Bo01 (also known as the "City of Tomorrow") is a neighborhood in the southern city of Malmö, Sweden known for its
sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
and design. Bo01 began as part of the European Housing Exposition in 2001 and served as a prototype to help later design
Västra hamnen
Västra hamnen (, "western harbor") is a neighbourhood of Malmö, situated in the borough of Centrum, Malmö Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden. Västra hamnen was an industrial area until the 21st century, when also the last factory closed dow ...
. Today, Bo01 is known for its holistic approach to incorporate
sustainable design
Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...
into high-quality living and serves as one of the first Swedish models for sustainable urban planning.
Designed by an urban designer, Klas Tham, Bo01 is the first neighborhood in the world to declare that 100% of its energy is sourced entirely from
renewable sources
A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...
. The name Bo01 stems from the Swedish verb "Bo" meaning "to dwell," and 01, short for 2001. The most notable building built for Bo01 was the
Turning Torso
Turning Torso is a neo-futurist residential skyscraper built in Malmö, Sweden in 2005. It was formerly the tallest building in the Nordic region until September 2022, when it was surpassed by Karlatornet in Gothenburg, which is still under const ...
skyscraper, which became the tallest residential building in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
. It was however not completed in time for the start of the housing exposition, and was completed later in 2005.
History
The Western Harbour in Malmö had long been the host for the
Kockums
Saab Kockums AB is a shipyard headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, owned by the Swedish defence company Saab Group. Saab Kockums AB is further operational in Muskö, Docksta, and Karlskrona. While having a history of civil vessel construction, Koc ...
shipbuilding industry since the late 19th century. At the time, the City of Malmö was considered a highly successful leader as an industrial city. However, following the decline of the company and an economic recession in the 1970s, the population of Malmö diminished, and the area was left largely abandoned. A
SAAB
Saab or SAAB may refer to:
Brands and enterprises
* Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB
** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB
* Saab Automobile, a fo ...
factory was later founded in the 1990s, however this was soon closed down and the land was sold back to the city in 1996. In response to the economic crisis the Western Harbor was experiencing, the City of Malmö was in need of identifying a strong development plan for the future of the city.
As Malmö began to recognize the start of an economic crisis, the city saw a change in political power, gaining a larger focus of
sustainability
Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...
issues and was also experiencing several
environmental disasters
An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural environment that is due to human activity.Jared M. Diamond, '' Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'', 2005 This point disti ...
. The City of Malmö saw this as an opportunity to use the existing industrial land and convert it into a city of knowledge by developing the Harbor area into a “modern eco city” as a response to the economic crisis. To this end, a European Housing Exposition in Malmö was planned for 2000, however following the council's acquisition of the Western Harbor, it was decided that this former industrial area would be a more suitable location. Therefore, the exposition was moved to the Western Harbor and chose Bo01 as the first project in the exposition.
Design, Planning and Construction
The design of Bo01 was the first step in turning Västra Hamnen into a
mixed-use development
Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...
. The intent of the project was to design a neighborhood to bring a new image for the city by showcasing sustainable design strategies that can be shared with the public. The City of Malmö also saw this exposition as an opportunity to bolster the image of the city after the economic crisis and as a marketing tactic to attract new attention to the city.
A group of 16 developers from around the world worked on the project and appointed the lead designer and architect as Professor Klas Tham, alongside the City of Malmö Planning Office. The planning process included the Quality Programme as a tool to set the standards and guidelines for a successful sustainable design. A master design plan was developed in 1999 for Bo01, the same year that a 250 million
Swedish kronor
The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it b ...
grant was awarded to the project by the Swedish government, part of Sweden’s Local Investment Program. Other funding for the project was provided by the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
to support the renewable energy technology for the project.
Construction began in 2000 and the housing exposition opened in May 2001 lasting 5 months. The original design planned for 350 residential units, but after being fully developed, it included around 1,800 residential spaces. The neighborhood also included commercial buildings, service spaces, educational buildings and plenty of recreational spaces.
Ecological sustainability
Bo01s strong environmental profile is evident in many of the districts features.
Energy and renewable resources
The original plan for Bo01 envisioned a city functioning off 100% renewables sources as a self-sufficient neighborhood, provided entirely by Sydkraft AB. The goal of Bo01 was to reveal what is achievable when setting high energy efficiency standards through renewable sources, rather than highly-energy efficient buildings. During the design phase, an average energy use goal was established, one of few quantitative goals for the neighborhood, of 33.3 kBTU per square foot of floor area per year, which is 40% of the average energy use in Sweden. In the design phase, modeling software was used to model the performance of different design elements until the energy use calculations in the modeling software matched the energy use design requirements Bo01 had set. During operation however, Bo01 eventually failed to meet this target.
The energy system in Bo01 includes sustainable features such as
wind power
Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
,
district heating
District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...
,
solar panel
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...
s, and
heat pump
A heat pump is a device that can heat a building (or part of a building) by transferring thermal energy from the outside using a refrigeration cycle. Many heat pumps can also operate in the opposite direction, cooling the building by removing h ...
s. Photovoltaic solar panels are present on every home and are the primary electricity source for dwelling spaces. During the operational phase, Bo01 uses software to monitor the usage of the photovoltaic solar panels to understand the performance and detect any faults in the system. The largest energy demand in Bo01 is heating and cooling, which is supplied by the district heating system supplemented by
solar thermal collector
A solar thermal collector collects heat by absorbing sunlight. The term "solar collector" commonly refers to a device for solar hot water heating, but may refer to large power generating installations such as solar parabolic troughs and sola ...
and geothermal technology. Other renewable electricity is provided by the districts own wind turbine Boel situated in Norra Hamnen.
A unique design aspect of the Bo01 grid design is its relationship with the electric grid feeding the rest of Malmö. When there is a decrease in energy demand in Bo01, the excess energy is fed into the grid to other parts of Malmö. When the electricity consumption in Bo01 is more than what the local grid can provide, Bo01 can receive energy from the systems providing power to the rest of the city.
Green space
Bo01 was designed by a group of developers who collectively prioritized green space in Bo01 in their original design. To ensure that green space was included, the team took two approaches. The first was the Green Points list, developed by Bo01 in conjunction with the City of Malmö. The developers of Bo01 agreed to choose from ten of the thirty-five green point options on this list to incorporate in the design of Bo01. The second was to satisfy the “green space factor,” originally designed by the
City of Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituen ...
. This green space factor calls for a certain percent of each surface within a development to be permeable. In respect to Bo01, this value was 0.5 or greater. The green space factor stimulated the design approach and help spark innovation when designing all surfaces in Bo01.
The design of Bo01 also includes many green spaces that are close to residential spaces, schools, and along pedestrian paths.
Sustainable transportation
The initial design goal was to reduce the reliance on personal vehicle use. To do this, Bo01 incorporated sustainable transportation design to encourage the use of walking,
cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
,
green vehicle
A green vehicle, clean vehicle, eco-friendly vehicle or environmentally friendly vehicle is a road motor vehicle that produces less harmful impacts to the environment than comparable conventional internal combustion engine vehicles running on ...
s and
car sharing
Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...
. The neighborhood design also included many services and activities for the residents to reduce the amount of travel outside of Bo01.
Bike paths are an integral part of the neighborhood that connect the neighborhood to the rest of the city. Bo01 has also focused on improving the pedestrian walking experience by directing the paths in unique ways to create shortcuts with several routes to make the walking experience more inviting. The neighborhood does not have any roads for vehicles, so pedestrians can feel safe walking through the neighborhood and are also given priority with bikes over cars. The Bo01 bus system has also been a key design factor in Bo01 since the original design. Every resident of Bo01 is also within 1,500 feet of a bus stop and are scheduled every seven minutes. The design of the bus system in provides easy access to the rest of the city and each vehicle runs on sustainable sources. For residents that drive, Bo01 provides
charging station
A charging station, also known as a charge point or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a piece of equipment that supplies electrical power for charging plug-in electric vehicles (including electric cars, electric trucks, electric ...
s to support the use of
green vehicle
A green vehicle, clean vehicle, eco-friendly vehicle or environmentally friendly vehicle is a road motor vehicle that produces less harmful impacts to the environment than comparable conventional internal combustion engine vehicles running on ...
s. Priority parking is also provided for those that drive a green vehicle.
Stormwater management
Water drainage in this highly dense residential area of Bo01 is a key issue to
stormwater management
Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed land ...
. To minimize stormwater run-off in Bo01, the neighborhood utilizes rain gardens, small ponds and canals throughout the neighborhood as a strategy to blend in stormwater management strategies with the existing infrastructure.
Green roof
A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...
s and
infiltration
Infiltration may refer to:
Science, medicine, and engineering
*Infiltration (hydrology), downward movement of water into soil
*Infiltration (HVAC), a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning term for air leakage into buildings
*Infiltration (me ...
through
pervious concrete
Pervious concrete (also called porous concrete, permeable concrete, no fines concrete and porous pavement) is a special type of concrete with a high porosity used for concrete Concrete slab, flatwork applications that allows water from Precipitati ...
are also strategies used to reduce stormwater runoff. The stormwater that is gathered from any drains or
downspout
A downspout, waterspout, downpipe, drain spout, drainpipe, roof drain pipe,Francis Joseph Patry 1974. Roof Drain ArrangementUnited States Patent 3909412< or leader is a
Oresund Strait, or a saltwater canal. The design of the stormwater management system in Bo01 is not hidden from the public and is visible for all residents with the intent of sharing these sustainable practices. Since the design of Bo01 does not prioritize parking spaces and roads for vehicle travel, the stormwater runoff in Bo01 is much less contaminated to begin with for a highly dense, mixed-use area.
Urban design
Head architect Klas Tham envisioned a neighborhood where residents would not only live in sustainable buildings, but also live sustainably within the
built environment
The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...
. The residents were the main focus and the design relied heavily on the expression and diversity of its designers. Bo01 was designed by a group of architects, who each lead the design of a section of Bo01. It highlighted the creativity from this group of architects, where each were given the freedom to design their section of the neighborhood on their own standards. The approach to Bo01 also followed the research from European cities and towns, and Klas Tham had a holistic, and heavy design focus on sustainability for Bo01. He said,
“The urgent conversion of society to long term sustainability will only be possible when the sustainable alternative is regarded not only as the wisest, but also as the most attractive one…The prevailing quantitative standards for environmental sustainability, such as saving energy are necessary, but insufficient…It will not be until people’s aesthetic, emotional and social needs are also met that the sustainable society can be attained."
Klas Tham envisioned a network of streets with a broken-up character, much like that of the inner-city of medieval towns. Inspiration also stemmed from the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, and the
Baroque period
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
. This was to have a dual purpose, partly it would break up the urban environment allowing for a more pleasant experience, partly it was to break up the harsh sea winds. He also integrated a collection of surprises and hidden views, with each twist and turn of a road. The urban design of Bo01 fosters a deep connection between the nature and beauty of the neighborhood and its visitors. The design of Bo01 also encourages a human connection with the nature, including a connection with local design features like the waterfront and the green public spaces, as well as a deeper connection with the larger City of Malmö such as the views of the Öresund bridge and the sunsets.
Gallery
File:Turning Torso och Bo01 2.jpg, Turning Torso in the background
File:Västra hamnen, bostäder.jpg, Canals behind residential buildings
File:Bo01 Canals.jpg, A canal running through Bo01
File:Bo01 Architecture.jpg, Architecture in Bo01
File:Västra hamnen, Malmö.jpg, Bo01 waterfront
References
*Persson, B., 2013. Västra Hamnen - lärdomar och erfarenheter. Arkus Skrift.