10
Baltic University Urban Forum
City Status Report X
Integration and Sustainable
Communities
Project part-financed by the European Union
(European Regional Development Fund)
within the BSR INTERREG III B Neighbourhood Programme.
© The Baltic University Programme, 2007
Baltic University Urban
Forum
Cities Status Reports
10. Integration and sustainable
communities
Introduction
The city status reports in the BUUF project address ten key areas of city management,
chosen at the outset of the project. These were later group in three areas of management, while
integration was kept as a separate topic.
Material flows:
1. Water,
2. Energy,
3. Waste
Urban space:
4. Traffic and transport,
5. Green structures,
6. Built structures, especially brown fields
Socio-economy:
7. Education and information,
8. Economic development,
9. Urban-rural cooperation
Integration:
10. Integration of management
The areas were all discussed by the BUUF Scientific Advisory Council, which developed
indicators for each of them. These indicators were later treated by the UBC Commission for the
environment into a table, a short hand, for reporting indicator values. The indicator, the tables
and the comments from the SAC are all found in the BUUF indicator book.
The reports
The city Status reports were/will be collected in the BUUF project at three occasions, 2004,
2005 and 2006. The reports will for each of the ten key areas, contain the following:
1. A description of the situation (collected 2004)
2. Basis indicator data (collected 2005)
3. Updating of indicator data. Comments on the choice of indicators. (2006)
The reports are edited for each area (water, energy etc) separately consisting of about 25
pages. The status descriptions consist of one page, with occasional additional pages for data
diagrams etc, per city. The basic indicator data is collected in a table (one page) including all
cities.
The Scientific Advisory Council members are asked to write benchmarking statements on
these reports from the cities. The collected reports and benchmarking statements will be
collected in a City status book from the BUUF project.
The cities
The cities have been organised in five groups according to character to make comparisons more
meaningful. In each group there are representative from both “East” and “West”. The list of
cities then becomes as follows:
Group 1. Large port cities
1. Hamburg, Germany
2. Kaliningrad, Russia
3. Novgorod, Russia
4. Turku/Åbo, Finland
Group 2. Fairly large inland cities, metropolis issues
5. Lodz, Poland
6. Nacka, Sweden (close to Stockholm)
7. Minsk, Belarus
8. Örebro Sweden
Group 3. Medium sized inland university cities
9. Uppsala, Sweden
10. Tartu, Estonia
11. Jelgava, Latvia
12. Kaunas, Lithuania
Group 4. Small inland/coastal cities under economic restructuring
13. Livani, Latvia
14 Hällefors, Sweden
15. Norrtälje, Sweden
16. Sopot, Poland
Group 5. Small municipalities, ecovillage character
17. Enköping, Sweden
18. Tukums, Latvia
19. Kosakowo, Poland
20. Hågaby, Sweden
The data for the cites are thus listed in this order. There is also a table, which contains basic data
for each of the cities.
Hamburg, Germany
Large port city 1
Total surface area of
municipality
755,3 km2
1,7 mln inhabitants
The number of staff in the
municipality administration 14000
No data
Kaliningrad,
Russia
Large port city 2
Total surface area
of municipality
223,0 km2
425 600
inhabitants
The number of
staff in the
municipality
administration –
no data
In October 2003, the Kaliningrad City Council approved the Regulations
“On the municipal ecological control” prepared by the Commission on the
town regulation, nature use and ecology. The municipal ecological control
implies the persistent monitoring and complex of measures aimed at
observing the settled norms and limits of environmental impact during
construction, reconstruction, modernization and exploitation of the objects
as well as during their liquidation. The violation of the environmental
legislation anticipates the liability.
The other currently discussing document is the Regulations “On
environmental policy in Kaliningrad city”, which is aimed at provision of
the safe environment for Kaliningradians. The document will allow to
conduct a perspective and systematic work on realization of the
environmental policy and to define the role of the municipal monitoring.
The Comprehensive Plan provides the complex of measures aimed at
improvement of the environmental situation in Kaliningrad. These measures
particularly include:
• the optimization of the residential conditions by means of
territorial zoning with differentiated regulations for town-planning
activity;
• location of new residential areas in environmentally favorable
areas. The new residential districts are planned with complex
building up the objects of social infrastructure, transport and
engineering communications, city improvement, preservation of
existing green areas and formation of new ones;
• improvement and sanitation of the existing residential areas;
• reorganization of the industrial areas. The relocation of
several industrial objects from historical and recreational zones is
predicted ;
• formation of the system of specially protected natural zones
and green areas;
• the complex measures on reconstruction and development of
the transport infrastructure aimed at decreasing the negative impact
of transport on environment;
• measures aimed at solving the problems of solid waste,
atmospheric discharges and water pollution.
The new project “Support of integrated method of environment
management and ecological security in the industrial sector of Kaliningrad”
was started in 2005. ECAT-Kaliningrad is the contact organization. There
are 9 tasks within the project: 1) development of methodology on register of
industrial activity in Kaliningrad; 2) creation of computer software
consisting on 3 data base and GIS; 3) research and evaluation of industrial
activity and ecological problems and security; 4) development of measures
schedule on industrial pollution of environment prevention; 5) control of
safety of industrial operations; 6) development of methodology on EMAS
introduction; 7) creation of web-library with all data and documentation on
environmental protection issues.
Since 2005, the project on Industrial brown-fields in Kaliningrad
municipality has been launched in Ecological division in Kaliningrad.
Large port city 3
No data
Novgorod, Russia
Total surface area of
municipality
89 km2
223 000 inhabitants
The number of staff in the
municipality administration –
500
Turku/Åbo,
Finland
Large part city 4
Total surface area of
municipality
306,4 km2
The City of Turku updated it’s Local Agenda 21 programme in
years 2004-2005. All departments of the city were actively
involved in the updating process. Updated LA21 of City of
Turku now deals with ecological, economical and social issues,
which form a good basis for integrated urban management
system, although LA21 is only a paper and real integration comes
through decisions and actions.
175 000 inhabitants
Citizens participation in decision making has been active only in
The number of staff in the
some areas of activity as city planning and creation of the
municipality administration – Greenery Program. During year 2006, a large survey on
13695
municipal democracy was carried out and new plans to increase
citizens participation and transparency of decision making will be
made in year 2007.
Lodz, Poland
No data
Large inland cities 1
Total surface area of
municipality
294,4 km2
770 800 inhabitants
The number of staff in the
municipality administration 1935
Nacka, Sweden
Large inland city 2
Total surface area of
municipality 95,4 km2
78 000 inhabitants
The number of staff in the
municipality administration –
no data
No data
Minsk, Belarus
No data
Large inland city 3
Örebro, Sweden
No data
Large inland city 4
Total surface area of
municipality
1380 km2
126 288 inhabitants
The number of staff in the
municipality administration –
14 000
Uppsala, Sweden
No data
Medium sized university
cities 1
Total surface area of
municipality
2189 km2
182 076 inhabitants
The number of staff in the
municipality administration –
5 688
Tartu, Estonia
Medium sized university city
2
Total surface area of
municipality
38,8 km2
100 148 inhabitants
The number of staff in the
municipality administration –
290
No data
Jelgava, Latvia
Medium sized university city
3
Total surface area of
municipality 60,32 km2
66 088 inhabitants
The number of staff in the
municipality administration –
no data
No data
Kaunas, Lithuania
The various aspects of sustainability are represented in municipal
management. There are prepared important local documents: the Local
Medium sized
Agenda 21, the Regulation on Slopes Management, The Regulation on
university city 4
Green Areas Management. The Master Plan of Kaunas City approved in
Total surface area of May 2003 is the first strategic planning document after regaining of
municipality
Independence. The Plan has declared that sustainability is the main
157 km2
principle of Kaunas City development. It presented the various aspects of
sustainability such as hierarchic transport system, healthy and compact
368 917 inhabitants urban zoning, development of green areas, minimization of urban pollution,
development of engineering infrastructure, and development of sustainable
The number of staff economy such as location of industry, commerce, business centres. . The
in the municipality
Terms of References for Kaunas City Strategic Plan has been established
administration – no that the main principle of Kaunas City strategic development is
data
sustainability.
The communities of Kaunas such as a very strong Aleksotas, , Dainava and
Panemune are preparing their own local visions in sustainable way, so the
public consciousness is going towards sustainability.
Livani, Latvia,
The NGOs are very important actors in the promoting of integration and
sustainable community establishment in Livani. One of the key aspects here
Small cities
is inhabitants’ own involvement and participation in decision making
economic
processes. The active work by NGO sector in Livani has a great role the
restructuring 1
development the inhabitants’ personal involvement culture (some of the
Total surface area of most visible examples are NGO Livani foundation “Balta maja” (White
municipality
House) and Youth initiative support centre “Sava kabata” (One’s Own
306,06 km2
Pocket)).
9 500 inhabitants
As an example of good tendency can be mentioned that the block house
dwellers living in privatized apartments in municipal buildings are engaged
The number of staff in the process of improvement their living environment (common use
in the municipality
staircase premises, the entrance areas of the buildings, etc). The initiative
administration - 40 comes from the inhabitants, who in cooperation with some financial and
material support from the municipality (additional to the inhabitants own
resources) perform a different improvement measure in their buildings.
Previously the inhabitants were more passive and did not take so much care
of their surrounding environment.
The NGO Youth initiative support centre “Sava kabata” is working now on
the establishment of a youth council similar to the real municipal council.
The aim of the youth council’s work will be to promote an active youth
participation in panning, implementing and monitoring youth related
processes in the town and their initiative development. Several initiatives
regarding the sustainability aspects of the town’s development have been
noticed by the part of young people in Livani, for example during the
project weeks in schools, they choose such topics as waste sorting, biking
traffic and the town’s green structures to elaborate on.
While elaborating Livani development plans and programs, the municipality
tries to apply integrative approaches to the problem solution in order to
facilitate a sustainable development. Knowledge and skills acquired during
the cross border cooperation activities in the Baltic Sea region has proven to
be very efficient and useful resource for development of sustainable
community in Livani.
Hällefors, Sweden
Small city
economic
restructuring 2
Our municipality council took is a decision 1994-10-24 § 221 that all
decisions will be inside the framework of the four system conditions.
The four system conditions
In a sustainable society, nature is NOT a subject to
systematically increasing:
1. Concentrations of substances extracted from earth’s crusts
2.Concentrations of substances produced by society
3.Degradation by physical means
4.And in that society human needs are met worldwide
In 2003, the municipality took a Factor 10 strategy document. How to
reduce material and energy flows with 90 %. The municipality work very
close to the business world and will implement the strategies in the fields of
Dinner, Design and process optimise.
Norrtälje, Sweden
National environment goals are both starting points and goals of developing
the future for the municipality. It is important to influence the successive
Small cities
changes and the renewal of society development for sustainable growth.
economic
There are at least always two choices, either one which helps the
restructuring 3
development of sustainability or one that works against sustainability. This is
Total surface area of a big challenge for all of us. It is our ambition that Norrtälje as an ecomunicipality
municipality will work for the development of ecologically sustainable
5700 km2
society, build on an ecological vision, when living environment gives
people possibilities to obtain a high living quality and a good health.
16311 inhabitants
The number of staff
in the municipality
administration – no
data
Sopot, Poland,
Small city
economic
restructuring 4
Total surface area of
municipality
17,31 km2
39 587 inhabitants
The number of staff
in the municipality
administration - 197
No data
Enköping, Sweden
Small ecovillage
city 1
Total surface area of
municipality
1 184 km2
38 211 inhabitants
The number of staff
in the municipality
administration – 2
087
Tukums, Latvia
Small eco-village
city 2
In all our planning, we try to have a holistic view. Now a political decision
is taken concerning both Vision 2015 and a special project with the goal to
strengthen the work for sustainable development and planning.
Kosakowo, Poland
Conflicts in sustainable development of the municipality
Small eco-village
city 3
The main functions of the municipality include single-family housing,
military infrastructure, technical infrastructure (sewage purification plant
“Debogorze”, waste incineration landfills, liquid fuel bases), agriculture,
forestry, recreation, production and services.
Co-existence and development of these functions result in occurring of
different types of conflicts:
• urban development, tourism and new industrial investments make it
hard to protect environmentally valuable areas such as cliff “Klif
Mechelinski”, preserved area of “Mechelinskie Laki” and Seafront
Landscape Park
•
intensity of urbanization processes results in diminishing of rural
character of the municipality; new developments have the typical
features of suburban areas instead
•
growing number of private developments by external investors
(mostly single-family houses, especially in the area of Pogorze and
Mosty); the number of private investments has exceeded the number
of leading municipal investments such as development of technical
infrastructure and roads’ modernization
•
the owners of high-class soil land areas apply for changing their
land designation from agriculture to urban development.
Environmental protection program
The main legal tool giving directions to solve the growing municipal
conflicts is Spatial Development Master Plan. The Puck County has already
established the environmental protection program for the period 2004-2010
and the water management program. The directives from these two
programs will serve as the base for future detailed planning decisions.
Except from implementing directives, it is planned to introduce monitoring
indicators within the fields of:
• ecology – environmental protection assessment (e.g. technical
infrastructure performance, water usage, water and air pollution,
noise level, forest density)
• economy – costs and long term effects of developments
• social awareness – public participation, education, information
quality and quantity.
Hågaby, Sweden
Small eco-village
city 4,
Integrating different aspects of sustainability in the community
Maybe the key characteristic of the area is the interplay between seven
aspects of sustainability – derived from the Habitat agenda.
Table. Seven resource categories derived from the Habitat agenda (UNCHS,
1996) used in Timeless city as the planning framework for inventory of sites
and situations and for the formulation of sustainability strategies.
___________________________________________________________
____________________
Resource category
Examples
___________________________________________________________
_____________________
Physical
Clean water, air, energy, matter and soil available
resources
to the residents of the community
Economic
resources
Houses, roads, tools, knowledge and informal
economic services of important to residents
Biological
resources
Species, biotopes and ecosystems in natural and
culturally moulded site landscapes
Organisational
resources
Plans, orders, laws, infrastructures, services and
informal rules typical for the community
Social resources
Relationships, communication and co-operation
between community inhabitants.
Cultural
cultural resources
within
community
Health status and level of well-being in community
Knowledge of older and younger history and
patterns.
Existence of fine arts, traditions and ceremonies
or of significance to the
Aesthetic
Sensuous (e.g. visual, auditory, tactile or
kinesthetical) resources impressions, influencing individuals’ mood and the
common spirit and atmosphere of a community
__________________________________________________