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Urban Planning

Cities worldwide share challenges posed by the effects of urbanization and centralization. These relate to among other things smart growth and the challenge to reduce the environmental burden. On this page, you can learn about our latest projects related to urban planning.

Sustainable Cities and Urban Development  

The Nordic thematic group for sustainable cities and urban development 2017-2020 aims to help to improve national, regional, local and cross-border strategies for sustainable cities. Find out more about the thematic group

Small and medium-sized cities in the Nordic and Arctic regions

While researchers and policy-makers have mainly been interested in larger cities and urban regions, smaller cities have received considerably less attention. With this background in mind, this project focuses on small and medium-sized cities in the Nordic and Arctic contexts. Read more about the project.

The compact city of the North - functions, challenges and planning strategies

The aim with this project is to increase the knowledge on city center development strategies in the Nordics, and especially concerning small and medium sized cities. Read more about the project.

The Impact of Participation: mapping and developing the scope, forms and impacts of the communicative turn in urban planning (TIPTOP)

There are various ways to create basis for good planning decisions. Today a key issue is how to involve and interact with citizens. However, there is still no empirical evidence on exactly how participatory practices influences planning processes, how frequently they are deployed and how they are designed. In view of the promises of the communicative turn, this lack of research is striking, and there is a clear need to elaborate how a democratic urban planning process can be envisioned and how current participatory practices can be developed. The purpose of this project is a) to provide a knowledge base derived from a systematic mapping of implemented participatory initiatives in order to reveal the mechanisms involved in achieving just, legitimate and efficient processes, and b) to enable a transfer between this knowledge and interventions in key planning institutions. Find out more about TIPTOP.

Södertörnsmodellen, steg 3 

A shift towards economic, green and social sustainability in urban development demands new forms of collaboration between citizens, local authorities, businesses and the academia which adheres to local needs and preconditions. A lack of knowledge regarding these needs and conditions may result in actions and priorities in urban development that have severe social and economic consequences for society. Södertörnsmodellen envisions urban development that facilitates equality, prosperity and resource efficiency. Find out more about Södertörnsmodellen, steg 3.

Baltic Urban Lab – Integrated Planning and Partnership Model for Brownfield Development 

Regeneration of brownfield sites is often considered both an opportunity and a challenge by cities. The Baltic Urban Lab project develops and tests new ways of planning brownfield areas in Central Baltic region focusing on the potential of integrated planning and improved partnerships between public and private actors and citizens, also known as Public-Private-People partnerships or PPP-partnerships. Find out more about Baltic Urban Lab.

White Paper on Nordic Sustainable Cities 

Nordregio takes part in a project of Nordic Sustainable Cities which sheds light one of the biggest global challenges - rapid urbanization. This White paper will form the basis of the Nordic Built Cities branding and storytelling effort. It should include 1) a core narrative, with 2) key elements and 3) illustrative examples. The white paper should be of high analytical quality, evidence based, systematic and rigours, and include international comparisons and benchmarking. Find out more about the white paper.

Territorial strategies supported by EU territorial tools 

The use of integrated territorial tools has gained prominence in Cohesion policy. In particular, the urban dimension of Cohesion policy has been strengthened for the 2014-2020 period. The aim of this study is to analyse the implementation of the territorial strategies within sustainable urban development under Article 7 of the ERDF Regulation. Find out more about the project.

Nordic working group for green growth – sustainable urban regions  

City-regions are increasingly important political and functional arenas for addressing the challenges associated with globalization and climate change, along with the key issues of creating sustainable, inclusive and attractive urban regions. This Nordic working group focuses on how spatial planning can contribute to green growth in Nordic city regions. Find out more about the working group for green growth - sustainable urban regions.