Sustainable urban growth

The Commission held its 20^th seminar and annual meeting in Linköping, Sweden in early September.The future growth is naturally supposed to happen according to the principles of sustainability, and therefore also the CUP seminar discussed increasing city density and public transportation as means of future development in Linköping and also in the UBC members. Sustainability, as urban planners understand it, includes social, economic and environmental aspects of urban development. In Linköping sustainability means the growing use of public transportation and biking in place of private cars, renovating old houses to meet the requirements of sustainability and using bio-mass as energy source.

There were presentations about sustainable green cities and on sustainable transport systems. The seminar programme included examples of sustainable urban planning in practice, namely Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm and Viikki in Helsinki. Also, Linköping planners described their work aimed at making the city more compact and densely built, how new development areas were being planned to get optimal effect from rapid and frequent public transport routes, and how cycling was promoted in these areas.

The seminar workshops tried to find ways for Linköping to be built in a sustainable, compact and attractive way. They concentrated on how to link up the present city centre on the west side of the river Stångån with a new area for city centre extension on the east side of the river. The workshops concentrated also on the question of how to physically connect the University to a housing district which is isolated from the University and the rest of the city. The discussions were inspiring. Good ideas of how to proceed with the issues of urban development of Linköping were exchanged. Conluding, the cities need to plan their future development on the terms of their inhabitants and the local business life. As the locals enjoy their living environment with all the services the city can provide, it also increases the attractiveness of the city in the eyes of outsiders.