Gothenburg is a city becoming smart district by district – something that the delegation visitors from the city of Santiago, Chile became aware of when Green Gothenburg introduced them to some of Gothenburg’s smartly developed areas. The delegation visitors from the Chilean Chamber of Construction were here in October to learn more about how the construction and infrastructure industries work in a sustainable way to form the smart city of Gothenburg.

Starting off the day, Älvstranden Utveckling (part of the City of Gothenburg) vividly described the development of the River City area of Gothenburg. Three factors have enabled a successful transformation of an area that used to be a shipyard turning it into an attractive River City; The willingness of the city, academia and industry to cooperate, the positive attitude towards new ideas and taking the development step by step, not all at once. The City of Gothenburg’s Traffic Office presented the impressive West Link project, West Sweden’s major transport infrastructure project, and the possibilities it will generate for the city to grow as more and more people are commuting by train from other municipalities to work in the city centre.

The electric bus line 55, ElectriCity, goes from the smart River City area at Eriksberg, passing the city centre on its’ way to the smart city area of Johanneberg Campus. Using this public transport to get the delegation to Johanneberg was a chance to show this silent and environmentally friendly bus line and also to show how it’s charged. At Riksbyggen’s housing cooperation of Viva in Johanneberg, Volvo Buses described how 2nd life batteries from the ElectriCity buses are being used for energy storage in the Viva apartment building. Riksbyggen is working with energy management, renewable energy and actions to make the residents aware of how to use energy in a more cost-effective way. Since the Viva building, recently appointed the most environmental building in Sweden, is built with less parking spaces then what has been the norm, the residents are connected to a carpool fleet simply by being part of the housing cooperation. The delegation was impressed by the vast garage that is dedicated to the residents’ bicycles and they were also intrigued by the collaborative work with mobility providers.

The housing cooperation of Viva is part of the IRIS Smart Cities project where Gothenburg is one of three lighthouse cities in Europe demonstrating integrated, sustainable solutions. The areas in focus are energy management, energy renewables, mobility, digital transformation and citizen engagement and co-creation. The aim is that solutions that are proved working well could be replicated elsewhere – for example in Santiago, Chile.  Johanneberg Science Park and IMCG presented the opportunities for cities that want to follow IRIS Smart Cities. Followers will get access to webinars and information regarding the integrated solutions.

Skanska’s and IKEA’s collaborative work BoKlok was something that the delegation visitors had asked to hear more about. During this study visit they got to know about the BoKlok way of thinking; module housing. Even Financial times writes about that this is the way to live in the 2020s. BoKlok is also making it in the UK at the moment. Maybe it’s time to go to Chile?

Did you find this interesting? Here are some visiting programs offered by Green Gothenburg, that might be of interest:

North river bank – From dockland to sustainable area

ElectriCity – Cooperation for sustainable public transport