My participation in the Building and Social Housing Foundation's study visit to the Solar Houses in Gårdsten, Göteborg, afforded me the opportunity to catch the X2000 high-speed tilting train (an experience in itself) to Stockholm where I spent an afternoon rambling around Hammarby Sjöstad, a high income urban development incorporating numerous sustainability related innovations. I felt at times like I was in some sort of futuristic movie. Pictures that I snapped of some of the features follow...
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 Award winning designs for some of the apartment blocks. Some of the buildings have green roofs.
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 One of the central walkways.
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 Intelligent design to maximise solar gain in many of the buildings.
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 Public transport was plentiful and integrated (bicycle lanes, trams, ferries, taxis and buses).
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 One of the docking points where organic waste is sucked up to be delivered to the centralised biogas plant in biogas-powered trucks. A large proportion of the apartments have biogas cookers.
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 Artificial floating rafts creating a habitat for natural vegetation and a place for aquatic birds to breed.
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 Scenic walkways around the district.
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 Waste separation points at each of the apartment blocks. The waste is sorted and collected by an underground, vacuum operated waste collection system whereby waste is sucked through pipes to a central room for collection at central points to minimise vehicular traffic in residential areas.
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 Solid waste removal at specified points.
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| Solar thermal collectors for heating water on top of one of the apartment blocks
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 Solar PV arrays for generating some of the building's electrcity requirements are integrated with building design in a tasteful and unobtrusive manner and are hardly noticeable.
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 Preservation of biodiversity in the form of native riparian woodland.
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| Easily accessible recreational spaces and playgrounds surrounded by indigenous vegetation
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| Energy efficient public lighting which reflects the light downwards minimising light pollution and reducing the need for additional lighting
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 The local service station selling an ethanol blend, biogas, petrol and diesel. The biogas is a blend of that produced from the organic waste that was sucked up at the docking point shown in a previous photograph. It is piped to the service station.
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 The GlashausEtt is an environmental demonstration and learning center for residents and visitors.
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Ecoducts, in the form of wide bridges covered with natural vegetation provide linkages between the urban area and adjacent nature reserve (image courtesy of Google Earth). Also shown above is the centralised biogas plant. |
Rainwater is collected and filtered through sand filters before being released into lake Hammarby Sjö. This relieves burden on the sewer system and wastewater treatment plant.
Also noteworthy is the fact that this mixed use urban development is being built on land that was reclaimed from heavy industrial use and had to undergo a process of detoxification. Upon completion, Hammarby Sjöstad will include 9,000 apartments for approximately 20,000 residents. Expected completion date is 2015.
