Public-private collaboration for built environment development
The Nordic Superblocks as Decarbonization Catalysts (NSDC) initiative addresses the development of built environments that, cost-effectively, integrate residence comfort and environmental consciousness. Balancing livability and affordability has long been a key objective of urban planning. When adding the dimension of sustainability, this balancing act becomes even more challenging.
We are looking for new models to guide the growth and sustainable development of cities. Such models should also utilize the strengths and capabilities of private-sector companies. Cities need the support of the private sector when addressing climate change. The tools and means to deal with this must be improved as they do not, presently, meet the demands of the challenge to simultaneously improve livability and sustainability in an affordable way. Legacy systems, such as the existing heating and energy infrastructure, must be leveraged with new innovative solutions that allow for increased flexibility and adaptability to the continuously changing context. A feasible communal approach will ensure that the common vision will be carried out through the entirety of the building lifecycle from design to renewal.
So how do we foster a community-driven culture of city planning?
How can we enable policymakers, city authorities, developers, residents, researchers, and solution providers to engage in fluid collaboration around the goal of providing a built environment that will fulfill the multiple demands of the future built environment? We need to start with a new approach to the development of the master plan framing the zoning process and the evolution of the city district. The goal is to ensure that the construction project is commercially sound and environmentally sustainable. In collaboration with our partners, we seek to provide thought leadership in the development of the needed new collaborative approach. Jointly, we aim to realize the ambitious transformation of cities and fulfill the vision of sustainable, communal urban living that prioritizes the well-being and comfort of residents.
Collaborative city planning must learn during the process. Participants jointly frame issues concerning the future, coordinate their actions in the present and make sense of what they have learned in the past. This puts pressure on both public and private leaders to jointly agree on the direction of the collaboration. Collective intelligence must be used to enable the transformation towards carbon neutrality. The NSDC initiative has identified new capability requirements for collaborative urban planning that can better provide integration across the building lifecycle phases: construction, operations, and renewal.
Three different ways to initiate collaboration.
The more integrated approach can only be accomplished through collaboration. However, this does not determine who initiates the dialogue and drives the interactions throughout the life cycle of the built environment. We can identify three different ways to initiate collaboration.
If the city is looking to lead urban development processes, a city-led perspective will characterize the collaboration. As the integration concept will be of considerable scale and novelty, the city must be capable of engaging complementary capabilities from its ecosystem partners. This implies that companies engaged in such projects must be closely intertwined with the development process of the city. This is necessary to develop the needed adaptability and flexibility to complement the city when introducing new solutions that will offer an improved way of affordably balancing livability and sustainability.
When applying a company-led approach we will normally focus on a specific functional solution or a restricted area of the city. In this case, we will often proceed in an iterative way starting with piloting initiatives, whereby the city gives planning permission for a restricted project. A successful pilot can then later be scaled up. This approach creates an avenue for individual companies to, at their own risk, initiate new practices promoting some of the ideas behind the NSDC approach.
The third approach to development is one led by citizens. This approach can be seen as values-driven as the citizens engaged in the planning of the built environment can influence it. Their preferences regarding different solutions, regarding e.g., energy matters will guide the selections made. Research has shown that public-private-people-partnerships in urban development enable the proactive participation of citizens. This applies not only to the early stages of the urban development process but also to the construction, operation, and management of local economic and social infrastructure.
A deeper understanding of the different approaches to public-private collaboration for better-built environments has evolved through discussions with cities and municipalities across Finland. In the next stage of the NSDC initiative, these will further deepen by engaging with international partners in Milan, Barcelona, Munich, and Stockholm. Additionally, we expect to learn more from our pilot projects underway, with more cities engaged in piloting the NSDC approach along the way.