Sustainable Business Hub

Drottninghög – Creating an Attractive and Sustainable Neighbourhood

In the Drottninghög neighbourhood of Helsingborg in southern Sweden a transformation is underway, from a run-down district to an attractive, sustainable part of the city. This change is based on close dialogue between residents, real-estate companies and the City of Helsingborg.

The project started with numerous discussions with one-third of Drottninghög residents. More than 300 interviews were carried out, with the purpose of collecting and listening to people’s preferences, needs and hopes about their neighbourhood and environment. Since then, dialogue and supportive relationships have been a key factor in developing the area together with residents.

Closer ties to the city

Several initiatives have made Drottninghög more connected to the rest of Helsingborg. Firstly, the City of Helsingborg put significant resources into making a state-of-the-art playground. This has increased residents’ pride in the district and also resulted in families with young children traveling from other parts of the region to visit the playground, which creates a positive flow of people.

Secondly, a major shirt retailer in Helsingborg decided to build its new headquarters in Drottninghög, where the area’s first office space also adds to the movement and diversity of people. The City of Helsingborg also invested in a new bus transit solution, Helsingborg Express, which covers a large part of the city. This makes the journey from the centre to Drottninghög both faster and easier for residents and visitors.

Residents developing public spaces

Many of the public spaces in Drottninghög have been developed by or together with the people who actually live there. For example, residents run their own urban garden, supported by the municipality. Although the garden is mainly used and looked after by local residents, it’s open to everyone, to grow vegetables and join in the yearly harvest party.

Better quality of life

Thanks to the transformation and involvement of the inhabitants, Drottninghög has become a much more vibrant and attractive area, in which a variety of new stakeholders are engaging in local social, environmental and financial development. Together, these measures and ideas boost quality of life, increase public safety, improve school results and have added over 300 new jobs to the neighbourhood.

The city’s public housing company Helsingborgshem won the prestigious ‘Bopriset’ prize in 2018 for its development of Drottninghög with strong consideration of residents’ views, needs and wishes.

Similar Best Practices

Manufacture in Wood – Sustainable Wooden Design

‘Manufacture in wood’ is a gathering of forces from the wood construction industry and the wood-based interior design industry. The project will take advantage of the expertise available in production, automation and digital systems so that companies that work with wooden house construction, interior design and design can develop, with new solutions and smarter processes.

The Tricot factory – Timber on top to create a modern and sustainable office building

It is smart to use a circular business model where you can use existing buildings to create new buildings. Wood as a renewable building material plays a key role when existing buildings get new life with the help of wooden extensions.

The Multi Activity House – Sports, Activities, and Culture Under One Roof

A project is underway in the far north of Sweden to move and relocate the entire city of Gällivare. Public buildings are being replaced, creating a need for innovative, multi-purpose properties. The multi-activity building in the city centre will bring sport, activities and culture under one roof.

The New District of Brunnshög – a Future to Believe in

Everyone’s talking about a smarter, more sustainable future. This is taking shape in Brunnshög in southern Sweden. And it’s being created around the people who will live there, focusing on their future needs.

Villazero – Building for the Future

Villazero is a development project run by Fiskarhedenvillan, Mondo Arkitekter and Structor Byggteknik Dalarna, together with support from Region Dalarna. The project’s purpose is to build a carbon-neutral detached house in Borlänge. It’s a unique opportunity to learn how to build zero-CO2 houses for a more sustainable future.

Hoppet – Sweden’s first fossil-free preschool

When Hoppet preschool in Gothenburg was due to be built, the City of Gothenburg wanted to set a challenge for the construction industry and encourage change. The city wanted the preschool to be built completely fossil free, with no carbon emissions throughout the building’s entire life cycle from construction to its future use.

Tvärpilen – a Small Residential Area, Big on Sustainability

The village of Kivik in south-east Sweden is where you’ll find the new residential area Tvärpilen, which combines beauty, sustainability and responsibility in perfect harmony.

Site East – a Climate-Neutral Construction Site

At Skellefteå Site East, close to Northvolt’s factory, one of the world’s most sustainable development projects has been conducted. Maximising the cutting-edge know-how of both Skellefteå Municipality and external partners, Site East is a source of inspiration for the industry. It has the boldness to adopt new approaches to sustainability and work with contractors towards a common vision.

Wood Safari – Experience how Creative Wood Ideas Turns in to Sustainable Living Environments

Advances in timber construction are attracting more and more attention from contractors and architects, who are discovering the benefits of using wood as a building material. In Skellefteå, you can experience a ‘wood safari’ to learn how creative ideas produce low-carbon, attractive living environments.

Skellefteå Airport – the First Fossil-Free Airport

As the global aviation sector faces increasing demands to get on a sustainable flightpath, one airport in northern Sweden has gained a head start. It aims to become Europe’s, and probably the world’s, first fossil-free airport. It is also preparing to become a test centre for electrically powered and vertical take-off aircraft.

Blue Green City Lab Evaluates Sustainable Solutions

At times of more extreme weather caused by climate change, the downside of dense cities with few green spaces and more paved surfaces is evident; extreme heat, flooding and reduced biodiversity. Blue Green City Lab is a test bed that evaluates new and proven ‘blue-green’ solutions to mitigate these effects.

Social and Environmental Investment in Vårsången: a Good Deal for Everyone

The renovation of the rundown area of Vårsången in Malmö has generated many positive effects. People previously moved to Vårsången because of a lack of other options. Today, they move there because it’s an attractive district where residents want to live. This has increased property values significantly, proving that social and environmental investment is a good deal in the long run.

All Best Practices