Format Publication

Sustainable Living Hub

Sustainable Living Hub
The Nordic countries are considered global pioneers in creating sustainable societies. Although we are doing many things right, there is a lot of work ahead if we are to achieve our vision of being the most integrated and sustainable region in the world by 2030. The Sustainable Living Hub brings together tools and guidelines for key sectors that enable sustainable lifestyle choices.

NetZeroCities Transition Team Playbook

Many cities across Europe and elsewhere are exploring new ways of bringing together diverse actors and stakeholders, and enabling collective action across all sectors of society. In this document, NetZeroCities outline one crucial part of doing this, namely setting up a Transition Team, which brings together the municipality and the ecosystem of multiple actors across society. There is no single blueprint for achieving this; each city will need to work in ways that best accelerate progress in its specific context. However, there are some insights and lessons learnt that can be shared and built upon, and this document makes a series of suggestions.

Storytelling to save the planet

Storytelling has become a popular tool for sustainability transformations, leading to a rise in self-identified storytellers. As it is fast-spreading and has explicit change purposes, it is important to clarify assumptions about knowledge, power and change. This article analyses how storytellers describe their work, exposing the varied assumptions about knowledge and power underlying different approaches to storytelling for sustainability. The findings raise critical questions to assess the legitimacy of these applications.

Global Resources Outlook 2024 - Bend the trend

This 2024 edition of the Global Resources Outlook highlights how resources are critical to the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda and multilateral environmental agreements to tackle the planetary triple crisis. The report brings together the best available data, modelling and assessments to analyze trends, impacts and distributional effects of resource use.

What outsiders don't understand

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Viable Cities Report 2023:3 An analysis of stories about Norrland for those who have barely been there, for those who were born there, for those who can imagine moving there and for those who influence without being there.

Six-year evaluation of Viable Cities

The purpose of the evaluation was to demonstrate results and early effects to inform the authorities' decisions on continued funding, and to support the authorities and the program office to learn and develop the program in the best possible way.

Mind the gap(s)

An analysis of consumption trends made by Kairos Future on behalf of Science Park Borås, which since 2019 produces an annual report on the theme of sustainable consumption. Science Park Borås works to produce new knowledge in the areas of textiles, consumption, and urban development.

OPSI - Innovative Capacity of Governments: A Systemic Framework

To assist governments in understanding and harnessing their innovative capacity, OPSI developed the Innovative Capacity Framework. This practical and systemic Framework guides governments in leveraging innovation as an integral part of policymaking and administration and supports them to enhance their capacity to proactively adapt to the changing environment.

Thriving North (final report)

Viable Cities Report 2023:02 In 2022, Viable Cities has been responsible for a government commission "Support for innovation work in sustainable urban and community development in Norrbotten and Västerbotten". In the assignment, six municipalities (Kiruna, Gällivare, Boden, Luleå, Skellefteå and Umeå) were identified as well as actors in Västerbotten and Norrbotten (county councils and regions). The government assignment was divided into four partial deliveries that can be described with the following overview. This final report presents summary experiences from the work and highlights a number of conclusions drawn during the year. Two overall starting points in the assignment have been the EU's mission on "Climate neutral and smart cities", and the New European Bauhaus movement in Europe, with the goal of climate neutral, sustainable, beautiful and inclusive cities and communities.

Climate transition in cities: A Swedish Governance Model to Accelerate the Rate of Transition

Viable Cities Rapport 2023:01 This report has been commissioned by Vinnova within the framework of the Viable Cities program. The report, firstly, aims to provide a policy-relevant overview of two new elements for sustainable urban development: new forms of governance for leading, managing and executing urban planning projects, and new forms for supporting innovations in the form of systemsaltering missions rather than a variety of small projects. Secondly, it also aims to help evolve these experiences and lessons learned, with an emphasis on new forms of governance for climate transition in cities and municipalities.

Climate change in cities: A Swedish governance model to accelerate the pace of change

Viable Cities Report 2023:01 This report deals with the climate transition, the role of cities and a new emerging model to lead, manage and implement the transition faster than today, which is summarized as "governance". It has been commissioned by Vinnova. It will provide a policy-relevant overview of two new elements of sustainable urban development: new forms of governance for leading, managing and implementing urban development projects, and new forms of supporting innovations in the form of system-changing missions instead of many small projects. It will also help to further develop these experiences and lessons learned with a focus on new forms of governance for climate change adaptation in cities and municipalities.

Energy Cities - Designing Participatory Processes for Just and Climate-Neutral Cities

This guide supports policy workers in (European) cities who want to design a transformative and participatory process for realising just and climate-neutral cities. Based on a three-year research project with six European cities (TOMORROW), this guide has been developed to address issues encountered in the practice of urban transitions: from redesigning municipal institutions to creating legitimacy for radicality and shaping co-creation.

European Commission - Co-creation for policy

A handbook that guides stakeholders to effectively create the policies needed today. The handbook combines an entrepreneurial mindset with concrete processes to produce powerful ideas that create real impact on the environment.

Revision of Climate City Contract 2030 (synthesis)

Viable Cities Report 2021:13 Climate City Contract 2030 is revised every year and developed and refined year by year to accelerate the transition to climate-neutral, sustainable cities. The first version was signed in December 2020 by nine cities, four government agencies and the Viable Cities program. This memo is a synthesis compiled by the Viable Cities program management. The synthesis is based on a large amount of data produced in extensive processes of interviews, dialogues, workshops and analysis work carried out in 2021 as part of developing the work on Climate City Contract 2030.

Investment plans for transitioning to climate-neutral cities

Viable Cities Report 2021:11 The climate transition in the 2020s means that the fossil economy will become increasingly unprofitable and the renewable economy increasingly profitable, passing one economic tipping point after another. Climate investment plans are a new way of developing roadmaps for cities that include a social and economic perspective on actions and investments. Climate benefits and added value are clarified to create a basis for decision-making that enables the right priorities to be set. The climate investment plan is about providing an overall picture of the municipal, regional, national and private measures and investments that will be needed to achieve the set targets. They should also show how new or growing markets are created for companies that can deliver sustainable buildings, energy systems, mobility solutions, recycling systems and supporting digital systems, etc.

Digitalisation and digital tools for the transition to climate-neutral cities

Viable Cities Report 2021:10 Digitalization is an enabler for cities to become climate neutral. However, few policy documents and initiatives highlight this potential, and cities are now asking for support in using digitalization where it is most beneficial to reduce climate emissions. Collaboration between administrations in municipalities can be challenging and there is often a lack of coordination and coordination of the municipality's ongoing initiatives, projects and investments. There are also challenges in terms of data and infrastructure conditions. To overcome these challenges, cities should first identify priority areas for emission reduction. They should analyze if and how digitalization can be a tool for transition. When municipalities understand how digitalization can be used for transition, then the right actors, roles and mandates need to be put in place. For digitalization to become an enabler for reduced climate impact, a basic digital infrastructure with conditions for data management and sharing must also be in place.

Citizen engagement for the transition to climate-neutral cities

Viable Cities Report 2021:9 This report presents a proposed strategy for citizen engagement for the transition to climate-neutral cities. The strategy is intended for municipalities and actors at the national level, but also includes other actors. The proposal has been developed by Anthesis together with Actinate and Sustainable 3.0 on behalf of Viable Cities.

The Future of Sharing? A Roundtable for Horizon Scanning on Sharing Cities

Viable Cities Report 2021:1 Organized in November 2020, the roundtable on "Sharing Cities - Shaping Tomorrow" focused on sharing insights and ideas on the future of sharing in our cities and communities. The roundtable gathered over 40 people from around the world and formed part of the Smart City Live Conference. This report pulls together the conversations at the roundtable and distils the key findings. Sharing Cities Sweden is a Viable Cities initiative.

Cities and Consumption: Sharing Cities and Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

Viable Cities Report 2020:4 In October 2019, over 200 people from around the world gathered at the Sharing Cities Summit. The focus of the event was centered on the connections between the Sustainable Development Goals and sharing economy in cities. This public event was followed up by further analysis on this topic leading to the publication of this synthesis report in December 2020. Sharing Cities Sweden is a Viable Cities initiative.

Digital tomatoes (final report)

Viable Cities Report 2020:2 The project is about developing models for recycling waste heat from data centers for urban food production and soil production in dense urban environments. The goal is to construct a first facility in Gothenburg with cultivation greenhouses closely integrated with the data center that is powered by waste heat and biological waste for climate-neutral food production in the city.

Proposed Mission: 100 Climate-neutral Cities by 2030 - by and for the Citizens

The introduction of a Climate City Mission is a radical new way of achieving climate neutrality - and of doing so faster, by 2030. The Mission aims to promote system innovation across the value chain of city investment, targeting multiple sectors such as governance, transport, energy, construction and recycling, with support from powerful digital technologies. As such, it requires a change in regulations, approaches and instruments combined with the willingness to go beyond existing schemes and habits.

Report from EU Commission meeting

Viable Cities Info 2018:2 This document is a travel report from a visit to the European Commission and the European Parliament by a delegation from the Viable Cities Program Office and Program Board.

Managing collaboration

The handbook contains advice and instructions for those who lead or participate in cross-border change processes. It describes how an IBA process can be designed and adapted to local conditions, provides an introduction to how conflicts and power can be managed constructively in collaborative processes, and concludes with an insight into the scientific fields of knowledge on which IBA is based.