Södertörnsmodellen is a collaborative project for sustainable urban development designed to enhance cooperation, coordination and engagement among a diversity of individuals, local governments and organizations working to create sustainable urban development in a range of forms.
With a focus on eight municipalities south of the City of Stockholm (that make up "Södertörn"), the goal of Södertörnsmodellen is to facilitate urban development potentials by connecting academia, public and private stakeholders to promote sustainable urban development based on the needs of all engaged actors. The initiation project (stage 1) resulted in several test beds ready to test and develop new innovative solutions.
In stage 2, ten test beds which connect municipal activities in Södertörn were established. Each test bed worked as a think tank with representatives from the municipality, the construction industry, consultants and researchers who were tasked to resolve specific challenges by developing (i) innovative solutions for sustainable urban development through attractive actor interaction, (ii) developing, testing and evaluating tools for increased citizen participation, and, (iii) identifying and analysing methods and indicators for sustainable urban development. Södertörnsmodellen combines the experiences from the various test beds and encourages overall interaction among and between them, under the umbrella of the overall project. In the long term, Södertörnsmodellen aims to create viable financial, commercial and governance solutions that can be applied in a range of settings, across Sweden and beyond. These are now being tested in the third stage of the project.