I'm so excited to start my research project “SubCity: Future imaginaries of the city subsurface” that has been granted SEK 7,995,828 from the Swedish Research Council Formas under the thematic call “Planning for transformation”.
In 2018, the population of Stockholm County was around 2.3 million, a number expected to increase by more than one million in 2050. This increase will place high demands on land use within the City of Stockholm. In addition, climate change and the transition to a society free of fossil fuels will put further pressure on urban land use. At present, however, the Stockholm metropolitan area lacks any urban underground plan or strategy. Instead, the city’s use of the subsurface is made on the “first-come, first-serve” basis.
The function of cities is already increasingly dependent on the growing number of complex underground infrastructures. The interplay between these rapid geophysical changes and current and future social needs in urban environments lays the foundation for the design of future cities. The purpose of the study is to understand these interactions and identify the possibilities of including the underground into the long-term urban planning in Stockholm.
The study is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRHU) and Geophysics, with Ari Tryggvason as co-applicant. The project also involves Associate Professor Mikael Höök from Natural Resources and Sustainable Development at the Department of Earth Sciences and Researcher Corine Wood-Donnelly at the Institute of Russian and Eurasian Studies (IRES).
Read more about the project [ HERE ]