Improving social sustainability through stormwater collaboration - An interview study to map how collaboration affects the city’s ability to improve social sustainability through stormwater projects
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Publicerad
2020
Författare
Petersson, Carl
Sparrström, Nilas
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Due to climate change, rainfalls are expected to increase, both in numbers and intensity, in the
future. This creates a need for better stormwater management and parts of that need to be on the
surface since there is a need for sustainable management and because the traditional pipe-based
solutions underground will no longer suffice. With the increased use of surface solutions comes the
need to build multifunctional areas that improve the social sustainability of cities at the same time
as the stormwater issues are solved long-term. But multifunctional solutions demand more
collaboration between the different municipal departments responsible for planning and building
cities. This report aims to answer the question of how collaboration affects stormwater projects’
abilities to increase social sustainability in a city, and which difficulties need to be considered for
the projects to succeed. This is accomplished by looking at the situation in Gothenburg through
interviews with representatives from the technical departments, and by observing workshops
where the issue of social sustainability is discussed. Some of the major findings were that there is
a lack of understanding between the departments; the goals regarding social aspects are not clear
enough; stormwater is considered too late in the planning process which drastically decreases the
projects’ possibilities to bring in social aspects; lack of city space complicates implementation of
socially sustainable solutions; it is difficult to quantify the social gains which makes it difficult to get
funding for these types of projects. However, a number of these issues could be helped by the
planned reorganisation of the departments which will enable people of different expertise to work
closer together. With a more holistic view, and with a focus on the residents well-being during the
planning phase, a lot more could be done for improving social sustainability, and the measures that
are taken could have greater effect.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Blue-Green , Collaboration , Cross-Disciplinary , Interdisciplinary , Social Sustainability , SSM , Stormwater , Water Management