Cities
Is Gothenburg Sweden’s green capital?
Gothenburg once boasted the world’s largest shipyards, but faced with Japanese and Korean competition, the oil crisis and a world economic downturn, the city was brought to its knees in the 1980s, with 5 kms of empty dockland and 20 thousand unemployed people. But though shipbuilding was down, Gothenburg was not out. The City Council bought the empty shipyards for one Swedish krona – that’s 2 pence – financed new house-building, new secondary schools and linked up with Chalmers University to set up Lindholmen Science Park. It attracted the Swedish mobile phone maker, Ericsson who created a cluster of ten thousand people in other IT companies round its new HQ. This inter-dependency helped the sector survive the dot.com crash. The biggest advance though, followed the biggest setb...Read More
The Nordic Phoenix Rises – Digital Notes
The Nordic Phoenix Rises – Digital Notes Harpa and the cultural revival of Iceland Halldór Guðmundsson — Director Harpa concert hall and conference centre, publisher & biographer of Nobel winning writer Halldor Laxness & author Wir sind alle Isländer on the Iceland crash Weds April 23rd 2014 Committee Room 2, Scottish Parliament 6-8pm Hosted by Linda Fabiani MSP Chaired by journalist and NH Director Lesley Riddoch Background. The new centrepiece of the Reykjavik skyline is Harpa, a magnificent concert hall which opened in 2011 — against all the odds. In 2008 it was part of a doomed waterfront redevelopment including a 400-room hotel, luxury flats, shops, restaurants, and new bank headquarters. The quarter-built project went on hold once the financial crisis hit an...Read More
The Finnish New Wave
The Finnish New Wave – Event Details Wednesday 19 March – Finnish New Waves Helsinki Waterfront Regeneration Wed 19 March Members Restaurant, Scottish Parliament 6-8pm Speaker Heikki Mäntymäki, City Planning Helsinki. Sponsored by Kezia Dugdale MSP Chaired by journalist and NH Director Lesley Riddoch The Background It’s the remotest European capital city with the least winter daylight and the hardest to learn language – and yet Helsinki has some of Europe’s most satisfied residents. How do they do it? Well it could be great city design. It could be the world’s best education system with the greatest use of public libraries. It could be because Helsinki council owns 66% of the land. It could be district heating for almost all. It could be having city beaches for Baltic midwinter...Read More
Takk for Trams
Takk for Trams – Digital Notes Wednesday 15 January 2014 Oslo –public transport Nirvana Hanne Bertnes Norli from Ruter Weds January 15th 2014 Members Restaurant, Scottish Parliament 6-8pm Hosted by Gordon Macdonald MSP Chaired by journalist and NH Director Lesley Riddoch Background Oslo, Edinburgh and Glasgow have a lot in common. The population of the Norwegian capital is 593k, Edinburgh 495k and Glasgow 598k. But Oslo transport leaves its Scottish cousins standing with 6 cross-city tram lines with 99 stops, 6 cross-city underground train lines, 60 bus lines and 6 passenger ferry lines to neighbouring towns and the peninsula of Nesodden. Car transport is not forbidden – there’s an expanding network of inner city tunnels — but it’s taxed. Drivers are charged (roughly £3) every ...Read More
Copenhagen Greenest City – Meeting Notes
Copenhagen Greenest City – Meeting Notes Copenhagen – the world’s greenest capital city Klaus Bondam Monday 2nd December 2013 Venue Old College, Edinburgh University Lecture Theatre 175 (far right corner of old quad opp Blackwells on South Bridge) Time 18:00 – 20:00 By 2015 Copenhagen aims to become an Ecometropolis with the best urban environment of any capital city in the world. By 2025 it aims to be the world’s first carbon neutral city. To get there, the Danes have taken policy, politics, consultation and involvement far beyond any British or Scottish council publishing regular updates to show current levels of achievement against their 2015 pledges. Copenhagen’s annual green accounts show that by 2015, 90 per cent of Copenhageners should be able to walk to a park, a...Read More
The world’s greenest offices – people-heated Stockholm
The world’s greenest offices – people-heated Stockholm Is Stockholm’s “people-heated” office the world’s greenest commercial building? And can Scotland have one? Monday 28th October 2013 Venue Old College, Edinburgh University Lecture Theatre 175 (far right corner of old quad opp Blackwells on South Bridge) Time 18:00 – 20:00 with Klas Johansson Kungsbrohuset is an office building with a difference. It’s heated by people. Excess body heat produced by 200 000 daily commuters in nearby Central Station is piped in, the windows let daylight in, but block out summer heat. Bike parking is state of the art and tenants are offered changingrooms with showers and lockers. Hour by hour, the building gets automatic digital weather forecast updates to adjust heating and cooling hours in advance ...Read More