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Summary One million homes were built in Sweden during the period 1965-1974, mostly financed by state housing loans and made available for renting. Large-scale rented housing then became commonplace, mostly built on virgin land on the outskirts of cities and towns. Although most of these 850,000 apartments are considered decently maintained, some 300,000 are still in need of refurbishment, especially with regard to bathrooms, kitchens, insulation and ventilation. This is a great opportunity for technological innovations, potentially contributing to energy-saving and climate mitigation on a broad scale. However, many of these estates have also been associated with social problems like spatial segregation and social exclusion. Under the label “suburb” [förort], these estates have become stigmatized, triggered by massive critique from journalists, writers, politicians, architects and even researchers. The empirical focus of this report is on an attempt by a municipal housing company to approach the residents of a multi-family housing estate with a redevelopment scheme expressing a will to combine social and ecological qualities under the brand “My Green Neighbourhood”. The company wants to change their everyday behaviour by constructing energy-saving technical solutions, increase residents’ participation and social inclusion and redress the identity of the area in the eyes of residents, visitors and outside spectators. Drawing upon data describing the aim and scope of the redevelopment scheme, the dialogue activities undertaken during the planning phase, and residents’ reactions, the analysis relates to current debates on the potentials and limits of citizen participation in urban renewal in terms of the sustainability discourse. Although the study only covers the planning process until the end of 2011 when the housing company took its final decision, conclusions also consider the potential of future implementations. Whereas prospects of success with regard to energy-saving investments are bright, other results are more open to question. Thus, whether technological innovations will also inspire households to lead a more climate-friendly life in general must also take other things than housing into consideration, in particular their life situations and lifestyles in a broad sense. Thus, residents’ willingness to participate in planning and politics, and their social inclusion in society at large are matters not only related to housing. Depending on the capacity and willingness of residents to pay and stay it is unclear how many of the present inhabitants will stay or leave for other households to move in. There is little doubt regarding the housing company’s commitment in terms of professional and long-term financial responsibility. In addition, the company’s social ambitions do not only include a willingness to engage residents in planning and caring for their apartments and the outdoor environment. The housing company also cooperates with the main contractor with a view to employing more than 50 until now unemployed residents in the building process. Finally, at the time of writing, it seems that My Green Neighbourhood should not be disregarded as just one more number in a never-ending parade of temporary projects. Its brand of social, economic and technological innovations have multi-dimensional sustainability potential that may even contribute to a decent make-over and a positive branding of a large, previously stigmatized multi-family city district.

to the track Responding to the Financial Crisis: Opportunities for Ecological Transition from/within a Colapsed Economy There is a growing awareness in cities, regions and nations all over the world of an ongoing global warming and its effects. The industrialized world has undertaken the task to lower the green house gas emissions, and even stronger commitments to that goal may be taken in future agreements. Opponents argue that this implies restrictions that threaten economic development; others argue that climate change mitigation can be looked upon as an opportunity to enhance national and regional economic development and the creation of new jobs. In times of economic decline, innovations in climate friendly technology are sometimes put forward by national and local governments as an appropriate cure. This follows the line of argumentation found in the ecological modernization discourse. To make it short - economic growth and the creation of new jobs is a challenge that has become top priority for cities and regions in the current state of economic crisis. How does this combine with high ambitions in combating climate change? Is it possible to make a win-win solution out of these challenges? Based on two Swedish case studies, we identify two different, locally based solutions to this challenge. In both cases networking on different scales and across sectors is part of the strategy. In one of the cases the city is very active in using a number of multi-scalar networks as platforms both for advertising climate friendly production and boosting itself as a forerunner in climate mitigation. Although not really boosting its ambition to contribute to climate change mitigation the other city is also involved in networking, particularly at the regional level. The case studies show that different geographies, different historical paths of development, and the presence of key actors together determine the way climate mitigation and climate friendly production are combined with growth strategies in the two cities. In what way the current financial crisis will affect the fairly ambitious climate mitigation policies of the two cities is too early to say, but will be hypothetically discussed in the concluding part of the paper., Globala klimatförändringar och lokal politik

Globala klimatförändringar och lokal politik

Between the local and the global: climate, local governments, networks The notion of an ongoing global warming is shared by a large number of researchers and decision-makers around the world. Through the act of signing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change a majority of the world's naitons have accepted the idea of human induced climate change, and to develop national climate change mitigation programmes. The Kyoto protocol later quantified the commitments made by the nations. The issue of climate change has become a political issue of its own. In the European Union as well as in Sweden and other nations, climate mitigation goals, programmes and strategies are developed. This is also the situation on the local level, for example in Swedish municipalities, which is the context of this study. Local goverment is an important actor in climate mitigation, both as a political organization in its own right and as an arena involving actors from different sectors in society. Climate change mitigation measures conducted by local governments re partly shaped by national grant programmes. The study shows, however, that the local context - the palce - with its natural prerequisites, economic structures and composition of actors, is just as decisive for how the local climate policies are developed and implemented. It also shows that although responsibility for the environment is an important driving force in local climate mitigation there are at least two other dirving forces; local and regional development and the symbolic valute of being in the forefront of climate change mitigation. Another arena where actors in climate change mitigation meet is the network. Together wiht actors from different sectors and levels many municipalities participate in various networks, with local to global extension. The fact that the netsorks like climate change in inself transcends political and administrative borders, is alsö addressed theoretically in the study, focusing upon the concepts of re-scaling, multilevel governance and network governance, which constitute the theoretichal fram of the thesis.