Climate-smart spatial planning with social values

The project aimed at a more climate-smart spatial planning by including social values ​​such as public health, gender equality, safety and integration. In the project, the County Administrative Boards of Västmanland, Dalarna, Gävleborg and Uppsala counties collaborated with nine municipalities. Each municipality worked with the issues based on a current plan. In Västmanland the participants were the municipalities of Köping, Sala and Västerås, in Dalarna the municipalities of Smedjebacken, Falu and Borlänge, in Uppsala the municipalities of Knivsta and Håbo, and from the county of Gävleborg the municipality of Ovanåker.

The project supported the participants through seminars, workshops, meetings and individual support from experts. In addition to this, exercises were offered to facilitate learning and to make visible and challenge the taken for granted. Researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences acted as process leader and evaluation support.

As the County Administrative Board was a key player in climate work, a special in-depth study was made of the wide range of different tasks that were highlighted as their responsibilities in relation to climate and municipal planning. In addition, the roles they took to fulfill these tasks and the dilemmas that arose when they were incompatible were further explored.  

The project was to result in the development of good examples and success factors as well as highlight difficulties and possible ways forward. In this way, the project contributed both with tools to better include climate considerations and social value as a whole in the planning work, as well as a situated understanding of what is required for this to happen.