ADVISORY BOARD REPORT

advisory Board report
rivercity gothenburg
workshop JUNE 7-11 2011
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Introduction
The river Göta älv needs more space due to climate change.
Gothenburg celebrates its 400th Anniversary in 2021. The central bridge
over the river needs a replacement within the next 10 years. Gothenburg is
segregated and disperse but wishes to be integrated and densified. The city will
be the driver for the development of western Sweden.
These factors are some of the biggest challenges that Gothenburg is facing in
the coming 10 years – but they are also the biggest drivers for the future city
development, if you ask the international experts that visited Gothenburg one
week in June 2011.
The City of Gothenburg has challenged the usual
way of planning cities by inviting 10 international
project teams to give their input to the future
development of the city by the river Göta älv at an
open knowledge sharing workshop.
The invitation came from the ambition to widen
the cities perspectives on the challenges and
possibilities of the city and to build on best practice,
knowledge sharing, transdisciplinary cooperation
and international experience and expertise.
The city has one year from now to finalize a vision
and strategy for the RiverCity. The results from the
RiverCity Workshop will help the city to focus and
choose the right strategy for the coming process.
The report
This report describes the RiverCity workshop
focusing on the process. It will not describe the
projects made at the workshop, but will present
the general programme for the knowledge sharing
process and reflect on some general trends and
themes that has been discussed by the teams and
by the Advisory Board.
In the end of the report the Advisory Board will sum
up some recommendations on how Gothenburg
should continue - what the next step in the planning
of RiverCity Gothenburg should be.
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The Advisory Board
The Advisory Board worked as an advisor to the
City during the workshop, facilitated dialogue
and ensured knowledge sharing between the ten
participating teams. The goal was to encourage
diversity and create a group dynamic between the
teams. The Advisory Board members was chosen
to facilitate – not judge – the workshop process on
the basis of their experience, focus and knowledge.
Lars Reuterswärd, Director, Mistra Urban Futures
& Vice president at Chalmers University of
Technology, Sweden (focus: urban development,
sustainability and policy making)
Martha Schwartz and Lars Reuterswärd were
participating in the selection process of the
participating teams.
Members of the Advisory Board
Helle Søholt, Partner & CEO, Gehl Architects,
Denmark – head of the Advisory Board
(focus: sustainable, livable cities for people)
Rob Adams, Director of design and urban
environment, Melbourne City Council, Australia
(focus: urban development and governance)
Martha Schwartz, President Martha Schwartz
Partners, Professor in Practise, dept. LA, HGSD,
UK&USA (focus: value through quality of the urban
landscape and fine arts)
Helle Søholt assisted in planning and directing the
overall event as well as the professional content.
The program for the Advisory Board consisted
of meetings with the teams, team leaders,
the Mayor and other politicians, the Steering
Committee and the press. Each Advisory Board
member made a public lecture at ’Älvrummet’
(information center).
The Advisory Board also had an internal debate
and knowledge sharing during the workshop,
which in this report is being summed up as
recommendations to the City of Gothenburg.
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the workshop
The aim for the RiverCity Workshop was to gather knowledge from the
world with which to develop ideas, strategies, methods and tools to help
to explore how RiverCity Gothenburg could be developed in the future. The
ten projects/proposals will act as dialogue tools with which to illustrate the
ideas for the future development and to assist in creating a dialogue based
process. The projects created at the workshop will give the city clear visions
that will create a momentum and desire for action by the stakeholders.
The selection of teams
Ten teams were selected from 84 tenders by an
assessment group. The members of the group was:
• Lars Reuterswärd, Mistra Urban Futures/UN
Habitat (Chairman)
• Martha Schwartz, Harvard
• Ana Betancour, Chalmers University of
Technology/RiverCity Gothenburg
• Anders Sandoff, University of Gothenburg,
School of Economics, Business and Law
• Moa Tunström, Royal Institute of Technology,
Stockholm
The assessment group based their evaluation on
the selection criteria presented in the Invitation
document. The final selection singled out 10 teams,
which collectively were assessed to be more
qualified than other teams. These selected teams
were estimated to have the capacity and the
knowledge to fulfill the requirements formulated in
the Invitation document, and altogether to have
the ability to give a broad and varied contribution to
the task at hand. In their applications, the selected
teams had shown to have a good understanding of
inner city development as well as a broad expertise
when it comes to sustainability issues.
The selected teams were:
• Team Happold (UK, DK + SWE)
• Team East (UK)
• Team Schönherr (UK, DK + SWE)
• Team Grau (FRA, BEL + SWE)
• Team SLA_HLA (DK)
• Team West8 (NL, DK + SWE)
• Team GüllerGüller (NL, SUI + CYP)
• Team EGA (FRA + SWE)
• Team Espinàs (ESP)
• Team SWECO (SWE)
Experts and capacity building
The teams had the possibility to talk to local
experts, which assisted in expanding the
information base of the participants that in turn
enabled a high quality of response. The teams were
very happy to be able to have direct dialogue with
the experts and used them actively.
Gothenburgs staff learned much by talking to all the
team members who represented a broad palette
of competences and expertise which will serve as
inspiration and resources for the future work and
development within the municipal organization.
The venue
The workshop venue was very well chosen for
the purpose of knowledge sharing. To have all the
teams in the same room supported the aim of
an open process and in dialogue. The workshop
room worked as a ’market place’, where the team
members met each other, and were inspired by
discussion and the presentation of new ideas. The
balcony, lounge-areas and the small rooms for
individual meetings worked very well, and offered
the flexibility necessary for an open creative
process.
The hosts
The project organization responsible for organizing
the workshop did a very good job ensuring
logistics and a pleasant atmosphere. They were
great and professional hosts and moderators. The
combination of a strict program and guidance
through the formalities, the open workshop format
that was adapted to the process, the need for
meetings or feedback during the workshop; was
generally well coordinated and resulted in a useful
and intellectually rich outcome.
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The workshop process
Gothenburg decided to hold a workshop instead of
a competition, in order to keep the vision process
open and welcoming all input and ideas. Choosing
an international format has given Gothenburg
feedback with a breadth of perspectives on
the city, based on international expertise and
references. The participants not being local, gave
the opportunity to look at the City’s challenges with
fresh eyes. The participants were able to suggest
things that might seem impossible from a local
perspective. The results will be used as tools and
references in the coming dialogue with stakeholders
and politicians. In this way all teams are advisors to
the city – all the ideas from the process will be used
actively in the vision process.
For the team members, the open process of the
workshop format called for a change of mindset.
Teams are used to compete to win competitions,
but in Gothenburg they were asked to share ideas
and have an open dialogue across teams. It took
some time for the teams to get used to the open
process – having the teams talk to each other and
share information - but all teams accepted the
challenge and reported back that the sharing of
knowledge gave positive input to their projects.
The workshop programme
On the evening before the first workshop day the
Advisory Board met to hear about the selection
process of the teams, looked through a preliminary
agenda for the Advisory Board and got to know
each other.
The programme for the four workshop days had
the same flexible but robust framework. The
first morning of the workshop the experts were
presented and the team leaders met the Advisory
Board to discuss themes and presentations. In
the afternoon each team had to pin up their most
recent drawings. The pin up served as a shopping
window; presenting the main idea and making them
easy accessible. The afternoon ‘fika’ (coffeebreak)
served as a dialogue forum, where team members
should go ‘window shopping’; mingle, and share
ideas and knowledge.
1st workshop day / Tuesday
The teams settled in the workshop room and
familiarized themselves with the other team
members – many had not met before.
The teams started working intensely at once. Some
teams had started their work in advance by meeting
or via setting up a blog.
The Advisory Board met and agreed on the role and
programme for the Advisory Board, and reflected on
the preliminary themes after having met the teams.
In the evening a group boat trip on the Göta River
was a good occation to start the networking within
and between teams and to studying the RiverCity
site from the water.
2nd workshop day / Wednesday
The teams felt the challenge of knowledge sharing.
After the pin up in the afternoon the Advisory Board
reviewed the pinned up material. The presentation
served to give the Advisory Board an overview
of the themes and focus of each project. But
the talk to the teams ended up more as a formal
presentation. Afterwards this was evaluated
amongst the Advisory Board which influenced the
format for the next meetings and presentations
from the teams.
The Advisory Board went to meet the Municipal
Executive Board at the City Hall. The Advisory
Board also talked to the Mayor about the
importance for the politicians to take ownership
of this process and take responsibility to make the
RiverCity vision happen and become a success.
The politicians were invited to visit the workshop.
Some of them took that opportunity and met with
the teams.
3rd workshop day / Thursday
After an important meeting between the Advisory
Board and the team leaders, the teams loosened up
and started inviting each other to share information.
Politicians and press came and visited the workshop
and talked to the Advisory Board members, the
municipal staff and the teams.
The afternoon session was in the format of an
‘elevator talk’; each team leader was to make a
two minutes presentation of their answers to three
key issues:
• What are the most important drivers in
Gothenburg
• What needs to happen in the city
• What is your key idea(s)
The team leaders gathered, standing in a close
circle in the workshop room. One by one the team
leaders made their short presentation without
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microphones, to ensure the intimicy and informal
format, creating confidence and cohesion in the
group. This was important to engender confidence
among the team leaders and co-responsible for a
continued creative and open process. The team
members could see what was happening.
4th workshopday / Friday
was an intense working day. The Advisory Board
planned as few disturbances as possible. There was
a short morning meeting between team leaders
and the Advisory Board, where the teams were
informed about the format for the presentation
on Saturday: they were asked to focus on a clear
and short presentation (max 10 minutes) in easy
understandable language and format. The format
for the final report was also discussed, which
the teams will send to Gothenburg at the end of
August. The Advisory Board advised the city to
make each team deliver a maximum two page
summary of their project, a summary to be used
when presenting the projects to the public and
politicians.
5th workshop day / Saturday
The final results were presented in the format of
TEDtalks (10 minutes talks). There was a great
tension and sense of expectation and eagerness
when meeting the team members in the morning.
The public presentations were very clear – it was
easy to understand the key ideas. The teams
presented in three groups (3+3+4), divided by a
discussion and break.
There was a good dialogue with the public and
between team leaders. The presentations were
filmed, and the Advisory Board recommended
that the films and presentations should be made
available in ’Älvrummet’ as soon as possible, as well
as on the RiverCity Gothenburg homepage.
The workshop format as an innovative model
The workshop format is a new and inspiring model
for other cities to follow. The workshop participants,
coming from different cultures and expertise, having
access to local experts was extremely successful.
Information was passed on quickly and efficiently
to those who needed it. The imposed structure
of sharing each other’s ideas and inspirations as
a way to evolve ideas and to test them was also
completely innovative. At first this was resisted, as
most of the consultants have matured in an era of
working alone and competing against each other.
But shortly, the removal of competition and secrecy
was welcomed and created a much more open
dialogue. The teams could advance more quickly
knowledgewise and the city benefitted immensely
from the ’larger brain trust’ created through
discussion, rather than 10 smaller and perhaps
repetitive ideas. Overall the workshop was very well
structured and moved at a fast clip.
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eflection on
themes
The Advisory Board talked to the teams during the workshop and
observed the development in themes as well as the dynamic working
process. The status of the team work was presented on the last
workshop day, Saturday the 11th June.
From the presentations and the insight in the working process,
the Advisory Board saw the following themes spanning the teams’
discussions and projects.
Key drivers
Growth was mentioned as an international driver in
city building, however Gothenburg is growing slowly
and needs to look at other drivers.
At Thursday’s ’elevator talk’, team Grau presented
Climate change and Segregation as two mayor
challenges for Gothenburg. The two drivers work
against each other unless they are addressed
proactively in the coming planning process.
Climate change can be viewed as a positive driver
for the city. The threat of water level rise can bring
all stakeholders together to develop shared projects,
with a broad ownership and a shared understanding
of sense of urgency.
Segregation is a negative driver – separated decisions
in the city organization, infrastructure that divides the
city in districts, separated housing types and areas,
and zoning regulation etc. causes a split planning
process.
Many of the teams pointed to these same drivers,
but also to sustainability, the bridge project, the river;
people and events as central drivers for the future
development of Gothenburg.
Build on existing qualities
Another focus of many teams was to get better value
out of the existing qualities in Gothenburg today –
adding to instead of tearing down or building new.
The teams pointed at Ringön as an area with many
qualities that needs to be left alone or built upon
carefully. The river holds the biggest recreational
potential for the city and all teams worked on
getting the city to meet the river, through different
approaches such as green strategies, parks, urban
space projects and events.
Climate change
The teams had different strategies on to how to
protect the city from flooding, and where to let the
river inundate the city banks. Suggestions include
excavating basins that can be flooded, buildings that
can manage flooding at ground level, and green parks
to absorb the flooding.
Team Grau and Sweco used climate change to
suggest a greater ecological approach, introducing
environmental friendly systems such as solar or wind
energy and climate-smart solutions for the future.
Green strategies
‘The city is green, but the river is not’. The teams
suggest greening the riverbank and turning the city
towards the river by building temporary or permanent
parks in both the city centre and at Frihamnen. Many
teams suggested connecting the existing green parks
and boulevards as biolinks.
Connectivity and bridges
The teams had different approaches as to how the
city should be connected across the river.
Team SLA and East suggested the new main
bridge to become a ’Ponte Vecchio’. Other teams
suggested that the bridge could be a green corridor
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1. 2.
3.
4.
5.
1. Team EGA focused on adding to
the existing city and buildings
instead of building new - a
sustainabe solution that preserves
existing urban qualities.
2. Team Grau suggested to develop
methods to city development
instead of fixed plans.
4. Team SLA/HLA wanted to plant
trees and make parks at vacant
areas, creating new meeting places
to assimilate city development and
increase land value.
5. Team SLA/HLA suggested that
the new Göta Bridge becomes a
Ponte Vecchio.
3. Team EGA presented buildings
built to meet flooding at ground
floor. Their main flooding strategy
was to protect the southern parts
of the city and make the northern
parts ’floodable’.
6. Team Sweco introduced more
new bridges to connect the two
sides of the river and make the city
cohesive.
6.
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supported by more ferries. Others suggested many
bridges across the river – making a bridge-city to
ensure accessibility. However, the general focus
was on making the main bridge lower and primarily
constructed for public transport, pedestrians and
bikes.
New focus on road infrastructure/mobility
Most teams mentioned that the infrastructure in
Gothenburg has outweighed the size of the city and
needs to be reduced. The infrastructure is the main
factor that both connects but also segregates the city
today.
Parking places take up too much space that should
be used as public spaces and parks.
Regional coherence
It was pointed out that Gothenburg is a regional
driver for growth. The teams looked into how to use
Gothenburg to define the region. Oslo, Kristiansand
and Gothenburg have the potential to become the
new region to match the Øresund region. Stitching
the Gothenburg region together with high speed
trains will be a must and some teams suggested that
Gothenburg also started to focus on a better link to
the airport.
Today the ferries are an important regional link from
the city center. The teams had different approaches
to where the different ferries might be located. Some
teams thought that the cruise ships should stay in the
center due to the activities they offer the city. Some
suggested moving the cruise ships to Frihamnen.
Some teams moved the ferries to the west of the
city due to the desire for more bridges, or to use the
land at the terminals to connect the city center to the
water.
Densify and mix
Gothenburg should address the sprawl of the city.
The sprawl can be changed by densifying the
existing building mass and city center before building
new areas. Densification should introduce a mix of
functions and housing types. The area by the train
station and the two areas by the bridge were pointed
out as especially good areas to start – they hold a
very central position close to the regional hub of the
station and the local hub of the bridge.
Inclusive
Gothenburg city see one of their challenges being
segregation and one of their main goals is to
be inclusive. Many of the teams addressed the
challenge by breaking down infrastructural barriers
between districts and pointing out that people are
the connectors - giving the focus on creating meeting
places. Meeting places, such as parks and festivals/
cultural activities, all support and build on the existing
local identity and activities. Team SLA challenged
Gothenburg to dare to ‘be the international city they
are’, and team Happold suggested to make more
workplaces as a means to integrate people (instead
of building more housing).
Culture and bottom-up processes
Culture, events, festivals and unplanned areas for
people to play or build are some tools presented by
the teams to make a prosperous and attractive city.
Cultural planning, the creation of meeting places, a
river festival, light strategies; Frihamnen as a free
zone for activities and planned events will all help to
create a ’living city’ and give identity to the city. This
is a theme that can be started now – and will help to
energize and brand the RiverCity area.
Scale
Scale was a central theme in the workshop. The big
scale of the river, ferries and cruise ships is a source
of fascination and identity and need to be preserved
as an attraction for and identity to the city. But the
large scale is also a challenge for a high quality of
urban experience. Team West 8 pointed out that the
Scandinavian tradition and scale is small scale, and
many teams suggested small scale interventions
as the solution for the design of public space and
buildings.
New economies
Gothenburg holds a history of being an international
city due to its shipping / trade. But Gothenburg is also
a knowledge city with many campuses, students and
research facilities that provide good possibilities to
form clusters. As team Sweco said: the city already
has a pool of talent and services that can be built
upon.
The open workshop process and knowledge-sharing
ensured that the teams developed varied projects and
individual ideas that supplemented each other. The
Advisory Board is looking forward to seeing the final
projects from the ten teams by the end of August.
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7. Team West 8 included an analysis of the different
districts in Gothenburg and wanted to celebrate the
diversity of the city by enhancing the qualities and
identity of each district.
7.
8. Team Güller & Güller suggests to densify the
existing city. They pointed out the large areas
near the Göta älv bridge and the city center, and
suggested to make an Älvgata/boulevard over
the bridge.
9. Team East showed how the vast infrastructural
areas and the river have created districts like islands
that need to be connected. The suggested connector
was a multifunctional green network/biolink.
8. 9.
Connect the islands
10.
11.
10. Team Schønherr worked with cultural planning as
a mean to manage inclusion and to build a living city
and city identity; building on diversity, creativity, light
strategy and a river festival.
11. Team Happold suggested to build a new economy
on Integrated Health Care Centers, creating 45,000
new jobs by 2030.
12. Team Espinãs wanted to introduce a new small
scale in the city to reconstruct and integrate the
city districts. This can be made possible by a new
structure of mobility.
12.
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ecommendations BY
the advisory board
Gothenburg’s ambition is to make a social, ecological and
economical sustainable RiverCity project. The City has defined
three project objectives for the development of the RiverCity:
The future city must be inclusive, green and dynamic.
But the three themes also point out the challenges
the city is facing today and pose three main
dilemmas:
Inclusiveness: the central city is not inclusive and
existing infrastructure and housing inadvertently
supports zoning and segregation. There is a concern
that densification will not alone solve segregation;
New development in the central city, which today is
mostly for people with resources, has been and will
continue to be too expensive to include low income
housing.
Green: Gothenburg is facing climate change with
more flooding. The city is the regional core and need
to find more space for the river as well as needing to
find more space for the city to develop.
Dynamic: Gothenburg today has a culture and an
economy which is built on large individual industries.
The city will need a change in culture and incentive
programs to support new types of business/
industry and a stronger regional and public-private
cooperation.
From the internal discussions and talks, the Advisory
Board has the following recommendations for the
development of a green, inclusive and dynamic city,
giving input to address these three objectives.
INCLUSIVE
Make Gothenburg a city of free choice
How does Gothenburg change the definition of
’attractiveness’ – for many years an attractive
lifestyle has been defined as living in the countryside
and working in the city commuting by car. In the
future ’attractiveness’ may be defined as the ’free
choice’. Gothenburg needs to provide more varied
and easily accessible public transport systems, new
types of housing and attractive city environments for
people. People need help to discover the new values
in living in the city, so that more people will move to
Sweden – and Gothenburg – in the future. Making
Gothenburg a city of free choice – more people
will come and/or stay; and it will also attract welleducated
people.
Densify the existing city
Build on the qualities the city already has – add, do
not subtract. Densify the existing city center and
make it more attractive before building out new
areas. Build to finish existing areas of the city – do
not start at too many projects in different places at
one time.
The inner city has huge areas of wasteland –
created by land left over from industrialization and
big underutilized parking areas. Instead, make high
quality public realm and plan good housing (including
social housing) in the city center to create a more
active city life and an attractive environment. Build
variation, not monofunctionality.
Focus on green and sustainable solutions for
pedestrians and bikes and undo the 1960s road
infrastructure slowly. By making the city more dense
no more infrastructure needs to be built to support
the growing population of a sprawling city. People
are the connectors.
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Make mixed-use possible - Revise zoning laws
Revise building codes that encourage low-rise
densities and urban structures. Gothenburg needs
to build density and flexibility, so the city can adapt
to and accommodate change. Impose a zoning-ring
around the city that will not permit new building
outside of it, like Portland or Oregon, so there will
be no more loose development. Work with shared
ownership within each building by challenging the
investors and making checklists to make sure it
happens. Infill sites with mixed-use and mixedincome
housing. Create subsidized housing so that
economically challenged people can live in the old
city.
GREEN
Build new partnerships using the shared
challenge of climate change as driver
Gothenburg’s challenges can be handled if the
many strong stakeholders and institutions already
located in the city join forces. The Regional
organisations point to Gothenburg as a regional
driver. Gothenburg contains many knowledge-based
resources, including research and incubators at the
universities, drive and will from the local authorities
and politicians, and big technological based
industries. These stakeholders should use the
momentum created by response to climate change
threats of flooding to join forces and create a
strong organization which can create innovative and
sustainable solutions, and examine how the river
and the city can be reshaped to handle flooding at
the same time as keeping access to the river. Let
Gothenburg become a showcase for sustainable
urban development’s positive response to climate
change.
Plant trees in the streets
Planting trees is an inexpensive way of making a
green and attracting city as well as a sustainable
tool to reduce CO 2 emmision.
DYNAMIC
Centralization; Gothenburg as the driver
of the region
There is much focus on Gothenburg as the regional
core. But what is the region Could Gothenburg
include Oslo, Kristiansand or even Ålborg to make
the region stronger as a global competitor Support
the port and look towards northern routes to
strengthen Gothenburg’s location - connect these
cities via high-speed train. Direct the regional traffic
around the city, not through it.
Build new partnerships
Gothenburg has a few but strong industrial
stakeholders and pressure groups, especially
anchored in the shipping and car industries, who
hold much of the power in the city even today.
Gothenburg should be very conscious about this
strength, and through dialogue enable these
industries to realize that their future is dependent on
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the success of Gothenburg. These industries could
be invited to participate in creating an attractive city
for their employees and collaborators.
Follow the new world trend where the car industry
invests in sustainable projects (e.g. Shell & Toyota).
The Universities also hold great knowledge about
shipping systems and sustainability. This creates
a great potential for creating new partnerships
that will drive a focus on sustainability in the
development of the city.
Support new economies
City development has been driven by private
companies for a long period of time. Now,
Gothenburg also needs to consider the regional
economy as well as micro economies. The
improvement of the regional public transport
system with high speed trains will be a huge
benefit to the city – creating easy accessibility and
supporting the new attractor: free choice.
Being a university city – a knowledge city –
creates a huge potential to build up new business
and industries, and supporting an ’incubator
environment’. Gothenburg needs to offer small
and flexible spaces for these incubator businesses
in attractive city environments; for example 90%
of all businesses in Denmark have fewer than 20
employees and they need small and flexible rooms
to support growth and change.
Make sure to have a market for less educated
workers – for example green industries. This
creates diversification in the work force as well as
alternative employment for the strong knowledgebased
companies that gives identity to the city
today. Diversification of the job market creates a
multi-layered and multi-cultural society that will
attract more businesses.
Gothenburg owns the land to be developed. Use
this advantage to facilitate plans that will fulfill the
vision.
Continue the open communication and dialogue
Gothenburg is focused on having an open
communication about the development process of
RiverCity and Älvrummet. Open communication is
an important driver for the dialogue. The Advisory
Board recommends that Gothenburg keeps the
process open and continues the close dialogue with
citizens and stakeholders. Considering how few
people are actually working on communications,
it seems very impressive that Gothenburg has
managed this open process to date. Now that the
momentum around this project is growing and
projects are starting up, it will be very important
that the city continues to focus on communication.
The RiverCity project will need a communicationdepartment
with more people and (external)
experts on, for example, social media. The use of
social media can create an environment of social
inclusion and debate, and will form bottom-up
participation and consensus.
Create strong political ownership
To make RiverCity Gothenburg happen, the City,
first of all, needs strong political leadership and
ownership. The Advisory Board felt the politicians
have not yet taken ownership of the RiverCity
Gothenburg effort. If the ideas from the RiverCity
workshop are to take off, Gothenburg has to look
at strategies within the political organization and
change the existing political culture so that the
political structure can reorient around a new shared
vision. To make change, the politicians must show
courage.
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Individual
reflection
During the RiverCity workshop, the Advisory Board members reflected
on the workshop format, the workshop projects and Gothenburg’s
challenges as seen from their own perspective and experience.
Their individual reflections are presented on the following pages.
16

LARS REUTERSWÄRD, DIRECTOR FOR MISTRA
URBAN FUTURES, GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN
Reflecting on the Urban Futures of Gothenburg, the
issue of scale and hinterland comes to mind. Half
of the global urban population, some 1.5 billion,
lives in towns and cities of half a million or less.
So Gothenburg is a typical, mid-sized city. Will
Gothenburg be able to rise from this mid-size level,
to become an expanding urban area, competing
globally and attracting more business, becoming an
example of social cohesion and of environmental
excellence
Stockholm is a national capital, Oslo and
Copenhagen too, all supported by their hinterlands
and satellite cities, in the case of Copenhagen by
Lund, Malmö, Helsingborg and Helsingör. These
urban areas are likely to prosper and develop their
status as international centers.
Västra Götaland, the region supporting Gothenburg,
is less populated. A likely top priority would
therefore be a high-speed rail connecting Oslo –
Gothenburg – Copenhagen. This would expand
Gothenburg’s “catchment area”. Intra-regional
communications have improved but much is left to
do. There is an urgent need for more high-speed
intra-regional trains. Meeting these two priorities
would make Gothenburg and the region much more
internationally competitive and attractive.
Another issue that comes to mind is that the future
is a moving target, almost by definition. However,
Gothenburg has a fixed date to focus on,
a deadline. In 2021, the city turns 400 years old, and
the preparations for celebration have already begun.
At the 300th Anniversary, Gothenburg displayed
Götaplatsen with magnificent buildings for art and
culture, Liseberg, the amusement park, and more.
What will Gothenburg display the year 2021
The answer is obvious – the RiverCity! Malmö has
Västra Hamnen and Stockholm has Hammarby
Sjöstad as icons of more sustainable urban
development. Soon, Stockholm will add Norra
Djurgårdsstaden. The RiverCity should bring
Gothenburg and the region to the top level. Ten
years is a short time, but enough to make it happen,
as the city has already begun the process.
There are now three agendas to pursue in
parallel. Firstly an open debate on policies to be
pursued (shall suburbia continue to spread, or is
densification of the RiverCity the main agenda Can
car transport be replaced by more efficient public
transport, and by non-motorised Shall zoning
continue to be two-dimensional, horizontal, or shall
it become three-dimensional, vertical, that is to say
that individual buildings contain housing, offices
and business Is social inclusion or segregation
preferred etc.
Secondly, the issue is how do we create competent
institutions to deal with this process of change So
far, much of our institutions are designed to manage
what we have, whereas what is now needed is
structures that can pilot us into the future. How
do we change research, education and training to
support this agenda of rapid transformations
And thirdly, how can we better mobilize all actors
in the city to invest in the future, in line with the
policies, supported by dynamic institutions
The RiverCity process provides the relevant
momentum for this, in combination with the
preparations for the Gothenburg 400th Anniversary.
Gothenburg has now created arenas for the
universities, local and regional institutions, and
for people and business. It is all about making
Gothenburg and the region greener, fairer, and
denser.
It is all about our Urban Futures, 2021 and beyond.
17

ROB ADAMS, DIRECTOR OF DESIGN AND URBAN
ENVIRONMENT, CITY OF MELBOURNE
Gothenburg is a complex city that has over its
various periods of development fragmented into a
number of distinctive areas, divided by geographic
or man made barriers, of which the river is one.
The workshop format and the subsequent public
presentations, produced a rich material base for
public comment and further discussion. In fact, this
discussion has already commenced with excellent
media coverage of the event and a good turn out
to the workshop presentations. The City should be
congratulated for putting in place such a dynamic
and successful process.
This process will now move into its next phase and
the challenge will be how to retain the momentum
over the next two months while the teams prepare
their final reports and then following the September
reports.
Reflections
Formulate a program of works that commences
immediately and builds to 2021.
In the short term implement some of the
suggestions derived from the workshop such as;
• Put in place temporary/mobile installations that
can be strategically located around the city to
raise awareness of 2021. Floating landscapes,
art installations, tree plantings and light
installations on major landmarks such as the
Gasometer.
• Commence an International Competition for
the new Bridge – a bridge not simply to carry
public transport but one that would become
a destination and landmark for the city and a
symbol of a Green, Inclusive and Dynamic City.
• Consider relocating the Ferries to the west
and start a debate about how to better use the
underutilized land along the south bank of the
river – a linear park Affordable housing
• Start to promote Ringön as an incubator area
for creative industries and use the city’s land
holdings such as the materials depot in Ringön
to stimulate activity in this area. Consider
building live work studios around a ‘public
space’ that can be used for sports, possibly a
corporate cup competition where teams from
the workforce play against teams from the
residential areas in the north so as to start the
process of work as an integrator.
• Phase out all surface level car parking by
reducing its attractiveness through the charging
of high parking fees where the revenue is used
to improve public infrastructure and pedestrian
amenity. Where possible, return them to
parkland or other public uses.
Most importantly, make the Project fun and engage
the community on a regular basis by using city
sponsored cultural events to build a consciousness
of the importance of 2021. If possible, set targets
around the three themes that need to be achieved
by 2021, e.g. 21% reduction in emissions by 2021.
Gothenburg has one major advantage over most
other cities and this is its extensive landholdings.
These need to be used strategically to leverage the
maximum advantage for the ‘2021 Project’.
Be Bold and Courageous in your planning for 2021
and start now.
18

MARTHA SCHWARTZ, PRESIDENT, MARTHA
SCHWARTZ PARTNERS, PROFESSOR IN
PRACTICE DEPT. OF LA, HGSD, UK &USA
Doing competitions on large-scale planning efforts
AND public realm design is a waste of time
and effort. These subject areas are extremely
complex and demand an interactive process and
one where one can learn as one goes. As an
outsider, it is impossible to come to the table with
any confidence about one’s grasp of the issues
without having an extensive dialogue and input,
and the DESIGN PROCESS is used as part of the
learning process - not as the end result of an effort
that is done in isolation and without important
feedback. Design is a tool for discovery where
one is LEARNING and NOT prescribing a solution.
It is best to choose a team that has proven itself
as creative, strategic, flexible, curious, and interdisciplinary
first, and then allow them teams to
learn about the subject matter before any design
is tested. The Workshop was a brilliant method
of having many of these teams approach the
same problem from different directions, interests,
expertise, values and cultures. The workshop
provides a great resource for educating and
empowering the Gothenburg Project Team to
approach a complex problem in a more informed
way. It also exposed the leaders of Gothenburg to
many types of expertise, all of which are useful
in some way, to city planning. The teams and
individuals who were chosen to participate will
prove to be an invaluable resource to Gothenburg
for the future.
Regional aspects that needs to be addressed:
• Densify the existing city / infill sites with mixed-use
and mixed-income housing.
• Create a zoning “Ring” around the city past which
no approvals for building will be allowed
• Create subsidized housing so that economically
challenged people can live in the old city.
• Revise Building Codes that encourage low-rise
densities and urban structures vs the outdated and,
• un-environmental “Corbusian typologies” of
building blocks surrounded by meaningless green.
• Use the new bridge as a low, pedestrian and bikeoriented
urban space rather than for high-speed/
high volume traffic.
• Route Regional traffic around the city,
not through it.
• Use the dramatic topography AND the old Dutch
canals to deal with flooding creatively.
• High speed connections to Oslo.
• Support the port and look toward northern routes
to strengthen Gothenburg’s location.
• Stop tearing down areas that could be wonderful
incubator areas (Ringön).
Process/time aspects (cultural change):
Now
• Create an Advisory Board
• Select team to create a road-map for now / 5-year /
10-year / 50 years
• Select short-term/ temporary projects to get
momentum going
• Hire on consultants to manage web-based
connection to citizens and general campaign
• Enable the city’s governing bodies
Mid-Term
• Take advantage of the 2021 Anniversary to:
• Pull down the bridge
• Gather momentum
• Create a deadline for getting things done
Longterm
• Un-do infrastructure “girdle”.
• Make the River the Major Civic Open Space of
Gothenburg.
• Densify the south, undensify and naturalize the
north.
• High speed connections / Nurture the Port.
• Diversify the economic base.
• Encourage Education Institutions and
Creative-Based industries.
19

HELLE SØHOLT, PARTNER & CEO,
GEHL ARCHITECTS
Gothenburg represents an almost archetypical
industrial city, with all its challenges with
generations of car-orientated and transport led
planning, functional and optimizing focus, split of
systems and areas and sector lead governance
structures.
Gothenburg faces a paradigm shift of planning
towards a greater focus on its people. Humanistic
values will stand central to this change of mindset.
Values such as openness, inclusiveness and
accessibility, have all been deeply imbedded in the
international workshop, and the event becomes a
direct representation of the start of new times for
Gothenburg.
The above challenges and needed changes are
not only unique to Gothenburg. The world is in
desperate need of new ways of planning and
exemplary city role models illustrating innovative
and sensitive ways of implementation taking people
in to account.
Scandinavia has the resources, the knowledge and
the leadership to take this challenge upon us. If
we cannot find these news ways in Gothenburg, in
Sweden, in Scandinavia, where should we turn for
leadership and approach
Gothenburg has always been an international city
in Sweden. Outward looking, well connected,
empowered to make decisions. The city should
continue also in this phase to look for inspiration
from outside. This is what is now started by the
international workshop, but look also to cities that
have already succeeded in levering on changes in
their economies and cultures:
- Look to the city of Drammen in Norway, for their
incredible political collaboration, coming together
around one strong vision for the future.
- Look to the northwest of Seattle, US and
Vancouver BC, for harbor strategies in relation to
the urban centers.
- Look to Lyon in France, for their inclusive blue,
yellow and green strategies for downtown and their
challenged suburbs.
- Look to Copenhagen, Denmark, for their innovative
leaps in promoting alternative form of transportation
and creating of lively streets.
- Look to London, UK and their “meanwhile
London” program and to N.Y. City for their
temporary and process oriented take on urban
development.
Take advantage of all the experiences out there,
by ensuring a continuation of an open, explorative
and highly collaborative approach for the ongoing
process.
Gothenburg is in need of a vision and strategy
to guide the future development – a structure to
organize and ensure quality in future projects.
• Decide as a team – across parties – to ensure
implementation.
• Find the vision and the tools for planning at eyelevel.
Don’t let traditions decide.
• Use the national strategy of public transport to
densify around the central station.
• Plan for more residents in the city center.
• Stena should deliver pedestrians and not trucks
to the city centre.
• Go into dialogue with the businesses and
institutions to reach your goals.
• Create a network of quality public spaces
supporting meeting of people.
Gothenburg has now collected many different
inputs from different processes – Citizen Dialougue,
workshops in the spring, the RiverCity workshop,
a report from the West Sweden Chamber of
Commerce (Västsvenska Handelskammaren), and
in the summer an analysis of the urban spaces and
city life. All of this material needs to be collected
and summed up in a strategic report that can work
as guideline for the future work and process.
In order to deliver the vision and strategy as well
as action plans; and to ensure energy within this
process until completion and implementation
of ideas, do not think master plan. Do not think
projects should be perfect. Don’t be scared of
people having different views.
Finally, the project organization that is decided
upon to drive the RiverCity process must be
strengthened in terms of their competences
and mandate specifically in relation to urban
development. Development processes are not
a traditional core service of the municipality as
authority. The RiverCity project thereby calls for
a change of role for this core project team in the
city, developing from authority towards facilitator
for change and growth, spanning the municipal
departments. The aim of this interdisciplinary
project team is to deliver vision, strategies for
implementation, live events, build projects and
not least community outreach and communication
throughout all phases of planning and delivering.
Gothenburg certainly has the people with
enthusiasm to drive this process for change, if you
allow them to take part.
20

WHERE TO GO
FROM HERE
Many recommendations have been given to the city from the teams
and the Advisory Board. The challenge is now to prioritize and
choose where to start. The Advisory Board has summed up the key
recommendations focusing on how Gothenburg should continue the
RiverCity process.
Take new political leadership
To manage change takes a strong political
leadership and ownership. Gothenburg should
enable the organization to deliver change and to
match the vision; giving room and backup to a
change in cultures, regulations and organization of
departments. Gothenburg city need to build up a
new organization to handle the new development
process which involves many different factors
and stakeholders. The new organization should
span all departments of the municipality (from
social and cultural planning to cityplanning and
infrastructure and business/trade) and including
central stakeholders, like the existing main industrial
partners, the incubators, the universities and
different keyusers within culture, communication
and social networks.
Enable your local government workers and leaders
to plan and execute a plan that will roll out over the
next 5-10-year plan.
Communicate
Keep the communication and dialogue open and
active. Use the ideas generated from the workshop
in a Wiki to test public opinion and develop longer
term strategies for implementation prior to 2021.
Consult young web-communications experts who
can manage social networking and plan a campaign
to disseminate knowledge, ideas and interaction,
as well as to create a young base and to energize a
bottom-up campaign.
Develop a 2021 Branding Strategy to be used in
a count down process, on Banners and to brand
projects as they are completed.
Use the RiverCity workshop material
Use the material and ideas from the ten international
teams very actively in the future process.
Manage expectations
The scale of the RiverCity project is big – both
physically and in time. It will take many years to
build the huge areas that RiverCity includes and
it will be a big challenge to manage expectations
from the public and stakeholders and keep the
momentum going during the long time span. People
would like to see results if they are to participate
in the dialogue and give their input to the process.
Prioritize communication as a key service from the
city - speak with one voice.
22

The material can serve both as examples
and references to help the dialogue with the
stakeholders, but is also serving highly qualified
solutions from experts, that with the international
experience, references and best practise will help
Gothenburg to change the organization, showing
other possibilities to the politicians and planners.
Display the Workshop ‘Ten Minute Talks’ at
‘Älvrummet’ and on local television to stimulate
local debate.
How to get started
The Advisory Board suggests that Gothenburg gets
something on the ground as soon as possible.
Start up some here and now initiatives:
• Give attention to what is happening first – that
might set the agenda for the further process.
• Select short-term/ temporary projects to get
momentum going
• Cultural bridges will start up the cultural change
and act as drivers for the participation process.
• Devise art / cultural program to organize smallscale
interventions that will lead up to 2021
• Measure the impact of the projects from
day one to be able to document even small
improvements to the politicians and the public.
• Make RiverCity 2021 to a project already
now. That will give an occasion - a legacy to
start the project and specific projects to be
communicated and built. This could be or
include the rebuilding of the bridge.
• Make a checklist with the most important
themes for the future development to be able
to meet the vision.
Get a strong, multi-disciplinary Advisory Panel
The Advisory Board suggest Gothenburg to support
the future process with an Advisory Panel, that
can help maintaining the momentum, directions
and longevity as you bridge administrations. The
advisors could be a mix of international, national
and local experts. When the 10 RiverCity workshop
projects are handed in, in the end of August, the
Panel can help distilling the ideas to key principles
which can be used in the strategies for the future.
You can also use the Advisory Panel to compose
a team of consultants that are appropriate to the
many stages of the process, the communication
and dialogue.
..AND BE BRAVE!
Thank you!
The Advisory Board would like to thank Gothenburg
for the possibility to be a part of this very innovative
process. Thank you to the project organization
lead by Project Manager Bo Aronsson, who all
did a tremendously good job as orginizers, hosts,
experts. You were all very professional and were
making everybody feel welcome. We are very
impressed by the initiative – Gothenburg has set a
whole new agenda for how to facilitate visioning
processes for future development of cities.
23

This report is produced for The City of Gothenburg
Gehl Architects has edited the material from the Advisory Board
Layout by Gehl Architects, July 2011