Malmo western harbor urban design and regeneration in Sweden

Malmo western harbor urban design and regeneration in Sweden is thirty-four article on projects from practice. Western Harbor is located northwest of the city center of Malmö, the third-largest city in Sweden with an area of 175 hectares.  In the 1970s, a recession in shipbuilding caused economic decline in the city, leaving abandoned industrial and docklands along the coast to the north of the city. Malmo city center is surrounded by canals and the Western Harbor peninsula developed during the late 19th century as the site of the Kockum shipyard. Like all the rest of the 10 km2 harbor area of Malmö, the site was built by filling in the sea. By the middle of the 20th century, the shipyard had become one of the most important builders of oil tankers in the world, and the most important employer in the city. This came to an end with the Oil Crisis in 1973, which resulted in a sudden drop in the demand for new supertankers. Malmo was one of the fastest-growing cities in Europe since 1800 but the economic recession of 1970 decreased its population to 10%. Tax revenue declined because of the shift of high-income people to the suburban, regional policies of the 1960s caused by the shift of industry activities to other cities. The Swedish state took over the bankrupt civil shipyard building area and closed it in 1986. Since 1990 the newly introduced urban development especially the Toros building has been a focus for development and urban regeneration. See Figure 1, the old harbor activities before development.

The city has diverse ecosystems varying from coastal areas, wetlands, woodlands, and grasslands.  Some distinct biotopes include the alder swamp, the beech woodland, the oak woodland, and the marine zone.

There were many reasons for the urban regeneration and new urban design of the western harbor of Malmo. The economic crisis that hit in the 1970s, a decline of the harbor industrial activity, low quality and amount of housing in the neighborhood, water quality decline, loss of jobs and increase of unemployment rates, and an increase of the amount of deprived urban space in the area.

The Swedish government put its hands on the industrial zone of the harbor and invested in the car manufacturing industry of the SAAB car factory, but this attempt failed and led to the closure of the car manufacturing plant after acquired by General Motors in 1991.

Malmo government and authorities after reassessment of the area context decided to transfer the area from an industrial city to a knowledge city. The first urban regeneration was on the island called University Island, marked by the red circle in Figure 2, the university of Malmo was opened in 1998. This strategy was combined by purchasing most of the western harbor land though the majority was under authority control. This strategy led to the postponement of the housing Bo2000 exhibition supposed to be held on the outskirts of Malmo City.

The authorities of Malmo saw the Bo2000 housing exhibition as an opportunity to develop the western harbor area with its socio-economic problems of the poor residents in the core and the wealthy people on the suburban enjoying the public service without paying for them, the authority aimed at increasing tax and revenue for the government to attract these people to the western harbor development by providing high-quality sustainable development and eco-friendly environment and smart city infrastructure.

In 1998 a master plan, figure 2, was prepared by the planning administration as a comprehensive plan. The Bo2000 master plan was prepared by an academic and that was considered by the Malmo planning office in preparing the detailed plan of the western harbor. The developers chosen by the city officials were of high-quality profile and architects because most of the land was owned by the authority of Malmo City. See Figure 4, Malmo Western Harbor’s new buildings and waterfront.

The urban regeneration and urban design of the Malmo Western Harbor was directed by the Malmo officials to have a low-density urban development. Due to its location at the seaside, the high wind creates an unpleasant environment for people. The urban development was designed to have narrow paths and connected landscapes to block the wind from moving inside the development easily. The availability of canals encourages landscape architects to increase the amount of landscape and open space in the harbor creating eco-friendly districts. The green space and open space connection and network (city in layers) are shown in Figure 5.

The residential building’s urban design in Bo01 ( green circle in Figure 2) is of a smart growth approach. Using renewable energy sources designing energy-efficient buildings, promoting walking and biking as well as using public transport, and same time creating inspiring and attractive architecture and urban design. See Figure 6, the urban design and architecture of Bo01 in Malmo Western Harbor urban regeneration.

The authorities in Malmo City Innovation came to invent an urban design approach that contains all the EU cultures. The idea of the European Village (Green circle in Figure 2) is part of this section of the area. As a part of the Bo01 exhibition, the Swedish government invited all the member states of the EU to take part in the European Village project, demonstrating small-scale buildings within various traditions of architecture and indigenous materials.  Nine countries participated, building detached houses with their national characteristics, construction methods, and approaches to sustainable development.  The remaining 14 lots of the village were developed by a Swedish-German company After the housing exhibition. See Figure 7, gardens and different types of EU village housing along the canal.