Urban planning
Visionary urban and city planning
Urban development is a collective term for all the expertise and experience that builds and shapes environments where people work, live, or move around – from dense city centres to untouched landscapes. Urban development is about an overall responsibility to include and plan for the needs and place of all individuals in a designed habitat. Designing a city is like travelling through time, starting with the past to understand the historical context, and subsequently, showing the way forward. We are equal parts experts and visionaries, shaping environments with both respect for and knowledge of what has been as well as innovative thinking for what is to come.
Our responsibility for sustainable urban planning
Urban and community development is fundamentally affected by climate change – the single biggest challenge in all our projects. In Sweden, for example, the collective impact of the construction industry on the climate accounts for more than 20% of greenhouse gas emissions, which is nearly equivalent to emissions from all domestic transport. Thus, urban development has a unique position in climate change efforts, with great potential to fundamentally influence lifestyle, transportation choices, and construction. Integrating architectural and engineering expertise is more relevant than ever in addressing climate change, urbanisation, and digitisation.
Green Transition through circularity
Circular economy is an important strategy to accelerate the transition to a sustainable climate. To become climate neutral, we must become circular. And what is required for us to become circular is knowledge and the ability to manage information. Circular action primarily involves three things: resource inventorying, sharing and using resources more intelligently, and creating circular flow systems instead of waste. For a building, we need to keep an inventory so that we know what materials it consists of, where exactly the large amounts of carbon dioxide come from, and also where the monetary value is. We need to have this information both when a new building is being constructed and when we are renovating or demolishing an existing structure. Digital tools can help us transform buildings into material banks and to visualise these values.
Innovations and digital tools accelerate the transition
With digital processes, the various stages of planning become more transparent and create more opportunities for cooperation, and efficiency is enabled with the help of digital solutions. We use digital tools for advanced calculations and visualisations of climate-related risks, and costs for both new construction and existing property portfolios. Planning and designing the sustainable cities and communities of tomorrow requires data, facts, and insights to find the most innovative solutions.
Leading in urban development
As one of the world’s leading consulting firms in the field of urban development, our impact is significant – our projects have crucial significance for sustainable societal development in a time of great change. In this spirit, we always seek responsible clients and smart, long-term solutions that contribute to building the city that will be inherited by many future generations. Sweco’s experts in urban planning seize future opportunities, everything from analysis and forecasts through to detailed development plans for new sustainable neighbourhoods. Sweco assists many municipalities and developers in the processes required based on the planning process prescribed by planning and building legislation, including all needs within master planning, detailed development planning, and more.