prohibit the actual introduction of such strategies

(Baas and Boons, 2004; Boons and Baas, 1997; Mirata, 2004). However, these

studies have focused primarily on the integration of industrial systems, leading to a

lack of knowledge of the formation process of urban integrated infrastructural

systems. In addition, Vernay et al. (2013) argue that little research has studied the

processes underlying urban (or industrial) symbiosis.

Supplementary concepts and tools have been developed to facilitate the transition

to circular urban systems, such as mass flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle analysis

(LCA) (Garner and Keoleian, 1995; Korhonen et al., 2004). Similarly, by

investigating the metabolism of various urban planning alternatives, the

environmental performance of these alternatives can be compared at a very early

stage of urban district planning (Chrysoulakis et al., 2013; González et al., 2012;

Pinho et al., 2013), helping planners, architects, and engineers choose between

various planning alternatives. However, such tools are very technocratic and do not

consider social aspects, possibly hindering the implementation of suggested

infrastructure system integration.

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3. Aims and objectives

Urban symbiosis strategies seem to be difficult to implement, and we need to learn

more about the implication of such strategies in both the long and short terms.

Building on findings related to the implementation of urban symbiosis strategies in

Hammarby Sjöstad, this thesis aims to fill this gap by exploring and determining

how urban symbiosis might contribute to sustainable urban development.

Does urban symbiosis support sustainable urban development in the long run at

all, or does it only enhance old behavioural patterns, creating lock-ins5 that

impedes necessary innovations from developing? Do such strategies result in only

short-term benefits, or can small changes within an integrated infrastructural

system push the whole system towards complete transition, guiding the transition

to sustainable urban development?

In addition, as such strategies concern not only the integration of technical

artefacts, but also the social and economic aspects of system planning,

implementation, and operation, it becomes germane to explore how the urban

symbiosis strategy was implemented in Hammarby Sjöstad, and if it could have led

to different results if implemented in another way.

Consequently, the overarching research question of this thesis is:

How can urban symbiosis contribute to sustainable urban development?

5 A lock-in of a technology occurs because returns and/or performance increase by the scale of its application. Consequently, the implementation of innovative technical solutions might be hindered by such lock-ins.

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To answer this overarching research question, it is divided into three sub-

questions:

1. What were the direct and indirect environmental achievements in

Hammarby Sjöstad?

2. To what extent were certain aims and goals of the environmental

programme achieved and why?

3. In the quest for sustainable urban development, what can we learn from the

results achieved by the urban symbiosis strategy applied in Hammarby

Sjöstad?

The reminder of this thesis is structured as follows. Chapter 4 presents the

theoretical background, exploring various strategies for sustainable urban

development. Chapters 5–7 describe the methodology, system boundaries, and

limitations of this thesis. Then chapter 8 presents the results of the appended

papers. This is followed, in chapter 9, by a discussion of the results in relation to

the theoretical background presented in chapter 4. To conclude, chapter 10

discusses possibilities for related further research and chapter 11 presents the

conclusions of this thesis.

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4. Theoretical background

This chapter presents the theoretical background of this thesis. First, section 4.1

explains how sustainable urban development is defined in this thesis. Then section

4.2 explores different strategies for sustainable urban development. Finally, section

4.3 illustrates how strategies of industrial ecology and transition management

differ, building on Abernathy and Clark’s (1985) transilience map as shown in

Table 1.

4.1. Defining sustainable urban development

Sustainable development consists of three pillars: ecological, economic, and social

sustainability (Elkington, 1998; United Nations, 1992). As a result, sustainable

development means different things to different people, depending on their

position in society (OECD, 2008; Robert et al., 2005; Robinson, 2004), and no

consensus exists as to how such development should be attained.

Consequently, several definitions of sustainable urban development are articulated

in the literature. As illustrated below, they are similar in their concern about the

need to change the direction of urban development, but vary in their approach to

what sustainable urban development actually means:

A “sustainable city” is organised so as to enable all its citizens to meet their own

needs and to enhance their well-being without damaging the natural world or

endangering the living conditions of other people, now or in the future. (Girardet,

1999, p. 13)

Sustainable communities are places where people want to live and work, now and

in the future. They meet the diverse needs of existing and future residents, are

sensitive to their environment, and contribute to a high quality of life. They are safe

and inclusive, well planned, built and run, and offer equality of opportunity and

good services for all. (ODPM, 2005, p. 56)

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A compact city must have a form and scale appropriate to walking, cycling and

efficient public transport, and with compactness that encourages social interaction.

(Elkin Tim et al., 1991, p. 12)

In addition, there are several principles for how to achieve sustainable urban

development, generally including environmental, economic, and social

considerations (Basiago, 1996; Haughton, 1997; Haughton and Hunter, 2003). In

1990, the European Commission articulated general approaches to achieving urban

sustainability, by revitalising cities, making cities more compact, and by

regenerating existing urban land (European Commission, 1990).6 However,

Girardet (1992, 1996) argued that urban compactness alone would not lead to

sustainable urban development, as it would not reduce the amount of material and

energy used in the city.

Therefore, Girardet (1996) promoted the concept of circular urban metabolism,

claiming that urban areas must be fashioned in ways that give them the

characteristics of ecosystems; similarly, Rogers (1998) argued that we need to think

of cities as circular rather than linear systems. Both Girardet (1992, 1996) and

Rogers (1998) have suggested that the transition from a linear to a circular urban

metabolism would reduce the input and output flows of energy and material in

cities, therefore improving their environmental performance. Since then, various

researchers have conducted research in the field of urban metabolism,

continuously broadening the scope of the concept (Kennedy et al., 2007; Newman,

1999).

6 Making cities more compact might protect unexploited land from urban development and might reduce the need for the transportation of goods and people. Nevertheless, such an approach might also result in an increased demand for country houses, as humans tend to like a green environment.

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In the field of industrial ecology, strategies for urban symbiosis have evolved from

the field of industrial symbiosis, relating to the creation of an urban district with a

circular, rather than a linear, urban metabolism (Van Berkel et al., 2009).

Consequently, this thesis chooses to define sustainable urban development as a

pattern of development creating a sustainable city as defined by Girardet (1999).

This is motivated by the fact that Girardet was the one who initially promoted

circular urban metabolism as means for achieving sustainable urban development.

This approach is intimately related to the strategies of urban symbiosis described

below in section 4.2, introduced as means to achieve the environmental aims and

goals set for Hammarby Sjöstad.

4.2. Strategies for sustainable urban development

Urban symbiosis: a developing field in industrial ecology

Today, industrial ecology7 is defined as “the study of technological organisms, their

use of resources, their potential environmental impacts, and ways in which their

interactions with the natural world could be restructured to enable global

sustainability” (Graedel and Allenby, 2010, p. 32). Accordingly, the field has

broadened its scope and now includes research into various human/natural

systems, not only industrial ones.

One such system is the urban system and the developing field of urban symbiosis.

The term “urban symbiosis” is derived from the concept of industrial symbiosis,

which was introduced as a means to improve the performance of industrial areas

(Ayres et al., 1997; Korhonen, 2001; Tibbs and Little, 1992) and represents “the

part of industrial ecology that engages traditionally separate entities in a collective

approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials,

energy, water, and by-products” (Chertow, 2000, p. 314).

7 The research field of industrial ecology is presented in section 5.3.

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The concept of urban symbiosis was formulated to emphasize that interactions and

exchanges, such as those of industrial symbiosis, can also take place in interaction

with urban functions (Van Berkel et al., 2009). That is, strategies of urban

symbiosis aim to engage traditionally separate entities in urban areas, to create

local energy and material cycles that give rise to more sustainable urban

development by optimizing the performance of existing systems. According to Van

Berkel et al. (2009, p. 1545), “similar to industrial symbiosis, urban symbiosis is

based on the synergistic opportunity arising from the geographic proximity of

urban waste sources and potential industrial users through the transfer of physical

resources (‘waste materials’) for environmental and economic benefit”.

In addition, strategies of urban symbiosis are closely related to the concept of

urban metabolism, defined as “the sum total of the technical and socio-economic

processes that occur in cities, resulting in growth, production of energy and

elimination of waste” (Kennedy et al., 2007, p. 44). Recently, the concept of urban

metabolism has been paid increased attention as it is considered potentially useful

in developing policy instruments and designing infrastructure for sustainable cities

(Kennedy et al., 2011).

According to development and planning scholars, urban metabolism opens up

possibilities for the field of industrial ecology to engage with the politics and

governance of urban development. They say that “the concept of urban metabolism

links material flows with ecological processes and social change, and herein is its

potential” (Broto et al., 2012, p. 858-859). By this they mean that, by

understanding the city as ecosystem, and by better understanding the material and

energy flows within the city, it will be possible to generate new ideas about how to

create a sustainable urban future by fostering urban symbiosis.

In brief, strategies of urban symbioses and urban metabolism both strive to trace

the material and energy flows through urban systems; the aim is to close the loops,

thereby reducing the metabolic flows and improving the environmental

performance of a given urban area. These strategies contribute to the extensive

vision of industrial ecology, which supports the planning and development of cities

in relation to anticipated material use (Harper and Graedel, 2004) in various ways.

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Urban metabolism, provide a descriptive image of the overall physical flows of

input and wastes at the city level, without addressing the social and institutional

drivers that manage and regulate these flows and outcomes (Kennedy et al., 2007;

Pincetl et al., 2012; Zhang, 2013). Urban symbiosis, suggests possible synergistic

opportunities arising from the geographic proximity of urban waste sources and

potential industrial users, supporting the development of integrated infrastructural

systems aiming to improve the environmental performance of an urban district or a

city.

The emerging field of transition management

In parallel with the evolving field of industrial ecology, promoting urban symbiosis

for sustainable urban development, several scholars have noted that the transition

to a sustainable society entails several serious technological challenges and that the

effects of eco-efficiency, promoted by industrial ecology scholars, will never be

enough to achieve a complete transition to sustainable development (Allenby, 1999;

Ayres, 1999; Cropper, 1996; Duchin and Lange, 1994; Kemp, 1994).

To begin with, the path dependence found in regular development processes

(Nelson and Winter, 1977) hinders the capacity to innovate so as to improve

existing technical systems, making it impossible to use the best currently existing

technology. Furthermore, the flow dynamics in production and consumption

systems are complex and influence each other. Consequently, optimising one flow

might increase problems in another, resulting in suboptimal performance.

Similarly, a certain flow in a system might increase as a rebound effect of reduced

flows in a subsystem. For example, introducing energy-efficient LED lighting on

the market might ultimately contribute to more energy being used, as additional

lighting is now affordable. This effect is called the Jevons paradox, i.e., the fact that

technological progress that increases the efficiency with which a resource is used

tends to increase the rate of consumption of that resource (Alcott, 2005).

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To handle the tension between what is short-term doable and long-term necessary,

the “factor approach” (i.e., factors 4 and 10, both originating from the Wuppertal

Institute8) was advanced to encourage engineers, managers, and politicians to

“think big” when reconstructing society’s production and consumption systems.

The Factor 10 approach, which evolved from the Factor 4 approach, suggests that,

within the next generation, human use of energy must decrease by a factor of 10

while resource productivity and efficiency must simultaneously increase by a factor

of 10. Consequently, to ensure sustainable development, the creation of innovative

technologies, policies, and manufacturing processes along with socio-cultural

change is needed.

In parallel, scholars interested in understanding systems innovation developed the

multi-level perspective (MLP) to better understand large-scale and long-term

sociotechnical transitions9 (Elzen et al., 2004; Geels, 2004; Geels, 2002; Rip and

Kemp, 1998). In the MLP, systems innovations are understood to result from the

combined interaction between processes taking place at the micro, meso, and

macro levels: the meso level corresponds to the sociotechnical regime (Geels,

2005), understood here as a set of actors following a set of rules, for example, in

connection with a sociotechnical system; the micro level corresponds to the level of

niches, i.e., protected spaces in society in which technological innovations can be

developed and tested (Kemp et al., 1998); and the macro level represents the

sociotechnical landscape, including broader external factors such as fuel prices and

cultural beliefs that can influence both the niche and the regime (Geels, 2004).

8 The origin of the Factor 4 concept was the Club of Rome report Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use (von Weizsäcker et al., 1998), which demonstrated that four times as much wealth could be extracted from the energy and material resources we use. The Factor 10 concept focuses on materials, assuming that sustainable material turnovers will not be achieved unless and until the material intensity of OECD countries is reduced by a factor of ten (Robert et al., 2000). 9 Examples of such transition events in the past include the transition from horse-drawn carriages to motorised vehicles, and the shift from physical telegraphy to the electric telephone (Elzen et al., 2004).

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The rationale is that by nurturing a new technology at the micro level (i.e., the

niche level), the socio-technical system can develop, becoming fit for the harsher

competition at the regime level, facilitating a complete transition demanding

change in all three levels. Notably, however, the primary focus of scholars in the

field of innovation has been on single sociotechnical systems (Geels, 2006; van der

Brugge et al., 2005; Verbong and Geels, 2007) and not on innovations occurring

due to the interrelationships between systems (i.e., systems integration as

promoted by urban symbiosis) (Mulder and Kaijser, 2014).

The field of transition management later emerged as a result of the growing

understanding of large-scale, long-term sociotechnical transitions in society.

Overall, this concept holds that the development path can be managed in such a

way that desirable paths can displace unwanted ones (Loorbach and Rotmans,

2010; Rotmans et al., 2001). As Leo Jansen (1994) describes it, the idea is to use

“forecasting” as well as creativity to explore possible sustainable future visions that

encompass technology, organisation, and user behaviour, and/or “backcasting” to

determine and direct the development process that technology, organisations, and

stakeholder behaviour must take (Jansen, 1994). The factor approach can be used

to encourage engineers, managers, and politicians to “think big” while avoiding the

“technical fix” trap (Robért, 2000).

Instead of focusing primarily on the eco-efficiency of existing technologies,

transition management seeks to guide the evolution of sociotechnical practices

between various equilibria (Elzen et al., 2004; Meadowcroft, 2009; Rotmans et al.,

2001). In seeking sustainable urban development, this could mean that, for

example, instead of introducing water-saving water closets to reduce freshwater

use and optimise existing systems, a new vacuum toilet system is introduced in a

protected district (i.e., a niche) to manage the transition to a new sewage system

independent of fresh water. Such a system demands radical change in behaviour

among both system builders (i.e., city planners and engineers) and end-users (i.e.,

district inhabitants).

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4.3. Industrial ecology versus transition management

Understanding industrial ecology (e.g., urban symbiosis) and transition

management (e.g., creating a protected space where a new technical system can be

adapted to facilitate complete transition) as innovations, one can illustrate how

these strategies differ in the quest for sustainable urban development. This can be

done building on Abernathy and Clark’s (1985) transilience map, which describes

how the competitive advantage of an innovation depends on more than its

technological novelty and scientific merits (see Table 1).

The lower left quadrant in the table represents a regular innovation in Abernathy

and Clark’s transilience map. These innovations are very important but barely

noticeable, as they perpetuate both technical and consumer relationships. Here

such an innovation is interpreted as resulting from an incremental technical change

(e.g., fuel-efficient cars) that produces improved environmental performance

though demanding only incremental behavioural change.

In the upper left quadrant of the table are what Abernathy and Clark (1985) call

market niche innovations, where the producer extends the market by adapting an

existing product to the requirements of a specific customer group.10 Marketing is

crucial for this type of innovation and it results from incremental technological

change. One relevant example of this is the green lease car, as it generates

improved environmental performance while making people radically change their

behaviour.

10 General Motors’ strategy of creating various models of cars exemplifies such an innovation strategy, in contrast to Ford’s early credo “you can get any colour you want as long as it is black” (Abernathy and Clark, 1985).

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Table 1 Innovations for sustainable development; based on Abernathy and Clark’s

transilience map (Abernathy and Clark, 1985).

In the lower right quadrant in Table 1 are what Abernathy and Clark (1985) call

revolutionary technological innovations, by which they mean innovations that

disrupt established technical and production competence while maintaining the

existing market and existing customers. One relevant example of this would be

biogas cars replacing fuel-efficient cars. This quadrant is where we find industrial

ecology strategies (i.e., urban symbiosis for sustainable urban development), which

demand that existing technical systems be radically integrated to improve the

environmental performance of the system as a whole.

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Finally, the upper right quadrant represents what Abernathy and Clark (1985) call

architectural innovations, that is, innovations that depart from established

production systems and open up new markets and customers. In striving for

sustainable development, one example would be the development of interactive

tools enabling people to work from home, reducing the amount of commuting. This

is where transition management is found as such strategies demand both radical

technical and behavioural changes.

In summation, the main difference between strategies of industrial ecology and of

transition management lies in the need for radical behavioural change: while

industrial ecology strategies are only related to incremental behavioural change,

transition management strategies are related to radical behavioural change.

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5. Methodology

In this chapter, section 5.1 presents the single-case study of this thesis, after which

section 5.2 explains why a single-case study was chosen for this research. Section

5.3 introduces the emerging research field of industrial ecology and the need for a

wider use of social science theories. Afterwards, section 5.4 explores the

multidisciplinary theoretical approach of this thesis and, finally, section 5.5 briefly

describes the analytical process used in the appended papers.

5.1. Urban symbiosis strategies in Hammarby Sjöstad: a single-case study

In Stockholm, one of the most prominent sustainable urban developments applying

an urban symbiosis strategy is that of Hammarby Sjöstad. This was the

revitalisation of a former large industrial and harbour area in southern Stockholm

as a locale for sustainable urban development, born out of large-scale policy

decisions connected to Stockholm’s application to host the 2004 Olympic Games

(Pandis and Brandt, 2009). The transformation of the area began in 1996, and by

201711 Hammarby Sjöstad will be a fully developed residential district, containing

approximately 11,000 apartments and accommodating 28,000 people and

150,000 m² office space.

When the development of Hammarby Sjöstad was initiated, the vision was to create

an urban district twice as good as any built in 1995, by developing synergies

between existing infrastructural systems and by implementing innovative

technologies (Stockholm Municipality, 1996a). The environmental programme

stated that “the technical support system is to be designed jointly, with the goal of

achieving synergy effects from environmentally effective solutions with regard to

energy supply/usage, water and sewage management, and waste management”

11 When I started my research into Hammarby Sjöstad, the district was to be fully developed by 2012. A growing demand for housing in central Stockholm shifted that deadline, as might happen again in the future.

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(Stockholm Municipality, 1996a, p. 9). The belief was that innovative technology,

such as urban symbiosis (i.e., the integration of infrastructural systems), solar

panels, photovoltaics, fuel cells, and biogas stoves, would ensure the achievement

of the aims and goals of the environmental programme for Hammarby Sjöstad.

In fact, the belief was that no radical change in behaviour would be needed to

achieve the twice as good vision. Accordingly, the environmental programme

stated that, “by procurement of technology, it will be possible to achieve far better

performance than that available at the present time, for example, in terms of

energy efficiency, waste discharge and use of resources – regarding both individual

aspects and the neighbourhood as a whole – without having to compromise quality

aspects in other areas” (Stockholm Municipality, 1996a, p. 13); moreover, “district

planning and environmental efforts will facilitate user responsibility in regard to

environmental issues” (Stockholm Municipality, 1996a, p. 12).

Today Hammarby Sjöstad is well known for its ambitious environmental

programme, aiming to develop a district that operates in accordance with the

principles of natural cycles as described in paper I and II. Furthermore, the district

is famous for its Hammarby Model created to achieve the aims and operational

goals of the environmental programme as described in papers I, II and III. The

model exemplifies what industrial ecology scholars call urban symbiosis (Van

Berkel et al., 2009), i.e., the creation of an urban district with a circular, rather

than a linear, metabolism. The model manages energy, waste, sewage, and drinking

water for both residential housing and offices in Hammarby Sjöstad, and

exemplifies how infrastructural systems can be integrated in order to optimise the

environmental performance of the system as a whole.

Urban symbiosis (i.e., the integration of infrastructural systems) as a strategy for

achieving environmental goals has been part of Stockholm’s long-term

environmental strategy for over twenty years (Stockholm Municipality, 1989;

Stockholm Municipality, 1996b; Stockholm Municipality, 2003). Consequently the

Hammarby Model is not unique in itself, as infrastructural systems are being

integrated in more or less all of Stockholm.

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The existence of a specific environmental programme for Hammarby Sjöstad,

specifying a concrete strategy for making the area sustainable, is indeed unique.

Examining the events relating to the implementation of this strategy, which

depends mainly on urban symbiosis, creates an opportunity to better understand

both the short- and long-term influences of urban symbiosis strategies. In addition,

this allows us to better understand how to manage the implementation of such

strategies.

5.2. The choice of a single-case study approach

Case studies can involve single, multiple, or embedded cases, i.e., more than one

sub-unit of analysis (Scholz and Tietje, 2002; Yin, 2003). This thesis is based on a

single-case study – an attractive approach when the studied phenomenon is new

and requires rich and contextual data – as it permits in-depth study and allows the

exploration of previously inaccessible subjects (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2003).

The current research appropriately applied a single-case study approach for five

reasons. First, the strategy of urban symbiosis in the quest for sustainable urban

development is relatively new, meaning that mistakes are being made. As a result,

it is useful not only to see what has been achieved, but also to explore how the

strategy was implemented, in order to estimate what could have been done

differently and to generate learning.

Second, the development of Hammarby Sjöstad started in the mid 1990s and is

now almost complete, creating an opportunity to perform an in-depth study of the

entire formative process of the district and its integrated infrastructural system, the

Hammarby Model. Urban symbiosis strategies largely depend on local conditions,

geophysical (e.g., sun and wind), social, and political (e.g., infrastructure ownership

and the initiating drive to be an “innovative city”). How urban symbiosis projects

deal with these local conditions determines the success of the project.

Consequently, the core results of this thesis flow from “how” and “why” questions,

as rich and contextual qualitative data are required (Yin, 2003).

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Third, a clear and consistent strategy for sustainable urban development was

implemented in Hammarby Sjöstad. This strategy was unlike that of transition

management as it relied only on innovative technologies such as urban symbiosis,

without demanding radical behavioural change among system builders and end

users. Consequently, the case presents a unique opportunity to evaluate the

strategy of urban symbiosis in the quest for sustainable urban development

regardless of behavioural and social measures.

Fourth, systems integration, as a strategy for achieving environmental goals, has

been part of the long-term environmental strategy in Stockholm for over twenty

years (Stockholm Municipality, 1989; Stockholm Municipality, 1996b; Stockholm

Municipality, 2003). Thus, examining the events in Hammarby Sjöstad provides an

opportunity to study the long-term influence of developing and using integrated

infrastructural systems, such as the Hammarby Model, in urban developments.

Fifth and final, Hammarby Sjöstad has inspired a number of other developments

worldwide (Boverket, 2008). The present findings may therefore be relevant to

such developments, helping us better understand the actual outcome of

introducing industrial ecology strategies in the quest for sustainable urban

development.

Overall, examining the events in Hammarby Sjöstad related to the implementation

of urban symbiosis strategies provides an opportunity to study the long-term

influence of developing and using integrated infrastructural systems in urban

developments. However, a single-case study has its limitations. For example,

single-case studies can lack objectivity since the researcher may be so interested in

the case that he or she will consciously or unconsciously provide biased results

(Benbasat et al., 1987). Such a risk can, however, be minimised if the research is

performed in teams or groups, as was done here.

Another limitation of the single-case study design is that it is seen as having low

generalisability (Yin, 2003). Such arguments are grounded in the perspective of

statistical generalisability, however, and are not applicable to single-case study

design, since they impose the principles of sampling-based generalisability that

seeks knowledge about objective scientific facts. The argument that single-case

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studies have low generalisability can also be considered weak because it ignores the

fact that there are different kinds of generalising, as postulated by a number of

researchers (Flyvbjerg, 2006; Tsoukas, 1989; Walsham, 1995)

5.3. The emerging research field of industrial ecology

The research reported here was performed in the industrial ecology (IE) field, a

research field that applies a holistic systems view to examining technical systems

and their environment. Accordingly, the IE community argues that solving

problems should involve understanding the connections between technical

systems, and that the individual systems cannot be viewed in isolation. This kind of

system-based approach allows the behaviour of the overall “system of systems” to

be predicted, which might be impossible if its individual component systems were

studied separately (Garner and Keoleian, 1995).

The article “Strategies for manufacturing” (Frosch and Gallopoulos, 1989) can be

considered a starting point of the IE research field, a field aspiring to become the

science of sustainability (Ehrenfeld, 2004b; Erkman, 1997; Garner and Keoleian,

1995). IE initially focused on the study of material and energy flows through

industrial systems,12 suggesting a shift from linear industrial approaches to that of

an industrial ecosystem in order to achieve sustainable development (Erkman,

1997; Korhonen et al., 2004). That is, the primary goal of IE was initially to

understand the operational and environmental aspects of industrial systems, to

transform them into more environmentally sustainable entities (i.e., eco-efficiency)

(Garner and Keoleian, 1995; Harper and Graedel, 2004). Later, the importance of

product design was identified (Frosch, 1994), as was the impact of consumers

(Duchin, 1998).

12 Here industrial systems refer only to those in which actual physical products are manufactured and not to industries such as the travel or banking industries.

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Traditionally, analytical tools such as life cycle analysis (LCA),13 industrial

symbiosis (IS),14 and material flow analysis (MFA),15 have dominated the field of IE

(Ehrenfeld, 2004a; Garner and Keoleian, 1995; Harper and Graedel, 2004; Seager

and Theis, 2002). Such tools focus on “what if” questions (Ayres and Ayres, 2002)

such as: What if different materials were used for packaging, would carbon dioxide

emissions decrease and global warming slow? In this manner, these tools offer

guidance as to what problems people should worry about, but do not address the

question of how to achieve, for example, the substitution of packaging materials.

Some industrial ecologists, however, argue that the multidisciplinary discourses of

IE require additional tools for analysing and understanding the complexity of the

systems examined. In other words, the field should strive to address the more

social, political, and economic questions of “how” and “why” (Andrews, 2000;

Jackson and Clift, 1998), an approach that naturally requires using theories from

the social sciences (e.g., sociology, business studies, anthropology, and psychology)

and political science (Ayres and Ayres, 2002).

5.4. A multidisciplinary theoretical approach

The theoretical approach applied in this thesis has entailed looking outside the

more traditional methodologies in the IE field, and using strategies more often

used in the social sciences (in addition to the use of quantitative energy and mass

calculations). This was an attractive approach for several reasons. First, when

performing this research, the integrated infrastructural system of Hammarby

Sjöstad (i.e., the Hammarby Model) was understood as “a social construction”, in

13 LCA is a method of evaluating the environmental consequences of a product or process (Garner and Keoleian, 1995). 14 IS focuses on the physical exchange of materials, energy, water, and by-products among several organisations in close geographic proximity, offering the possibility of collaboration effects (Chertow, 2000; Harper and Graedel, 2004). 15 MFA is a concept traditionally used by engineers to gain system insight. In the field of IE, MFA is used to track and quantify substances moving through a given system (Fischer-Kowalski, 1998; Harper and Graedel, 2004).

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accordance with Edward Cohen-Rosenthal’s (2000) view of industrial ecology

applications (Cohen-Rosenthal, 2000). Second, in his pioneering work, Hughes

(1987) describes sociotechnical systems as both shaped by and shaping their

environment, suggesting that social and technical elements coevolve, and that

change in one can only be understood if one considers change in the other.

Accordingly, aiming to better understand the implementation of urban symbiosis

strategies in Hammarby Sjöstad, papers III–VI, revealed that to change the

technical artefacts in an integrated infrastructural system, the social systems need

to be changed as well.

Third, systems integration seeks to optimise existing sociotechnical systems of

consumption and production by connecting them to create synergies and reuse

waste (Ayres and Ayres, 2002). To understand how existing integrated

sociotechnical systems enable or constrain the inclusion of technological

innovations, a conceptual framework is suggested in paper III. This framework is

based on systems integration and system innovation theories, namely: the

Hughesian perspective, a large-technical-system approach that often uses concepts

such as reverse salient and critical problem (Davies, 1996; Hausman, 2010; Van

der Vleuten and Kaijser, 2006); the multilevel perspective (MLP), developed by

scholars interested in understanding systems innovation (Elzen et al., 2004; Geels,

2004; Geels, 2002); and strategic niche management (SNM), presented by

transition scholars as a tool to facilitate technical innovations by first creating a

protected space around them, and then gradually lifting this protection (Schot and

Geels, 2008).

A fourth and final reason for choosing a non-traditional approach is the dearth of

current IE approaches that illustrate how technical and social elements play out

over time. However, this weakness can be addressed using actor–network theory

(ANT), which helps us understand how systems integration develops over time, by

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reconstructing16 how relationships between technical and social elements are

created or altered. This is illustrated in paper IV.

Besides the abovementioned theories, political science theories are used in paper V.

Here the so-called mega-event-led urban development (MUD) phenomenon fosters

an understanding of how the ambitious “green” development plans for Hammarby

Sjöstad were able to survive the failure of the Olympic bid in 1997. MUD suggests

that local policymakers and developers use the promise of hosting a spectacular

mega-event to facilitate large-scale urban development schemes that could

otherwise not have been implemented at the same scale or rapidity (Broudehoux,

2007). A key component of MUD is the power to rally the support of certain key

domestic audiences – the general public, business community, political

establishment, developers and/or urban planners – in favour of certain

development projects.

5.5. The analytical process

The initial case study research resulted in a vast number of data related to the

implementation of Hammarby Sjöstad’s environmental programme, the planning

and development of the district, and the evaluation of the district’s performance

relative to the programme’s aim and goals (Pandis and Brandt, 2009). In general,

empirical data from case study research often consist of archival data, interviews,

questionnaires, and observations and can be qualitative, quantitative, or a

combination of both (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2003). In this thesis, both qualitative

and quantitative data were collected from archival data, interviews, and focus

group meetings.

16 Meaning finding out and describing or illustrating the way an event or series of events happened.

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As shown in Table 2, the literature review examined over 1000 pages of material,

including official documents, reports, research articles, and news articles.

Moreover, 19 in-depth interviews and five focus group meetings, involving a total of

57 participants, were conducted with various stakeholders in the Hammarby

Sjöstad planning and development process.

Data source Description Interviews 19 in-depth interviews with 19

respondents four additional in-depth interviews with

four respondents from the project management team of Hammarby Sjöstad, the Stockholm Water Company, and Fortum

Focus group meetings four group meetings discussing experiences of: previous research; the process of formulating the vision, aims, and goals for the district; the planning of the district; and technological solutions used in the district

a total of 57 stakeholders attended the focus group meetings (13 of these also attended the in-depth interviews), each of which had 12–15 participants

Documents more than 1000 pages of documents consisting of internal project reports, official documents, presentations and minutes from stakeholder meetings, research articles, and news articles

an additional of approximately 1500 pages of documents consisting of internal project reports, official documents, and presentations and minutes from stakeholder meetings

Table 2 Summary of data collected from August 2008–December 2012.

The criterion for selecting respondents/stakeholders was that the literature review

or preliminary interviews indicated that they were relevant actors (Pandis and

Brandt, 2009). Additional respondents and stakeholders were found by asking the

respondents of the in-depth interviews who was relevant in respect to the

development of Hammarby Sjöstad (i.e., snowball sampling).

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The respondents and group meeting participants included representatives of the

Hammarby Sjöstad project management team, the Stockholm Water Company,

Fortum, GlashusEtt,17 and technical enterprises as well as Stockholm City Council

officials, building owners, consultants, Stockholm public officers (e.g., city

managers, city planners, and developers), researchers, and architects. The collected

data were then analysed as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Phase A of the analytical process resulting in papers I and II.

In step 1, the recorded in-depth interviews and focus group meetings were

transcribed. In step 2, the transcribed material was classified according to the most

frequently recurring thoughts and experiences. In step 3, to reduce the likelihood of

bias and misinterpretation, the results of the transcribed in-depth interviews, the

transcribed focus group meetings, and the literature review were triangulated (Yin,

2003). In addition, a feedback meeting was held with key stakeholders, in which

the results were shared and discussed, further validating the final results and

conclusions of the research. Overall, this analytical process was conducted until the

saturation point was reached, i.e., when no new insights were gained from the

empirical material. This first analytical phase, phase A (see Figure 1), resulted in

papers I and II.

17 A centre for environmental information and communication in Hammarby Sjöstad, established to help inhabitants work in accordance with the district’s infrastructural systems.

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To further explore the outcome of the urban symbiosis strategies resulting in the

Hammarby Model, additional data were needed. Therefore, four additional in-

depth interviews were conducted and approximately 1500 pages of supplementary

literature were reviewed (see Table 2). These supplementary documents were

obtained from public administration personnel in Stockholm and from developers

and entrepreneurs earlier involved in the model formulation process and in the

Hammarby Sjöstad project.

Figure 2 Phases B and C of the analytical process resulting in papers III–V.

In phase C (see Figure 2), the validated results of phases A and B were discussed

and analysed using social science theories as described in section 5.5. This

analytical process was conducted by three teams of two to four people, limiting

confirmation bias and enabling the researchers to gain an in-depth understanding

of the case study. The analytical process of phase C in Figure 2 resulted in papers

III–V.

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6. System boundaries

To assess the environmental performance of the urban symbiosis strategies of

Hammarby Sjöstad, in terms of both energy and mass flows, system boundaries

need to be identified. That is, a distinction must be made between what to include

in and exclude from the assessment.

The system boundaries of this research originate from the scope of emissions

described in paper II. Accordingly, the geographical system boundary is the

boundary defining the district of Hammarby Sjöstad (see Figure 3), while the

temporal system boundary (i.e., the boundary determining the time when

emissions started to be tracked in Hammarby Sjöstad) is defined as the time when

the development of the district was initiated in 1996.

Figure 3 The master plan for Hammarby Sjöstad showing the number of

inhabitants (total 15783 ) and the number of apartments in use (large numbers

inserted in the map) in the fourth quarter of 2008 (Stadsbyggnadskontoret, 2008).

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In addition, the activity system boundary defines the activities included in the

system in the upper right quadrant of Figure 4. As Figure 4 shows, the overall

Hammarby Model includes several flows of energy and material. However, not all

of these are immediately related to the integrated infrastructural system resulting

from strategies of urban symbiosis. The present research includes the flows of

energy and material related to district heating, district cooling, electricity, and

locally produced biogas.

Figure 4 The Hammarby Model as a stock and flow accounting model based on

Figure 4 in paper II.

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To conclude, the lifecycle system boundary applies a lifecycle perspective to

external emissions, which in principle constitute emissions excluded by any of the

other system boundaries (Kennedy and Sgouridis, 2011). In the Hammarby Model,

the lifecycle emissions include those from primary and secondary energy used in

the buildings of Hammarby Sjöstad. Emissions related to the transportation and

production of goods (e.g., buildings, means of transportation, and infrastructure)

used and bought by local residents are excluded, as these are not immediately

related to the secondary energy generated by the model.

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7. Limitations

In addition to the system boundaries described in chapter 6, this thesis has several

limitations. First, the choice to perform a single-case study itself creates a

limitation. The details supporting this choice are presented in section 5.2. Second,

Hammarby Sjöstad exemplifies urban revitalisation accomplished by making a

district more compact and by reusing existing urban land, as advocated by the

European Commission (European Commission, 1990).

The environmental effects of this approach might have secured unexploited land

from urban development and might have reduced the need for transportation of

goods and people. However, as this approach to reducing the environmental impact

of the district was suggested in the detailed comprehensive local area development

plan in 1991 (The Stockholm Town Building Office, 1991), and not in the

Hammarby Sjöstad environmental programme studied here, these effects have not

been analysed in this thesis.

Third, it is important to emphasise that this thesis relates primarily to the

ecological aspects of the term “sustainable development” and not to its social and

economic aspects – addressing all three pillars of sustainable development would

have been far too broad a task. In addition, sustainable urban development is

understood as a form of development generating sustainable cities as defined by

Girardet (1999). This is discussed further in section 4.1.

Fourth, the initial comprehensive evaluation of the environmental programme of

Hammarby Sjöstad was performed even though development of the district will

continue until around 2017. This was justified by the fact that 63% of the district’s

residential blocks were already in use (Stadsbyggnadskontoret, 2008), as were

most of the district’s workplaces, business premises, and infrastructure. Fifth, the

calculations performed in this thesis are based on both exact numbers and on mean

values relating to all of Stockholm. Mean values were used when there was a lack of

specific data for Hammarby Sjöstad (Pandis and Brandt, 2009).

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Sixth, energy generated in Hammarby Sjöstad from photovoltaic cells and solar

collectors was not considered because these technologies were never realised on a

large scale in the Hammarby Model, and because reliable data concerning the

amount of primary energy generated by photovoltaic cells and solar collectors in

2008 were not found (Pandis and Brandt, 2009).

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8. Results of appended papers

This chapter briefly describes the appended papers. Paper I discusses how the

environmental programme influenced the environmental profile of Hammarby

Sjöstad. Paper II illustrates how the integrated infrastructural system, the

Hammarby Model, influences the metabolic flows of the district. Paper III

examines the process of formulating the Hammarby Model, illustrating the

environmental implications of such integrated systems. Paper IV examines, from a

sociotechnical perspective, the process by which urban symbiosis comes about.

Finally, paper V examines the case of Hammarby Sjöstad and the “loss” of the

Olympics, with a particular focus on the role of norms and visions in mega-event-

led urban transformations.

8.1. Paper I

“The development of a sustainable urban district in Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm,

Sweden?”, Pandis Iveroth, S. and Brandt, N. (2011), published in the Journal of

Environment, Development and Sustainability, vol. 13, no. 6, April 2011, pages

1043–1064, ISSN: 1387-585X.

My contributions to this paper were data collection and analysis, and writing the

paper.

Using the results of literature reviews, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions

as well as quantitative data, this paper seeks insight into how the 1996 Hammarby

Sjöstad environmental programme influenced the planning and environmental

performance of the district. In doing so, the paper demonstrates that, first, the

environmental programme proved vital to the development process of Hammarby

Sjöstad, as it helped foster a holistic perspective on the district and its

environmental issues. However, the study also demonstrates that the

environmental programme was introduced late in the planning process of the

district, resulting in the hasty formulation of the aims and operational goals of the

programme.

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Second, the assembled project organisation turned out to be vital to the

environmental programme implementation. The organisation’s design, with a full-

time project manager and an environmental director, and broad political support

helped advance efforts to implement existing and new environmental technologies

in the district. The late arrival of the environmental programme, however, led to

inconsistencies between the external and internal goals of the Hammarby Sjöstad

project. This weakened the governance of the assembled project organisation, as it

had difficulties promoting the poorly formulated goals in negotiations with external

actors.

The organisation actually agreed to include the phrase “strive for compliance” in

the development contracts for Hammarby Sjöstad, making the environmental

programme less binding. The phrase referred to the operational goals of the

programme and was the outcome of negotiations that took place due to the late

formulation of the programme and inconsistencies between some of the

operational goals of the environmental programme and the goals of the city’s

Programme for Ecological Construction. In addition, the organisation did not strive

to improve the formulation of the environmental programme, to make it more

binding as the project proceeded.

Third, the metabolic flows of Hammarby Sjöstad were reduced primarily due to the

integrated infrastructural system – the Hammarby Model – resulting from urban

symbiosis strategies. Therefore, the model was vital to the characterisation of

Hammarby Sjöstad as a sustainable urban district, as technical innovations such as

fuel cells, solar cells, solar panels, biogas stoves, and green roofs were used to only

a small extent.

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Fourth, accompanying the abovementioned strategies aiming to support the

implementation of the environmental programme, paper I describes how the Local

Investment Programme (LIP)18 contributed economically to several projects aiming

to reduce the environmental impact of Hammarby Sjöstad. The programme

enabled the installation of solar cells, solar panels, fuel cells, and biogas stoves, as

well as the development of Hammarby Sjöstadsverket.19

Fifth, the Hammarby Sjöstad project goals were not systematically assessed during

project construction. This later translated into a loss of valid and credible

quantitative data, which made assessing the operational goals difficult and

sometimes impossible. As there was no actual linking between the twice as good

vision and the aims and operational goals stated in the environmental programme

of Hammarby Sjöstad, the Environmental Load Profile (ELP)20 came to evaluate

only the vision and not the operational goals. In addition, the analysis performed

by the ELP primarily resulted from theoretical input values gathered from the

design phase of Hammarby Sjöstad. Consequently, the ELP outputs often differed

from later measured values related to the environmental performance of the

district. This in turn resulted in several respondents’ finding the ELP results

difficult to understand as they thought the ELP outputs were based on measured

values.

18 In the LIP, Sweden’s largest single environmental initiative, the Swedish parliament earmarked SEK 6.2 billion in grants over the 1998–2002 period for improving ecological sustainability. Some of the programmes funded by these grants were launched in Hammarby Sjöstad. 19 It was initially suggested that Hammarby Sjöstadsverket would become a local wastewater treatment plant, which would exclusively support Hammarby Sjöstad and improve the quality of treated wastewater and leftover sludge. This would in turn enable the use of sludge as fertilizer in the agriculture sector. In the end, this never became a reality and today the plant is used only for research purposes. 20 A Swedish LCA-based tool for the built environment developed for the Hammarby Sjöstad project to evaluate the environmental performance of Hammarby Sjöstad with respect to the twice as good vision.

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In conclusion, this paper demonstrates that, when aiming to improve the

sustainability of an urban district, one should introduce environmental aims and

goals early in the planning phase, to avoid inconsistencies between the external and

internal goals of the project as a whole. In addition, when aiming to reduce the

metabolic flows of such urban districts, it is crucial to facilitate the integration of

technical innovations into existing integrated systems. Finally, this paper concludes

that it is critical to clearly structure the process of assessing environmental aims

and goals, to ensure the quality of later follow-up supporting the future

development of other sustainable urban districts.

8.2. Paper II

“The potential of the infrastructural system of Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm,

Sweden”, Pandis Iveroth, S., Johansson, S., and Brandt, N. (2013), published in

Energy Policy, vol. 59, August 2013, pages 716–726, ISSN: 0301-4215.

My contributions to this paper were data collection and analysis, and writing the

paper.

This paper explores to what extent the integrated infrastructural system in

Hammarby Sjöstad, i.e., the Hammarby Model, reduces the metabolic flows of the

district, and to what extent the district is self-sufficient in secondary energy.

Furthermore, the paper aims to deepen our understanding of integrated systems, in

order to guide the implementation of urban symbiosis strategies in other urban

developments. The method entailed quantifying the local mass and energy flows of

the model, using the secondary energy generated in Hammarby Sjöstad as a basis

for creating the system boundaries of the calculations.

The findings of this paper demonstrate that the measures defined by the

Hammarby Model reduce the metabolic flows of Hammarby Sjöstad, but that the

district is far from self-sufficient in secondary energy. An analysis of the net effect

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of the measures defined by the model21 is that the model generates 24% of the

district cooling and 22% of the district heating used in the district. Moreover, 5% of

the electricity used in the district is generated by the model, and the amount of

upgraded biogas generated exceeds the need for biogas used by the biogas stoves

existing in the district.

The paper concludes that the development of integrated infrastructural systems,

fostering urban symbiosis strategies, is indeed one way to help create more

sustainable urban districts. However, to reduce metabolic flows even further,

system efficiency must be improved by integrating more renewable energy sources

into the system. At the same time, less energy must be used in the district as a

whole, indicating the importance of behavioural change among all district

stakeholders, such as residents, local enterprises, and the municipality. This would

also result in more district self-sufficiency and lower CO2 emissions, as the largest

CO2 emissions in the district are related to the heating of houses and offices.

8.3. Paper III

“Implications of systems integration at the urban level: the case of Hammarby

Sjöstad, Stockholm”, Pandis Iveroth, S., Vernay, A. L., Mulder, K. F., and Brandt,

N. (2013), published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 48, June 2013,

pages 220–231, ISSN: 0959-6526.

My contributions to this paper were data collection and analysis, and writing the

paper.

Though urban symbiosis (i.e., the integration of infrastructural systems) is a trend

in the quest for improved environmental performance in urban districts, its

implications are not yet fully understood. The ambitious environmental aims of the

Hammarby Sjöstad programme were expressed in the Hammarby Model, an

21 The net effect of the Hammarby Model is assessed by dividing the amount of secondary energy by the amount of energy used in Hammarby Sjöstad, separately for each energy category.

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integrated infrastructural system intended to minimise the metabolic flows of the

district by closing its material and energy flows. To better understand the

implications of urban symbiosis for the quest for the sustainable urban district, a

conceptual framework inspired by transition theory (Elzen et al., 2004; Hughes,

1987) and Geels’s triangular analytical model (Geels, 2004) is suggested in this

paper.

This conceptual framework is used in analysing the design and building process of

the Hammarby Model, revealing that different actors had different ideas about how

to enhance the environmental performance of Hammarby Sjöstad. Initially,

different actors disagreed about how to translate this reverse salient into a critical

problem: the idea of a district ecocycle at a local level was suggested by Stockholm

Municipality, whereas the idea of building on the existing sociotechnical

configuration was suggested by the infrastructure companies.

To advance the project, the politicians’ vision had to be adapted to encompass the

interests and views of the incumbent infrastructure companies. As a result, most of

the technical solutions suggested for large-scale implementation were based on the

existing infrastructure, so some path dependence is evident in the model

development process. In addition, technologies perceived as threatening the

integrated system were locked out, prohibiting further system optimisation. As the

paper also reveals, the integrated system proved to facilitate the implementation of

innovative technological solutions that were add-ons or that solved a reverse salient

experienced by the integrated system. That is, the new technologies fit the existing

and dominant sociotechnical configurations and local user practices. In addition,

the paper indicates that the types of technologies that fit the integrated system are

not static, but may change over time as the integrated systems confront new

challenges.

In summary, the paper neither supports nor opposes the widespread

implementation of urban symbiosis strategies (i.e., systems integration at the

urban district level) in the quest for sustainable urban development. Integrated

systems are sometimes prone to path dependence and lock-ins that could impede

the implementation of more radical technological solutions that could improve

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environmental performance. However, urban symbiosis proves to have immediate,

positive, short-term environmental impact, improving the efficiency of existing

infrastructural systems, and also seems to facilitate the implementation of certain

innovative technologies, optimising the system as a whole.

8.4. Paper IV

“Urban symbiosis as the development of a socio-technical network: the case of the

introduction of kitchen waste disposers in Stockholm”, Vernay, A. L., Mulder, K. F.,

Pandis Iveroth, S., and Brandt, N., re-submitted to the Journal of Industrial

Ecology, February 2014.

My major contributions to this paper were data collection and analysis, and

critically reviewing the paper.

As industrial ecology is “a social construction” (Cohen-Rosenthal, 2000), changes

in technical systems lead to the need for changes in their encompassing social

systems as well (Hoffman, 2003). This is also true when it comes to urban

symbiosis. This paper argues that, by reconstructing22 the development of

relationships between technical and social elements using actor–network theory

(ANT), a better understanding can be gained of the process that first led to the

rejection, and later the introduction, of kitchen waste disposers (KWDs) in

Stockholm, including in Hammarby Sjöstad.23

The findings and conclusions of this paper demonstrate that key elements and

events both constrained and enabled the introduction of KWDs in Stockholm.

Three identified factors can explain why the introduction of KWDs took more than

ten years: first, extensive rearrangements were needed in the existing wastewater

treatment network; second, Stockholm Water, a central actor in this existing

22 Meaning to discover, describe, or demonstrate how an event or series of events happened. 23 In brief, the idea was to integrate KWDs in the existing sewage system in Stockholm in order to increase the amount of sludge used to produce biogas.

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network, was suspicious of these changes and their potentially destabilising effects

on existing network relationships; and, third, there was no active

translator/spokesperson24 who consistently promoted network development.

In addition, three major changes enabled the eventual introduction of KWDs: first,

positive results of other experiments with KWDs in Sweden increased trust in the

technology; second, biogas/biofuel proved to be important, as political leaders’

sense of urgency to increase biogas production required better organic waste

management; and, third, legislation requiring the separate treatment of household

organic waste created a sense of urgency among politicians to find solutions, one of

which was KWD introduction. Finally, the paper demonstrates that the use of ANT

has limitations. Even though the theory provides useful ex post insights into a

process, it is not intended to be prescriptive and is for this reason of limited use for

those seeking guidance or advice to steer a process of urban symbiosis.

8.5. Paper V

Levin, Paul T. and Sofie Pandis Iveroth (2014), “(Failed) mega-events and city

transformation: the green vision for the 2004 Olympic village in Stockholm”, in Per

Olof Berg and Emma Björner (eds), Branding Chinese Mega-Cities, Cheltenham,

UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar, pp. 155–167.

My major contributions to this paper were data collection and analysis, and

critically reviewing the paper.

On 5 September 1997, the right to host the 2004 Olympic Summer Games was

awarded to Athens. Subsequently, the high expectations of the confident Swedish

delegation were crushed as Stockholm came in last place of the four finalists. What

to do now, with the ambitious plans for an Olympic Village in Hammarby Sjöstad?

24 The translator/spokesman (Callon, 1986) tries to convince other actors that it is in their interest to join the network and fulfil their assigned role. In this case, their role is to achieve the environmental aims and goals by implementing urban symbiosis strategies.

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As things turned out, Stockholm’s policymakers and city planners decided to build

on the Olympic candidacy’s “green” profile, and today Hammarby Sjöstad is an

internationally recognised model of sustainable urban planning that has arguably

helped enhance the Stockholm and Sweden “brands”. How was this possible?

This article argues that the plans for the new sustainable urban district were

pursued because of a combination of ideational, material, and institutional factors.

Particularly important was the formulation of a compelling vision for the Olympic

Village (i.e., Hammarby Sjöstad) district, as the core of the Olympic bid, and the

successful embedding of this green vision in a lasting institutional structure that

included material incentives for contractors and other stakeholders to pursue the

agreed-on plans.

A key process in ensuring the completion of projects proposed as part of a mega-

event bid is the sustained rallying of stakeholders around the project. The actual

hosting of the event can serve to “rally the troops”, but this function can also be

fulfilled by other factors, such as a compelling and institutionalised vision aligned

with domestic and global norms and narratives. Such a vision can enhance a city’s

brand, and we have demonstrated that it can also be an important urban

governance tool. This was the case with the green vision of Hammarby Sjöstad,

which pushed city planners and developers to do better, and to pursue the quest for

a sustainable urban district.

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9. Discussion

The aim of this thesis was to explore the contributions of urban symbiosis

strategies to the quest for sustainable urban development. This was done by using

the implementation of urban symbiosis strategies in Hammarby Sjöstad in

Stockholm, Sweden, as a single-case study to explore and answer three sub-

questions. Each sub-question is discussed below, in relation to the theoretical

background presented in chapter 4 and to the results of the appended papers

presented in chapter 8. Conclusions are later drawn in an attempt to answer

overarching research question:

How can urban symbiosis contribute to sustainable urban development?

9.1. What were the direct and indirect environmental achievements in

Hammarby Sjöstad?

First, the specific environmental programme for Hammarby Sjöstad turned out to

be a direct and vital environmental achievement, as paper I concludes that it

brought the integration of environmental issues in urban district planning to a new

level in Stockholm. For the Hammarby Sjöstad project itself, the existence of a

specific environmental programme revealed the environmental aspects of the

project, making them visible, feasible, and possible to address. Its overarching aims

and operational goals created a comprehensive vision for the district, including

transportation, energy flows, waste handling, and wastewater treatment. In

addition, the programme initially had broad political support, backing the

development of existing and new technologies later used to ensure the achievement

of the environmental aims and goals for Hammarby Sjöstad.

Second, the development of the Hammarby Model is identified in papers I and II

as a key environmental accomplishment, intimately related to the specific

environmental programme of Hammarby Sjöstad. It constitutes a realisation of

urban symbiosis strategies supporting the idea that we need to think about cities as

circular rather than linear systems (Girardet, 1992; Girardet, 1996).

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As presented in paper II, the net effect of the model25 is that the model generates

24% of the district cooling and 22% of the district heating used in the district. In

addition, 5% of the electricity used in the district is generated by the model, and the

amount of upgraded biogas generated exceeds that consumed by biogas stoves in

the district.

Accordingly, the Hammarby Model reduces the metabolic flows of Hammarby

Sjöstad, but the district is still far from self-sufficient in terms of locally generated

primary and secondary energy. Likewise, the twice as good vision is far from being

achieved, as the amount of secondary energy generated by the model represents

only one fifth of the total energy demand of the district.

In addition to the direct environmental achievements described above, two indirect

environmental achievements merit mention. First, experience gained during the

Hammarby Sjöstad project generated learning, as did evaluation of the project’s

environmental profile (Pandis and Brandt, 2009). Today, Stockholm Municipality

tries to use this learning in developing a new environmentally profiled city district,

the Royal Sea Port (Stockholm Municipality, 2009) and in the latest extension of

Hammarby Sjöstad, Henriksdalshamnen (Pandis and Brandt, 2009).

How and whether the municipality will succeed remains for future researchers to

explore. Second, in 2011, Hammarby Sjöstad inhabitants started to ask themselves

whether it was possible to renew their city district, to further improve its

environmental and social performance. This question gave rise to the citizen-driven

HS2020 initiative led by Allan Larson26 focusing on improving both environmental

and social aspects of the district.

25 The net effect of the Hammarby Model is assessed by dividing the amount of secondary energy by the amount of energy used in Hammarby Sjöstad, separately for each energy category. 26 Sweden’s Minister of Finance between 1990 and 1991.

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We do not yet know whether this additional improvement is possible, but we do

know that this citizen-driven initiative was partly a response to the fact that certain

operational goals of the district’s environmental programme were never achieved

(HS2020, 2013). The inhabitants of Hammarby Sjöstad seem to have become

interested in the environmental performance of their houses and of the district as a

whole. This in turn indicates that humans are creative and that they will always try

to influence their surroundings regardless of the particular situation.

9.2. To what extent were certain aims and goals of the environmental

achieved and why?

To answer this question, let us first examine what measures were taken to

implement the environmental programme in the development of Hammarby

Sjöstad. Then we will investigate to what extent these measures worked and

influenced the environmental performance of Hammarby Sjöstad.

Measures used to support the implementation of the environmental programme

As paper I demonstrates, the actual formulation of a specific environmental

programme for Hammarby Sjöstad was crucial in the drive to create a sustainable

urban district. The vision, overarching aims, and operational goals of the

programme helped create a holistic vision for the whole district and its

environmental issues in a way that had not yet been done in Sweden.

To implement the programme, an assembled project organisation was formed

with broad political support. It was through this organisation that the national

government initially involved themselves in the project. In addition, it was the task

of this organisation to create networks between private and public stakeholders in

order to achieve the environmental aims and goals of the project.

In parallel, papers I and III reveal that the Hammarby Model was formulated in

response to the environmental programme, which stated: “The technical support

system is to be designed jointly, with the goal of achieving synergy effects from

environmentally effective solutions with regard to energy supply/usage, water and

sewage management, and waste management” (Stockholm Municipality, 1996a, p.

9). Accordingly, the aim of the model was to support the achievement of the aims

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and operational goals of the programme by fostering urban symbiosis in order to

reduce the metabolic flows of the district.

Accompanying the abovementioned strategies for supporting the implementation

of the environmental programme, paper I describes how the Local Investment

Programme (LIP) contributed economically to several projects to reduce the

environmental impact of Hammarby Sjöstad. The LIP aimed at supporting private

and public investors in their efforts to initiate projects that would contribute to the

environmental performance of the district as a whole. One such initiative was the

establishment of GlashusEtt, which aimed to involve inhabitants and visitors in the

project, and to inform the district’s inhabitants of how they could support the

environmental performance of the infrastructural systems of the district.

Finally, a Swedish LCA-based tool for the built environment, namely, the

Environmental Load Profile, was developed for the Hammarby Sjöstad project to

evaluate the environmental performance of the district with respect to the twice as

good vision.

How did the applied measures work in practice?

The specific environmental program

Paper V demonstrates that the compelling, and eventually institutionalised, twice

as good vision of the environmental program helped “rally the troops” in the

development of Hammarby Sjöstad, pushing city planners and developers to do

better and continue the quest for a sustainable urban district. Paper I reveals,

however, that the environmental programme was introduced very late in the

process of planning Hammarby Sjöstad. This in turn resulted in a hasty process of

formulating the aims and operational goals of the programme, which later

translated into inconsistencies between the external and internal goals of the

project, weakening project governance. Furthermore, this resulted in a lack of

linking between the programme’s vision and operational goals.

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The assembled project organisation

According to paper I, the assembled project organisation turned out to be vital to

the development of the district both in its drive to encourage the developers to find

new environmentally friendly technological solutions and in its support of the

formulation of the Hammarby Model and of the establishment of LogistikCenter27

and GlashusEtt. On the other hand, paper I reveals that the governing structure of

the project was unsuccessful, as the assembled project organisation had difficulties

promoting the poorly formulated goals of the environmental programme in

negotiations with external actors. Negotiations resulted in the assembled project

organisation’s agreeing to insert the phrase “strive for compliance” in the

development contracts for Hammarby Sjöstad, making the operational goals of the

programme less binding. This might have ultimately resulted in the lack of

evidence that houses in Hammarby Sjöstad perform any better in environmental

terms than do houses elsewhere in Stockholm. Some houses in Hammarby Sjöstad

do display high environmental performance but, as papers I and II demonstrate,

few such houses exist.

In addition, the assembled project organisation did not strive to improve the

formulation of the environmental programme to make it more binding as the

project proceeded. This might have had something to do with the fact that, after the

failed Olympic bid in 1997, the organisation occupied a lower position in the

municipal hierarchy, as it was brought under the auspices of the Road and Real

Estate Administration28 together with other development projects, as pointed out in

papers I and III. The composition of the municipal council changed after elections,

and the political reference group was dissolved. Consequently, the initial aim of the

environmental programme, i.e., to enhance cooperation between actors in order to

27 The LogistikCenter of the Hammarby Sjöstad project was created through cooperation between the City of Stockholm, developers, and entrepreneurs. It was created to ensure that the project would be on schedule, to reduce the environmental load, and to create a pleasant work and housing area. 28 Later known as the Real Estate, Streets and Traffic Administration,

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achieve the operational goals set for Hammarby Sjöstad, never translated into any

long-term changes in how urban development proceeds in Stockholm.

The Hammarby Model

As pointed out in section 9.1, the implementation of urban symbiosis when

formulating the Hammarby Model contributed to the achievement of several aims

and operational goals of the environmental programme. Nevertheless, papers I and

II demonstrate that the targets set for energy use in the district, i.e., 60 kWh/m2, of

which electricity is not to exceed 20 kWh/m2 (Stockholm Municipality, 1996a),

were never achieved, and that the amount of energy used by households and offices

in Hammarby Sjöstad is far more than is locally generated by the model as primary

and secondary energy.

In addition, paper II demonstrates that the CO2 emissions related to the

Hammarby Model originate mostly from the combustion of waste from households

and offices to generate district heating and electricity. Correspondingly, a large part

of the CO2 emissions related to the production of initial goods later combusted

appears upstream from the system boundaries, at the production sites and not in

the district itself – a well-known problem also occurring when industrial symbiosis

strategies are implemented (Sokka et al., 2011).

Paper III demonstrates that most of the technical solutions suggested for large-

scale implementation in the Hammarby Model were based on existing

infrastructure and not technical innovations (e.g., fuel cells, solar cells, solar

panels, biogas stoves, and green roofs). Accordingly, papers I–III clarify that

technical innovations were implemented to only a small extent in the model and

that the energy generated by the Hammarby Model primarily originates from

optimising the integrated infrastructural systems.

Some path dependence is evident in the subsequent development of the Hammarby

Model, generating lock-in situations preventing the implementation of innovative

technological solutions to achieve better environmental performance. Nevertheless,

paper III demonstrates that the integration of infrastructural systems may enable

the introduction of innovative technologies that fit existing and dominant

sociotechnical configurations and local user practices. In addition, papers III and

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IV suggest that the types of technologies that fit the integrated systems are not

static, but may change over time as the integrated systems confront new challenges.

Consequently, urban symbiosis strategies do not only lead to system optimisation

and short-term positive environmental benefits. In fact, if managed efficiently, such

strategies might help localise any lock-ins early in the process of designing urban

areas, in order to create lock-outs29 aiding the implementation of innovative

technologies in the integrated infrastructural systems and generating additional,

renewable primary energy. Implementing such technologies would radically

ameliorate the problem of large amounts of CO2 emitted upstream from the system

boundaries of the model. At the same time, however, less energy must be used by

inhabitants to ensure the district’s sustainability. Consequently, radical change in

behaviour among the inhabitants (e.g., radically reduced energy consumption and

better waste sorting) seems to be essential for sustainable urban development in

order to avoid the Jevons paradox mentioned in section 4.2. In addition, all houses

need to be constructed (or refurbished) in such a way that they create a good

opportunity for high environmental performance in any given urban area.

To close, one question that arises is whether it was the Hammarby Model, resulting

from the environmental programme of Hammarby Sjöstad, that created the

positive environmental effects in the district or whether there were other causative

factors. The formulation of the Hammarby Model was initiated in the mid 1990s, as

illustrated in papers I and II. EU Directive 99/31/EC on the landfill of waste was

implemented in Sweden in 2001 by regulation 2001:512, which prohibited waste

from being landfilled (Pandis and Brandt, 2009; Swedish Government, 1999).

29 Lock-outs might occur as urban symbiosis strategies sometimes facilitate the implementation of innovative technical solutions in the integrated system. The occurrence of lock-outs might increase as a result of additional economic incentives, the alignment between aims inside and outside the project, an increased trust between stakeholders, new knowledge concerning a suggested interconnection and/or technical device and so forth.

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From this one can conclude that the strategy of urban symbiosis in Hammarby

Sjöstad resulting in the Hammarby Model was indeed initiated by the existence of

the environmental programme. The establishment of new legislation concerning

the landfill of waste later supported the actual performance of the model.

The Local Investment Programme (LIP)

Regarding the LIP, paper I recognised that this programme enabled the installation

of solar cells, solar panels, fuel cells, and biogas stoves, as well as the development

of a local storm water treatment plant in Hammarby Sjöstad, namely, the

Hammarby Sjöstadsverket. As demonstrated in paper III, however, the economic

contribution of the LIP was actually less than initially promised to the Hammarby

Sjöstad project.

Consequently, the Hammarby Sjöstadsverket never became a local wastewater

treatment plant for Hammarby Sjöstad but an R&D platform for the development

and exchange of knowledge and technologies for water treatment and related

environmental technology. In addition, papers I and II demonstrate that few

innovative technologies, such as heat storage, solar cells, solar panels, fuel cells,

and biogas stoves, were actually installed in Hammarby Sjöstad. To conclude, the

economic incentives were insufficient to create lock-outs in the process of forming

urban symbiosis in Hammarby Sjöstad, aiding the implementation of innovative

technologies. This in turn reduced the environmental performance of the district as

a whole.

GlashusEtt

As described in chapter 3, the aim of the environmental programme for Hammarby

Sjöstad was never to demand radical change of behaviour among the inhabitants

when attempting to create a sustainable urban district. Consequently, the initial

aim of the centre for environmental information and communication, GlashusEtt,

to inform the district’s inhabitants about how they could support the

environmental performance of the district’s infrastructural systems, was achieved.

In addition, papers I and V demonstrate that GlashusEtt helped promote

Stockholm’s global brand as a green city, using Hammarby Sjöstad as a showcase

and example of the “Swedish model”.

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The Environmental Load Profile (ELP)

Papers I and II demonstrate that the lack of systematic assessment of the

operational goals of the environmental programme translated into the loss of valid

and credible quantitative data, making assessment of the operational goals difficult

and sometimes impossible. In addition, it turned out that the assessment of the

ELP tool was based primarily on theoretical values from the design phase of the

various stages of the Hammarby Sjöstad project and not on actual measured values.

In addition, the fact that there was no actual linkage between the twice as good

vision and the operational goals of Hammarby Sjöstad’s environmental programme

meant that the ELP tool could never help guide programme implementation by

continuously tracking the progress of the project as a whole. In fact, paper I reveals

that several respondents found the ELP results difficult to understand, and they

had no notion that the results were based on theoretical values.

9.3. In the quest for sustainable urban development, what can we learn

from the results achieved by the urban symbiosis strategy applied in

Hammarby Sjöstad?

The environmental programme of Hammarby Sjöstad strove to create a sustainable

urban district primarily by implementing strategies of urban symbiosis, generating

a circular urban metabolism (Stockholm Municipality, 1996a), and not by

demanding radical change among the inhabitants of the district. Several scholars

have pointed out, however, that the transition to a sustainable society poses a

number of serious challenges due to path dependency in existing systems,

suboptimal system performance, and rebound effects in certain systems, and

because the effects of eco-efficiency strategies, such as urban symbiosis, will never

be enough to achieve a complete transition to sustainable development.

This thesis, however, reveals that the strategy of urban symbiosis implemented in

Hammarby Sjöstad, resulted not only in the immediate optimisation of the

integrated system as a whole, but also in the introduction of new technologies

increasing the amount of locally generated primary energy. As demonstrated in

papers III and IV, urban symbiosis strategies enabled the introduction of

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innovative technologies (e.g., heat storage, solar panels, photovoltaics, fuel cells,

and biogas stoves) that are add-ons or that solve a reverse salient experienced by

the integrated system. In addition, the types of technologies that fit the integrated

system may change over time as the system confronts new challenges.

Accordingly, urban symbiosis strategies do not immediately respond to path

dependence and lock-ins, but can also facilitate the introduction of innovative

technologies. As a result, urban symbiosis strategies might, if managed effectively,

actually create lock-outs supporting the integration of innovative technologies in

the quest for sustainable urban development. For example, improving the sorting

of waste, which would reduce the amount of combustible waste for heat production

in winter, might make heat storage more economically feasible, facilitating its

implementation in the system.

Nevertheless, the discussion in sections 9.1 and 9.2 makes it clear that to improve

the net effect of urban symbiosis measures, end-user behaviour will need to change

radically. Thus, in striving for sustainable urban development, no clear distinction

(as described in Table 1) can be made between industrial ecology strategies, such as

urban symbiosis, and those of transition management. In the end, both strategies

depend on the radical change of end-user behaviour in order to generate high

environmental performance in any technical systems used.

In addition, all technical systems associated with urban symbiosis initiatives (i.e.,

houses, means of transportation, and systems for producing various goods used

and consumed in an urban area) need to be fashioned in such a way that they

support the environmental performance of any given urban area. Otherwise,

rebound effects, related CO2 emissions, resource depletion, declining biodiversity,

etc., will appear upstream from the system boundaries (Sokka et al., 2011).

Accordingly, strategies of industrial ecology and transition management will have

to be used in parallel and/or in combination to ensure that human energy use

decreases by a factor of 10, while resource productivity and efficiency

simultaneously increase by a factor of 10. Though several technical systems might

be excluded or replaced, some urban infrastructural systems, such as wastewater-

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and waste-treatment systems, are necessary for humans to be able to live close

together.

For such systems, strategies of urban symbiosis offer an attractive way to help

improve the environmental performance of urban areas. Of course, the ideal would

be that all human production systems generated no waste, but until then, system

optimisation is better than waste ending up in landfills and sludge from wastewater

treatment plants not being used for biogas production.

As a final point, the implementation of urban symbiosis strategies contests old

ways of planning and constructing urban areas, also demanding radical behavioural

change among those responsible for developing cities and urban districts. All

technical systems are undeniably closely interconnected with their social networks

and are therefore impossible to separate. This means that, when using strategies of

urban symbiosis to move towards sustainable urban development, one has to

consider not only the technical aspects but also the social in order to succeed.

9.4. Recommendations for urban symbiosis in the quest for sustainable

urban development

The implementation of urban symbiosis strategies in Hammarby Sjöstad resulted

mainly in short-term environmental improvements resulting from system

optimisation. Nevertheless, building on the findings of the case study of Hammarby

Sjöstad reported here, one can explore how the introduction of urban symbiosis

could be better implemented in striving for sustainable urban development. The

following is an exploratory discussion of how this could be done.

Figure 5 illustrates how strategies of urban symbiosis can be used in practice in the

quest for sustainable urban development, starting from the initial planning of a

sustainable urban district (steps 1–3), through the development phase (steps 3–4),

and continuing when assessing the environmental performance of the district in

the use phase (steps 4–5).

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Note, however, that the initial step 1 in Figure 5 could result from either top–down

or bottom–up initiatives. As Grimm et al. (2008) argue, urban centers grow in

complex ways as a result of interlinked geographical and institutional forces,

meaning that the evolution of cities depends largely on local factors such as, water

resources, weather conditions and economic prosperity (Grimm et al., 2008).

Figure 5 Strategies for urban symbiosis in the quest for sustainable urban

development.

To begin with, when implementing strategies of urban symbiosis, one must

remember that such strategies affect actors positioned at various levels of society

(see step 1 in Figure 5). As paper V reveals, in Hammarby Sjöstad the twice as good

vision is still recognised and famous for its simplicity and ability to rally all actors

around a common goal. Accordingly, to “rally the troops”, a compelling and

institutionalised vision that fits domestic and global norms and narratives is an

important tool. This finding is supported by strategic planning scholars, who tell us

that a broad vision is crucial to all strategic planning (Mintzberg, 1994).

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In parallel with vision formulation, an urban planning alternative must be chosen

to enable the realisation of the vision. Earlier research demonstrates that by

investigating the metabolism of various urban planning alternatives, the

environmental performance of these alternatives can be compared at a very early

stage of urban district planning (Chrysoulakis et al., 2013; González et al., 2012;

Pinho et al., 2013). In addition, urban symbiosis strategies suggest possible

synergistic opportunities arising from geographic proximity that can improve the

environmental performance of an urban district or a city. Consequently, a better

understanding of the material and energy flows within the city might support urban

planners, architects, and engineers in their choice of urban planning alternative.

Complementing the vision and choice of urban planning alternative, the existence

of a strong project administration for the full project duration is a major advantage

for the future development of urban symbiosis initiatives (see step 2 in Figure 5).

As discussed in section 9.2, the governance of the assembled project organisation

for the Hammarby Sjöstad environmental programme was weak, partly due to

misalignment between its environmental aims and goals and other project aims,

and partly due to decreasing political support for the project. The latter resulted in

several aims and operational goals never being realised.

To better manage the transition to sustainable urban development by

implementing urban symbiosis strategies, project administration needs broad

political support throughout the planning and development phases of the project,

as well as well-formulated aims and goals for the project as a whole. The need for

such a strong project organisation, when introducing sustainability aims into the

planning of urban projects, is supported by urban planning scholars (Svane et al.,

2011).

The primary task of the project administration is to continually remind all

stakeholders of the aims and goals of the project, facilitate cooperation between the

stakeholders, and help stakeholders overcome obstacles (i.e., create lock-outs) that

impede project progress (e.g., lack of funding, misalignment between aims inside

and outside the project, and lack of trust between stakeholders). This group should

function as a translator/spokesperson for the urban symbiosis strategy as such, to

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support the creation of a sustainable urban district, meaning that the group should

try to convince other actors that it is in their interest to join the network and fulfil

their assigned role (Callon et al., 1986). In this case, their role is to achieve the

formulated environmental aims and goals by implementing urban symbiosis

strategies.

In addition, the administration should support stakeholder learning throughout the

development process, from the initial formulation of aims and goals (step 3 in

Figure 5) to the time when the district is in use (step 5 in Figure 5). This means that

stakeholders involved in implementing urban symbiosis strategies need time to

learn about the environmental aims of the project as a whole and about each

other’s activities, in order to find ways of interacting so as to achieve these aims.

This is supported by earlier research noting the importance of the learning

processes of actors involved in industrial ecology initiatives (Baas and Boons,

2004; Lambert and Boons, 2002).

Following the articulation of a compelling vision, aims and goals need to be

formulated (see step 3 in Figure 5). To avoid what happened in Hammarby Sjöstad,

where misalignment between the environmental aims and goals and other project

aims later translated into weak project governance, it is crucial to address this task

jointly with relevant project stakeholders (e.g., city planners, construction

contractors, infrastructure companies, the municipality, and architects) at an early

stage of the planning process.

In addition, when formulating project aims and goals, it is very important to relate

them to the project vision and to ensure that they can be assessed. As mentioned in

the above discussion, the environmental goals set for Hammarby Sjöstad were

poorly formulated and weakly connected to the twice as good vision. This later

translated into a loss of valid and credible quantitative data, which made assessing

the operational goals difficult and sometimes impossible.

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As revealed in section 4.2, the urban metabolism concept provides a framework for

examining the physical flows of input and wastes at the city level in the field of

industrial ecology. In addition, the urban symbiosis concept reveals how possible

interconnections arising from geographic proximity could improve the

environmental performance of an urban district or a city. The use of such strategies

might facilitate the selection of indicators for the follow-up process of a sustainable

urban development project, as well as the process of formulating environmental

aims and goals related to the vision of the project as a whole.

In addition, industrial symbiosis scholars argue that the presence of industrial

symbiosis networks can help facilitate collective problem definition, providing

space for inter-sectoral exchanges and stimulating a culture of collaboration

between organisations, helping them address environmental challenges (Mirata

and Emtairah, 2005). By creating urban symbiosis networks at an early stage in

planning a new district (i.e., when project aims and goals are being formulated),

one is more likely to find ways to evade path dependence and lock-ins that could

prevent the introduction of innovative solutions improving the environmental

performance of the district (e.g., enabling the introduction of new technologies in

the integrated infrastructural systems, generating additional local primary energy,

and implementing strategies to promote behavioural change to reduce energy).

To conclude, paper I reported that the environmental aims and goals of Hammarby

Sjöstad were not systematically assessed during construction. The evident lack of

ongoing assessment was related to the existence of the ELP, which was developed

solely for assessing the twice as good vision and not the operational goals, and to

the shortage of written guidelines for the assessment process. The latter translated

into uncertainties about the allocation of responsibility related to the assessment

process, and into a lack of valid and credible quantitative data concerning the

environmental performance of Hammarby Sjöstad.

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Consequently, when striving to develop a sustainable urban district, it is crucial to

continuously follow-up the project progress in relation to its final environmental

performance (see step 4 in Figure 5). The actual process of assessing relevant

indicators should be structured in a recurring cyclic manner (i.e., cybernetic

control), so as not to view the project evaluation process as a simple linear one

(Bentivegna et al., 2002; Janssen and van Herwijnen, 1992; Nijkamp et al., 1990).

The strategy of using cybernetic control when assessing the relevant indicators of a

project is that it continuously validates the quality of project aims, goals, and

indicators, meaning that each stage of the project, when assessed, can supply

additional information that provides more precise feedback to optimise the ensuing

stage or stages (Ding, 2008; Nijkamp et al., 1990). This is supported by urban

planning scholars, who affirm the importance of ongoing evaluation of a project’s

contributions to its own sustainability objectives (Svane et al., 2011).

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10. Further research

The primary focus of innovation scholars has been on single sociotechnical systems

(Geels, 2006; van der Brugge et al., 2005; Verbong and Geels, 2007) and not on

innovations emerging from the interrelationships between systems. As the research

presented here bases its conclusions on a single-case study, future research could

productively explore how urban symbiosis strategies have influenced the

environmental performance of other urban developments in order to better

understand the full potential of such strategies.

In addition, further research is needed in order to understand how individual

behaviour, in both planning, development and use phases of integrated

infrastructural systems, can help improve the performance of such systems. How

can the implementation of urban symbiosis be better managed, and how can a

district’s inhabitants be better supported, in the quest for sustainable urban

development?

Finally, the practical application of the urban harvesting concept (Agudelo-Vera et

al., 2012; Leduc and Van Kann, 2013) should be more researched in the context of

the implementation of urban symbiosis strategies. Urban harvesting builds on the

strategy of investigating possible options to harvest local resources, such as

materials, water, and energy, in order to minimise the material flows of urban

regions. This concept might improve the outcome of urban symbiosis strategies, as

urban districts would then be understood as production sites and not as parasitic

ecosystems, as Eugene Odum (1989) has described them (Odum, 1989).

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11. Conclusions

The introduction of this thesis refers to a gap between stated commitments to

sustainability and the reality of implementing sustainable development policies in

all countries and regions reviewed (DESA and UNDP, 2012). This gap might arise

because alternate sustainable development strategies are difficult to evaluate, as

they are often not very clear and not very consistently applied, making the choice

between them difficult. In response, by studying the fortuitous “natural

experiment” afforded by the clear and consistent sustainable development strategy

of urban symbiosis implemented in Hammarby Sjöstad, this thesis tries to answer

the following research question:

How can urban symbiosis contribute to sustainable urban development?

Based on the discussion presented in chapter 9, the conclusions of this thesis are as

follows:

Theoretical contribution:

First, urban symbiosis strategies do not immediately respond to path dependence

and lock-ins. Under certain circumstances, the integration of infrastructural

systems can actually facilitate the introduction of innovative technologies, essential

to the complete transition to sustainable urban development.

Second, it is evident that there is no clear distinction between the introduction of

industrial ecology strategies, such as urban symbiosis, and transition management

in striving for sustainable urban development. Both strategies are dependent on

radical behavioural change in order to support a transition to sustainable urban

development.

Practical contribution:

Urban symbiosis strategies can contribute to the quest for sustainable urban

development in the following ways:

1. by optimising existing infrastructural systems;

2. by acting as a stepping stone towards a complete transition; and

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3. by advancing the planning of the sustainable urban district, specifically by

a. helping urban planners, architects, and engineers choose an urban

planning alternative,

b. localising indicators for the follow-up process, supporting the

formulation of aims and goals, and

c. generating networks to increase the likelihood of finding ways to

evade path dependence and generate lock-outs.

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