Modularizing The Hammarby Model: How Cities Can Implement Elements of Comprehensive Closed Loop Urban Ecosystems.
Introduction
Hammarby Sjöstad is a Stockholm waterfront district that has been transformed from a run-down, polluted industrial area unfit for commercial or residential use to a “cultural and ecological phenomenon and symbol of globalization”1. It is not only one of the most successful examples of urban renewal in terms of measurable impact, but a gold-standard blueprint for integrated urban ecosystems. The project led to the creation of the Hammarby Model, a protocol embraced by countries around the world, cementing itself as a worldwide ecological forerunner for environmentally sustainable building.
This eco-design that sprouted from the mastermind brain of 80s Stockholm’s Chief City Planner, Jan Inge-Hagström, was initially rebuffed. When he first presented the idea, Stockholm more or less said “good idea, but not at the moment”. Then the 2004 Olympic bid was on the horizon, and the city deemed Hammarby the perfect site for the competitors’ village. It was then that a promising old blueprint was resurrected and refined for an industrial-ecological revolution. A championed initiative from all political parties and private sector profiteers, the municipality murmured the mantra “twice as good” in unison, referencing the headline goal of halving carbon emissions.
The problem they sought to solve was how to turn a dilapidated industrial wasteland into a thriving, closed loop urban ecosystem that turns waste to energy. The tenets were based on design theories like New Urbanism, Transit Oriented Development, and Smart Growth. They embraced strategies such as “minimum impact development, eco-friendly technologies, respect for ecology and value of natural systems, energy efficiency, less use of finite fuels, more local production, and increase walking and reduced automobile dependency”2
The solution was broken down into six main sectors:
● Land use: Sanitary redevelopment, reuse and transformation of old brownfield sites into attractive residential areas with beautiful parks and green public spaces.
● Energy: Renewable fuels, biogas products and reuse of waste heat coupled with efficient energy consumption in buildings.
1 https://www.slu.se/en/lawn 2 (NewUrbanism2007)
● Water & sewage: As clean and efficient as possible - both input and output – with the aid of new technology for water saving and sewage treatment.
● Waste: thoroughly sorted in practical systems, with material and energy recycling maximised wherever possible.
● Transportation: Zero emission public transport, car pools and bicycle lanes to reduce private car commutes
● Building materials: Sustainable construction using eco-friendly materials like wood and steel. Positive Impacts
Beyond the remarkable milestones achieved in these six sectors, resulting in 40% carbon reduction, this urban restoration project went further and developed The Hammarby Model, a blueprint that can be used for other communities outlining how to implement this unique eco-cycle system. It has been heralded as one of the most (if not the most) referenced examples in successful urban symbiosis.
Upcoming developments in China, Russia, London, India, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, Dubai, France, and the UK are implementing this model.
While it hasn’t made waves in the USA yet outside of ivory towers, that is soon to change now that it’s on our radar.
Funding and development
The unanimous political support for an eco-driven governing system and streamlined, collaborative project management of a carefully designed integrated plan greatly contributed to Hammarby’s success.
It was first funded through local government and the federal government Local Investment Program (LIP), a subsidy made to help municipalities work towards becoming part of an ‘ecologically sustainable society,’ while at the same time providing jobs. That $700 million pales in comparison to the $4.4 billion private sector infusion from real estate developers. Other funding came from the Swedish Rail Administration (rail transport) and the Swedish Road Administration.
Core environmental and infrastructure plans were developed by three city agencies: the Stockholm Water Company; Fortum, an energy company; and the Stockholm Waste Management Administration. The team was comprised of representatives from city departments overseeing planning, roads and real estate, water and sewerage, and waste and energy.
Innovations
The Hammarby Model’s technical feats lie in its biocentric design and optimization of urban metabolism and innovative integration techniques. They turned garbage to energy in many ways, but the two stars are wastewater processing and their vacuum waste system.
Wastewater from Hammarby Sjöstad is treated in two major wastewater treatment plants. One of these plants, the Sjöstadsverket, is a research leader and the largest in the world. They practice biological, physical, and chemical processes to collect and treat wastewater from neighborhood residents alone. Natural water sources, such as stormwater, rainwater, and meltwater, are treated in lush water terraces, infiltrated in soil and green roofs, or channeled into multiple canals throughout the development and recharge groundwater stores.
The heat from the wastewater is used to create heating, and the chilled water can also be used for cooling. Concentrated sewage sludge is then processed and refined into biogas, in turn fueling buses and over 1000 gas stoves. The remains are used as fertilizer.
Experiments to optimize nitrogen and phosphorus removal are now underway. In addition, varying operating and membrane modes, as well as alternative solutions for the whole treatment chain will be studied and evaluated in
order to attain the optimal process possible compatible with low resource consumption and minimal environmental impact3
Membrane technology is very effective when it comes to nitrogen and phosphorus removal, Stockholm’s wastewater treatment will also be able to handle future environmental requirements by a good margin. Its advantage blocking passage to particles and particle-bound contaminants. Future developments, such as removing drug residues, will further clean the wastewater.4
When it comes to solid waste, the residents of Hammarby Sjöstad allow very little to go to landfill. All combustible materials are converted into district heating and electricity. Excess food becomes fertilizer or biogas that powers vehicles throughout the development. The recycling system is extensive, and includes paper, glass, metal, hazardous waste, and electrical products. All housing units have automatic vacuum waste collection systems.
The waste is funneled through underground tunnels at up to 42mph to a central plant to be burned for district heating. All Hammarby Sjöstad residents have chutes right outside of their homes and some on the inside.
Metrics
Of the 11,000 apartments constructed, all the buildings use 100% renewable energy, sustainable materials, and have their cutting-edge vacuum waste system. Resident water consumption was reduced by 60% through eco-friendly installations, low flush toilets, and air mixer taps. Decreasing over-fertilization is largely attributed to improvements at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
A few particularly stellar results: 100% of waste is sorted and only 0.7% of waste goes to landfill. 50% of waste is recovered as energy through the waste to energy system, 16% of waste is turned into biogas, 33% is materials recycling, and 1% is hazardous waste. The amount of waste delivered to the landfill is 60% less than comparable developments.
These are only several of the dozens of metrics they measured over the course of the project, but they are still lacking econometrics, which perhaps contributes to some of the challenges they faced in terms of socioeconomic development.
These preliminary findings inspired Stockholm to create The Environmental Load Profile (ELP), a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)-based tool that further measure performances and expands functional units to see areas for improvement defined using geographical (physical) system boundaries and temporal system boundaries.
It takes account of: individual activity (e.g. cooking, laundry); buildings (e.g. materials, domestic heating, commercial electricity), construction (e.g. materials, working machines) and the common area (e.g. materials, personal transports, transports of goods). The resulting aggregate environmental load from a whole city district rivals the level of superior integration of the initial development process.
Barriers
Private developers were hesitant to modify their standard procedures in order to meet the project’s environmental requirements, due to higher cost. A small, but important grant in the form of a local investment program from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency made it possible for developers to meet the environmental goals.
3 http://insight.gbig.org/water-energy-and-urban-development-in-stockholm-the-case-of-hammarby-sjostad 4
.https://www.ivl.se/english/startpage/pages/ongoing-research/research-projects/env.-tech-and-sust.-production/s tockholms-future-wastewater-treatment-tested-at-hammarby-sjostadsverk.html
One of the barriers was how to get prospective residents to comply with the planners’ environmental goals and the related behavioral changes. A local information center serving the community has been one way to communicate the ideas of sustainable living.
This was especially important in waste disposal for the vacuum system. Food waste must be 95% pure in order to be used for biofuel. Initially, people threw unprocessable waste down the hatch which resulted in 80% purity. By adding locks to food bins, residents were forced to think twice about what they put in the chutes. Purity shot up 95%, and now they have a viable resource for biofuel.
In 2000, there was a lack in quality management among the contractors when several buildings were found to have severe mold problems through lack of moisture protection5. The solution they implemented was greater onsite management and quality control amongst developers rather than leaving them to ensure they are achieving sustainability standards.
Drawbacks
Critics note that Hammarby is not effectively addressing socioeconomic segregation, perhaps exacerbating it by displacing socially vulnerable groups. Residents are limited to a more fortunate economic group. The construction costs make Hammarby 5% more expensive than other areas and a gradual removal of housing subsidies since the 1980s made residency there even more prohibitive.6
A catch-22 that emerged is the resulting difficulty in updating systems to adhere to the latest innovations in sustainability strategies. Their initial plan did not factor in how to implement incremental change or pilot programs to test out new solutions. This has since been rectified by an additional focus on research and innovation between the public and private sector.
Scalability potential
To promote the further development of The Hammarby Model’s influence, an organization called ElectriCITY formed in 2014 a citizen-driven innovation platform appropriately called Hammarby Sjöstad 2.0. It has over 30 different sustainability and environmental projects in collaboration with companies, research organizations and universities. They also manage a match making program that connects innovative cleantech companies with major users such as construction and real estate developers, energy and technology companies, and the transportation sector. Its initial intended audience was limited to the Swedish market but has since gained investor interest aboard, most notably China, who want to meet with Swedish companies to explore partnership opportunities. 7
The success of Hammarby also informed Sweden’s Eight Core Strategies Sustainability strategies: The future environment, limitation of climate change, population and public health, social cohesion, welfare and security, employment and learning in a knowledge society, economic growth and competitiveness, regional development and cohesion and community development8, which are the primary forces for the nation’s development decisions.
Sustainability stage aim
The sustainability stage it sets out to achieve is ambitious across the board at Level 3. We rated them as follows:
5 (c.f. Svane et al, 2002)
6 http://www.aeg7.com/assets/publications/hammarby%20sjostad.pdf
7 https://hammarbysjostad20.se/export-match-making/?lang=en 8 (Sweden Ministry of the Environment 2002).
Energy: 2.5. Yet to implement carbon sequestration, zero emissions but has successful integration of diverse energy production methods (energy plants, solar panels, photovoltaic arrays, wind power) has been integral in their eco-cycle success.
Water: level: 3. The most success they have had. The recollection and treatment of water before getting to the final treatment plant has worked by reducing the treatment process. Pretreatment has eliminated huge impact in waste water made by humans. Thus, the implementation of more wastewater recollection systems such as (rain water, storm water, gray water, and wastewater) in cities can benefit the reuse and recycle process of water. Besides that the sludge that is left from the water waste treatment can be used as a compost for agricultural purposes and to produce biogases.
Materials: 2.5. While buildings use 100% renewable energy, the location of material sourcing is unclear. The creation of new materials based on recycle products generate systems integration. New sustainable products and materials can avoid the extraction of natural resources, making sustainable projects.
Biodiversity: 2. The biodiversity threat in Stockholm region is still the highest in Sweden, but they have been taking measures to reduce it. This is an example of how more data can evaluate what the prevailing patterns of threat are. Their biomimicry level is (not sure). Essentially to regenerate and restore natural system is the main goal in a sustainability plan.
Community: 2. They have succeeded in generating additional revenue and secured ongoing funding and have been used as a blueprint for implementing these approaches in surrounding areas. Early results are promising but it has yet to scale. Promoting programs in order to create awareness, providing benefits to society and the environment.
NYC Implementation
While we can’t implement a complete Hammarby overhaul, there are certain cues we can take to make incremental changes and create a symbiotic system that has environmental and economic benefits for our city.
Real estate developers can adopt eco-friendly installation appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers, low flush toilets and air mixer taps, which play an important role because they help to reduce the amount of chemicals flushed into the wastewater system. We have seen a recent uptick in green roofs and can capitalize on it by creating a standard developers can follow that optimizes rainwater collection while providing heat insulation, cooling, and fresh produce.
You asked us to be creative, so here’s an idea-- eco-industrial-park-prison complexes. Since we’re planning on three different prisons and different locations, our recycling initiatives are mismanaged, creating a Hammarby-inspired design gives us a unique opportunity to embrace eco-conscious construction in highly populated, cost-consuming, and uniform sites. A correctional recycling program could be introduced to manage solid waste that China will no longer take. It would be socioeconomically beneficial by reducing recidivism and increasing professional opportunities to high-risk populations.
We also need to address the high-volume of construction waste and e-waste, which can be reused or repurposed. This could be by expanding the Big Reuse program. Recycling locally is especially important now that Asia won’t recycle our waste so it’s up to us.
A community-driven initiative could be a major element in reducing solid waste. We have the GreeNYC initiative that promotes eco-consciousness but lacks significant communication measures and widespread success. We could use Link NYC screens, vacant subway and bus signs as public sustainability education opportunities. But we cannot rely on behavior change.
Our wastewater treatment plant can incorporate Hammarby techniques by assessing the most feasible strategies and how to roll them out impactfully.
To get us farther along on the transportation front, we need to look outside of subway lines and focus on 1) what works great for Hammarby (carpool program) and 2) what we need that they don’t (micromobility). scooter-sharing model would address the myriad issues from the dockless scooter model proves that ownership is far more sustainable than having scooters as an unmanaged common good. Only 10-15% of Hammarby residents use cars to commute, Car pools are an excellent idea and have been integral in reducing emissions.
A version of the matchmaking platform would be integral in realizing these goals. There are already many services that serve a similar purpose, and our thriving
Conclusion/analysis
Hammarby is a testbed that thrived due to political will and methodical planning. If NYC were to implement the elements of this, we must do so piece by piece. This poses a challenge to translating their strategies since its holistic approach cannot be easily adopted in megacities. But we must not be deterred by the barriers we face that Sweden was spared from, such as political pushback and a population ten times greater than Stockholm.
Despite much success, there are many areas for improvement on the epistemological, technical and proliferation fronts. They do not have a robust, interconnected system that incorporates additive manufacturing in an innovative way to produce complex parts, distribution, and energy storage.
A next step that would be helpful in scalability is an assessment tool for other cities that can help them evaluate where they should direct their focus and what can be achieved based on specific financial and political climates.
But this is only the beginning. Better results lie ahead. Hammarby is a beacon of hope for urban sustainability and a method that needs to be practiced around the world in order to continue to survive and increase quality of life. The future challenges to optimize this system are heavily based on assessments and action plans-- what must be measured to determine the areas that will be most beneficial in carbon reduction, what are the best pilot sites, and who will be the ones to make it happen. Fortunately, its popularity has inspired numerous researchers to examine overlooked areas of impact assessment which has been instrumental in expanding our understanding of what the best methods are and how to increase positive outcomes.
So long as we continue to innovate, promote adoption, and enhance our understanding of how to close the gap between natural and industrial ecosystems, with Hammarby, we will all get by.