The energetic and green city – not a utopia anymore!

Anders Larsson

Lecturer at the Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, SLU

“What a nice and sunny summer day here in central Malmö! Just checked the meter. I have sold a lot of electricity through my share of the solar panel cladding installed on the facade and roof panels of our apartment house. I can definitely treat myself to a great dinner with my friends this evening. I will take it easy on my way there, and leave my bike at home. It is so enjoyable to walk now that we have such nice and connected greenways throughout the city. Owning a car is really not necessary at all, and just imagine all the space that was liberated for the benefit of more greenery when we decided to focus on sustainable urban transport.

Great because of energy savings too, both regarding e.g. electric cars we can reduce and decreased need for air-conditioning. Today’s warmer climate becomes so much more bearable because of active climate-oriented land-use planning. My friends are also very happy today. A solar company has leased the adjacent and roof surfaces of the shopping centre and the logistics centre nearby and they have become shareholders in that company. How great is that, that they have banned solar farms on agricultural land!

The 100,000 hectares of industrial areas in Sweden are, in combination with hydropower and energy-saving measures, more than enough for us to be self-sufficient in electric energy. I just love the innovative energy solutions, as for example the lighting of the shopping centre, which is powered by static energy generated through customers walking around in the building. Amazing!”

Back to 2024

Could our cities become energy producers?

In Sweden, as in much of the world, a green energy transition is underway. However, the increasing demand for electricity makes it unlikely that fossil fuel sources will be fully phased out in the foreseeable future. Many countries are in fact just beginning to move towards more energy-intensive societies, where fossil fuels still play a central role in total energy consumption. In regions where the green energy shift is more advanced, there’s often a lack of awareness about the significant landscape impact—particularly in rural areas. Yet, the concept of landscape is almost entirely absent from our policies addressing rising energy demands. Similarly, opportunities for energy conservation, as well as the potential for urban areas to serve as energy producers rather than merely consumers, are not adequately addressed.

These themes are explored in various research projects and through long-term partnerships with external organizations, such as the Stockholm-based think tank Lablab. One example is the recently completed Baltic Sea initiative, New Energy Landscapes, accessible via Lablab’s website. Other seed-funded projects have focused on topics like the green energy transition in northern Sweden and collaborative efforts with the Energy Academy in Samsø, Denmark. Currently, attempts are being made to establish an even bigger international network around energy landscapes, sparked by connections made through leadership roles in discussions at the latest ECLAS conference and by an IFLA position paper advocating for landscape considerations in green energy policies. Exciting research is also being conducted in the Netherlands, where The Power of Landscape is a highly recommended book on this topic.

Another important basis of our work is the master’s course on Large-scale structures, analysis and EIA, with the theme of Energy Landscapes and the green energy transition. In this course, we examine issues such as the environmental impact assessment of large-scale landscape interventions. Our students are also phenomenal at sniffing out exciting cutting-edge technologies related to the energy transition and often have very creative ideas about planning for future, sustainable and energy-smart societies.

Why couldn’t our cities become energy producers, not just consumers? For example, Copenhagen already has buildings fully covered in solar panels on both roofs and walls.

Another innovative idea comes from the economic sector, with investment companies that promote the establishment of solar parks on existing artificial surfaces through lease agreements with the property owners, instead of exploiting our highly productive agricultural lands. And concerning the energy-saving aspect, Sweden has unfortunately built itself into a sparse and energy-demanding urban planning based on private car ownership. Much of our too-wide streets, parking lots and other artificial surfaces could and should make room for both more greenery and water in our cities, and provide more space for bikes and pedestrians. But more buildings and activities could also be accommodated in these already built-up areas, e.g. providing a stronger base for cost-efficient public transport.

Back to the URBAN ENERGYSCAPE theme page.