World Water Week

Every year, since 1991, The Stockholm International Water Institute convenes World Water Week to discuss world water issues, share knowledge and tools towards solving them, and create new networks of collaboration within and across national boundaries.  This week of capacity and partnership building was no exception, with 2,678 registrants from 101 countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, China, and Palestine, along with numerous representatives from Africa including South Africa, Lesotho, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria, and Kenya, among many others.

The week-long session is composed of seminars, workshops, presentations and a host of social activities geared towards bringing people together and furthering international partnerships. While largely policy oriented, the conference addressed the increasingly urbanizing population, the need for improved urban sanitation, transboundary watershed and basin management between countries and municipalities, climate change, resilience and no-regret solutions, and managed to slightly emphasize corporate/industrial water consumption.  As you can see from my schedule, it was a  busy week:

Among other highlights, I met Paul Reiter, one of the chief architects in formulating Seattle Public Utilities, and executive director of IWA; and former Valle Scholar Laura McLaughlin, now with Cascade Designs in their water filtration department.  Paul, now in the UK, was quite interested in getting back to Seattle, and it would be quite a boon to have him involved at UW from time to time.  Also of note, the cafeteria served up some of the most delicious food I’ve had in Sweden yet–simple and tasty.

One of the most professional seminars was directed by members of the World Bank who were studying whether dam building in Northern India (in the Himalayas) would reduce flooding in the Ganges basin.  While their research showed that the dams would produce significant hydroelectric impacts, the role of flood reduction was shown to be somewhat less than minimal, given the array of inputs from other rivers within the basin.  This, in short, was just shy of earth-shattering, given the decades of assumptions by local hydrologists, and accompanying treaty-tested tensions with neighboring Nepal, based on the expectation of future river daming.  The Bank concluded that for flood control, the best option was to employ serious monitoring networks and early warning systems.  There may have been a deeply implicit message here for the 3-gorges dam in China, though it went unmentioned.

It was quite a challenge to break out of the NGO love-in that comprised a large portion of the conference.  With presenters like the World Bank, UNHabitat, IWA, UNESCO, the resolution of the information was quite large and somewhat vague, and the ‘needs’ that were addressed were necessarily vague along the lines of ‘how.’  While case studies provided some relief from generalities, the conference was not geared toward this sort of presentation, and 10 minute windows proved to be interesting though obviously not quite comprehensive, the World Bank’s Ganges Basin Seminar being a highly notable exception.  Many registrants had attended in years past, and it was interesting to discuss their different experiences and perspectives of WWWk.

On the last day, SIWI coordinated excursions for the participants to demonstrate some of the theoretical topics discussed in the conference in practice.  These included trips to Hammarby Sjöstad–an urban reclamation of an old industrial port; Stockholm’s main waste water treatment plant; a cross-city excursion focusing on multiple examples, and Lake Bornsjön, just south of Lake Mälaren, Stockholm’s main water source.  I went on the last of these, and was presented with a brief introduction to integrated watershed management at Lake Bornsjön, which is a 4000+ha watershed conservation area which is 90% owned by the municipal water authority.  (http://travelingluck.com/Europe/Sweden/Stockholms%20L%C3%A4n/_2720355_Bornsj%C3%B6n.html#local_map).  The ownership came about over time, based on historical advice from Berlin.  Now it comprises Stockholm’s back-up water supply, good for 6-12 months, should anything happen to their primary source, which is significantly more impacted by adjacent developments.  Eutrophication is a major concern of the Baltic States–the process of excess nutrient deposits into water ways which promote excessive plant (algae) growth, suffocates fish, and degrades ecosystems.  Nearby lake Bornsjön, a researcher had employed a constructed wetland to test for phosphorus sedimentation strategies and plant types.  In 2010, Sweden began a policy of mandatory phosphorus reduction from non-point source pollutants, providing 80-90% of the funding to construct artificial wetlands on nearby farms whose live stock run off impacted Stockholm’s water ways.  I don’t know the exact figures, but Sweden’s allowable levels of Phosphorus are way below the US’s.

All in all, it was an eye opening experience to witness the multitude of NGO’s working against the accumulation of power and towards the human right to safe drinking water.  <http://www.worldwaterweek.org/>

Excerpts from “A Typology of Parks in Stockholm”

Excerpts from Isling, Bengt. “A Typology for the Parks of Stockholm” in The Journal of Garden History Society v32,n2, Winter 2004; pps 248-260

THE ROOTS OF STOCKHOLM’S PARKS IS THE ‘CRAKCED’ BEDROCK

“Stockholm is situated in a fissure valley landscape formed by bedrock, with faults that have been pounded by glaciation.  Below the ice, an esker, Stockholmsasen, was deposited that cuts through the city from north to south and creates the boundary between the large Lake Malaren and the Baltic, where the icy was founded as a site for reloading ships.  The low points of the fissure valley have lakes and inlets of the Baltic in the deepest areas.  In other parts are cultivated valleys with surrounding tree-coverred moraines and mountains.

“When the city districts of latter yhears had been planned, neither kings nor the military set boundaries for what was to be developed.  Today, boundaries are set not only bus such things as traffic noise and nature conservations, but also by planners and by the economy.  The way in which the parks have been designed in these districts has often depended on the situation of the landscape in which they are located.  By analyzing how they are located in the original landscape, they can thus be divided into different types.  In this way, one obtains a typology of the parks in Stockholm that take the landscape as their point of departure instead of the usual division after style or period.”

PARKS IN FISSURE VALLEYS

-Pelouse lawn at Hagaparken

-Rålambshov park in Kungsholmen.

“They are long, open valleys that lead to there lakes.  The shores are often covered with shore-side forest.  One can see these parks as stylized images of an increasingly rare cultural landscape with fields, pastures and deciduous forest….In one sense, the lassical park in the so-called Stockholm style is a fissure valley.  It is the essence of a landscape, a long valley or a dell where often a paddling poos is the focal point instead of a lake.”

-Farstaängen in Farsta

-Svandammen in Midsommarkransen

HILL-TOP PARKS

-Vitabergsparken

-Ekparken park, (Hammarby Sjöstad)

ESCARPMENT PARKS

“Escarpments appear as dark borders in the city because, for geological reasons, they face north and are often covered in pine forests.  The offshoot towards the city from Nacka reserves is an example…Sicklbacken rises like a small mountain in the background of Hammarby Allé.  This fault continues to the west into the Årstaskogen forest, which is linked to Hammarby Sjöstad via a walk by the water.  Another escarpment zone runs from Långholmen via Söder Mälarstrand to Stadsgåden and further eastwards.”

ESKER PARKS

“There are still traces of the Stockholm esker despite the fact that most of it has been removed or developed.  Several of Stockholm’s highest buildings are situated on the north-south axis of the ridge, including the Globen rena, Folksam skyscraper, Skatterhuset building, Hötorgshusen buildings and Wennergren Center.  The ridge remains as the Observatorielunden and Hagaparken parks.  The well-drained ground has shown itself to be suitable for burial grounds, of which hthere are several in a row, including Skogskyrkogården (woodland cemetery) and Norra Begravningspasten (Northern Cemetery).  The old cholera acemetery on the edge of Hammarby Sjöstad is another…In Mårtendal Park, on can see traces of ridge material in the cobblestone paving of one of the roundabouts.”

SHORELINE PARK

“…a latter-day invention.”

-Strömparterren, 1832.

-Nor Mälarstrand, in Hungsholmen 1941

-Hammarby Sjöstad,

-Liljehomen

-Värtahammen

Kungsleden

Kunglseden, The King’s Trail, is one of the only improvements made to Sarek National Park, running for 16km through the park before heading north again.  As opposed to the two-track I hiked up the day before, the real Kungsleden is something of a different matter.  It takes off from  the 2-track about 400m from the parking lot, to the NE.  It’s a cobbled affair, and at times it’s difficult to ascertain whether the trail follows a stream, or a stream follows the trail–it’s probably a bit of both.  The trail climbs gradually through bogs, aided by duck boards, until it reaches lake Stuor Dahta, where it descends again at about 6km in.  I camped alongside a small stream with several waterfalls–good background noise to drown out the din of mosquitoes.  After 20k the previous day, 6k was plenty, as my feet had several new blisters, and th wet, soggy trail had left my boots and socks wet, and a mild case of immersion-foot on my feet.  I built a small but hot fire, in part because I carried no stove and was determined to have some form of heat with my cold dinner.  After exploring the beautiful lake front and cathcing a few glimpeses of Sarrek National Park, shrouded in clouds, and after soaking my feet in the cool lake, I returned to campt to re-build my fire, as the sun was setting–if that’s what you can call it here–and I needed badly to dry my feet and socks.  I can think of little more satisfying lately than the simple pleasure of warming oneself beside a fire built from gathered tinder and pine-pitch, started with a lighter and a little brown lichen.  By the time I burned the fire out, the mosquitoes were gone, and I slept quite comfortably in my hammock.  By morning, summer had ended.

The brisk air of autumn mornings in unmistakeable.  It comes slowly, at first, blowing out the sour smell of mud, leaving only the sweet smell of moist green ground cover, and the pungency of spruce.  Soon that is blown-out too, as the cool air rolls down the mountain sides and all that remains is the cool fresh breeze.

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Updates-SRC

As I’ve been exploring the northern forests, things are beginning to get organized at the Stockholm Resilience Center.  We are beginning to setup some important initial meetings and interviews.  I am looking forward to meeting everyone and to the discoveries and colaborations that that may lead to.  There are to be several organizational gatherings at the Center, as well as a retreat that I may join, if space allows.  Jeff has been great on keeping me in the loop, and I look forward to actually meeting him soon.

Brunnsviken Canoe Club

Just a mile or so South of Lappis–where I’ve been staying (one of several student housing complexes near the Universities, and one of the better ones,)–is the Brunnsviken Canoe Club, which rents kayaks and canoes.    This part of Stockholm, Brunnsviken Lake and vicinity, is quite wooded, with several marinas on the lake and connected by trail to Nord Djurgarden.  Today was quite windy, 10knts gusting to 15+, but it was sunny.

Karlshäll

Karlshäll is a small island off the NW tip of Sodermalm.  Formerly, it was the site of a prison that housed prohibition offenders, but is now mainly a public park, with a few private residences on the south side, on the bluffs above the marina.  Vasterbron bridge (highway) passes over it, at a height that allows one to exit the pedestrian/bicycle walks and step onto the bluffs.  From here it is possible to reach the small beaches along the north side where many locals swim.  Stockholm takes pride in the fact that one can swim inside the city limits.

What’s also noteworthy here is the matrix of edge types.  As one moves further from the city center, the water edges tend to soften and naturalize.  However, there is also a noteworthy variety of edges within the city.  For the most part they are hardened, but there are small marshes and rocky out croppings as well.  Along Kalshall, the north shore is the latter type, with some lower beaches nested between the outcroppings.  Below, the southern edge of Karlshäll and the norther edge of Sodermalm with pedestria trail.  This was taken from the local bridge.

The north side of Sodermalm, just past Karlshäll, looking west:

And view from Vasterbron bridge, looking east towards city center:

Södermalm

Housing in Stockholm is–according to all Swedish sources–scarce.  The official processes to obtain housing are notoriously complicated, and often involve unreasonably long queuing lists as well as maintenance fees to maintain oneself on those listings.  And when I say unreasonable, I mean parents often place their children in a queue for a particular neighborhood or apartment complex when they are born.  The tenancy system is geared to occupants who establish themselves with regular, predictable patterns and choices, that is, those who emulate stability.  The system provides an enormous amount of protection to such tenants, so much so, that it’s rumored that some tenants often reside many years without paying rent, and without the possibility of being evicted.  This, of course, makes landlords extremely cautious and weary of unknown renters, and leads to an extensive application process, which includes documentation of all forms.

These requirements, which are not exactly unique to Sweden, sometimes work their way into the subletting process as well, which is where I encountered them.  Serious tenants also do their own due diligence, as they can wind up in similar positions as land lords can. Contracts are signed that cover contingencies that would only warrant a verbal agreement in the States, like: which day the rent will be paid on; how long the sublet will last; that I won’t re-rent the room to another, 2nd hand (could you imagine doing this while subletting a room, under the tenant’s nose and without them being able to do anything about it?; whether or not pets are allowed; and one month’s mutual notice on vacancy.

Despite all this, with a bit of relentless research, proliferate e-mails, and a lot of serendipity, I now actually have two apartments in Stockholm!  But this is only remarkable given the extreme difficulty in finding a residence.  The first apartment, which is where I’m staying now, is in the student corridors (dormitories), in Lappis, which is north of Stockholm University, and a short walk through the trailed forest to the water.  I’m greatful to fellow Valle recipient Yegor Malinovskiy, whose visa was slightly delayed, for passing his sublet onto me here in Lappis.  The second, which will become accessible after signing papers this afternoon (and hopefully withdrawing the entire 4,000knr from an ATM) is located in a nice apartment complex in Sodermalm, a highly-sought-after chique district.  Sodermalm is nested in the seemingly approximate heart of Stockholm, between the official city center, and what’s know simply as ‘The South’.

^ View from the “bell-tower hill” Danvikstull, where Fafangan music cafe is located.

< Another view from the hilltop.  I think this is why it’s called “Bell Tower Hill,” but that’s just a hunch.

Here’s a good shot of the drawbridge at Danvikstull, showing light rail, auto, and bicycle/ pedestrian lanes.

Pre-Departure

As I’m getting packed I wanted to take a minute to post my initial proposal for collaborative study at the Stockholm Resilience Center. As a Valle Fellow, I am grateful to the program for their support, the hard, and dependable work of Dayna Cole in her administrative and coordination efforts on behalf of all the Valle Fellows, and the SRC for their welcoming support.

The Urban-Ecological Interface in Stockholm, Sweden.

1.      Background

The term ecological infrastructure denotes an interconnected network of ecological systems that promote a healthy environment through biotic and abiotic processes.  These ecological systems maintain natural balances of water, energy, nutrients and biodiversity,[i] and have the capacity to impart these balances to an urban environment in the form of ecological services.  By considering the ecological services provided by such systems, ecological infrastructure has recently been incorporated into contemporary land use planning.  The conceptualization of ecological systems as infrastructure suggests an argument for sustainable infrastructure that not only requires the preservation of existing natural environments, but mandates the extension, reclamation and restoration of these environments as well.

The term ecological infrastructure also connotes important values such as sense of place and ecological literacy.   Ecological literacy allows one to develop a deeply rooted sense of place where subtle patterns such as the change in flow of a stream are recognized alongside larger patterns such as the turning of the leaves in autumn.  Writers like Barry Lopez and David Orr contend that there is an intrinsic, psychical link between our mind and our environment.  “‘The interior landscape,’ in Barry Lopez’s words, ‘responds to the character and subtlety of an exterior landscape; the shape of the individual mind is affected by land as it is by genes.’”[ii]  These values suggest that there are metaphysical aspects to the experience of our environment beyond the physical environment itself.  Ecological infrastructure not only supports ecological functions, but supports us psychically as well.  With this in mind, it seems appropriate to ask how the role of the natural environment can be expanded in urban settings through the implementation of ecological infrastructure.

Stockholm’s National Urban Park provides an exemplary case of ecological infrastructure.  The historical use of the Park as a royal hunting ground contributed significantly to the preservation of its ecological integrity for hundreds of years, and in 1995 the Park received legal protection in the face of unprecedented development pressures.  The Stockholm Resilience Center has been studying both the ecological and socio-cultural aspects of the National Urban Park for the last decade.  These studies acknowledge the interdependent relationship between urban and natural networks that surround the Park.  The studies also comment on existing development pressures, noting that “the park is nested within a larger ecosystem,” in which, “over the last fifty years, former connected habitats in, and bordering, the NUP have been fragmented,”[iii] threatening the resilience of the Park.  The same study calls for “an understanding of when and where it is possible to intervene and coordinate in management” in order to support a “resilient social-ecological system.”[iv]  This tension between development pressures and preservation goals in Stockholm presents an ideal setting for my proposed research.  While urban development often infringes on the natural environment, I’m curious how this relationship may be inverted in certain situations in order to allow for the extension of ecological infrastructure back into the urban fabric.

2.      Proposal

I propose to study the ecological-urban interface in Stockholm from the perspectives of both landscape ecology and ecological infrastructure under the supervision of Stephan Barthel at the Stockholm Resilience Center.  By examining relationships between patches of green space in Stockholm, and the relationship of those patches to the urban fabric, I will begin to study long-term strategies for re-establishing critical ecological infrastructure that can support resiliency in Stockholm’s natural and urban spaces.  I will consider two cases: inner Stockholm adjacent to the National Urban Park, and peripheral municipalities such as Rinkeby, Upsala, and Tentsta to the north of Stockholm and their relationship to the green fingers.  Here, ecological infrastructure may be more than connective tissue, realizing the potential to intervene within the urban fabric ecological infrastructure ties urban and social processes back into ecological systems.  This re-integration of ecological systems into the urban fabric addresses contemporary issues of sustainability as well as civic identity and differentiation on a global stage.  Re-integration also provides a means to reconnect urban dwellers with the latent landscape processes that continue to work at the periphery of their urban environments, and provides a means by which immigrants may become connected with their new landscape.

Stephan Barthel’s research supports this trajectory in several ways.  First, he recognizes the ecological fragmentation affecting the National Urban Park.  Secondly, his personal research of local actor groups indicates varying degrees of sense of place based on individuals’ relationships to their work in allotment gardens or other activities and indicates room for growth of individual awareness with regard to larger ecological networks.  Thirdly, Barthel’s other research addresses the intervention of ‘ecologized’ architecture into the National Urban Park as a socio-ecological imbrication that serves as a gateway to the Park as well as additional curricular space for Stockholm University.  Additionally, Stephan has put me in touch with Jeff Ranara, who has suggested several synergistic projects on which I may collaborate during my stay.  These observations all indicate that Stockholm is an optimal location to site my research into the development of ecological infrastructure as urban intervention, and that Barthel is both an interested and appropriate advisor.

Understanding how ecological infrastructure functions in an existing, complex urban environment where a large portion of the infrastructure has already been preserved informs how ecological infrastructure might be extended in these environments as well as introduced into other places where it has not been so well preserved.  For example, in Copenhagen, the city’s canals have all been armored and the stormwater system is already at maximum capacity after twenty years of development and an expenditure of $3 billion dollars.  Or, in the case of post-industrial Detroit, the vast majority of native wetlands have been filled and paved over, leaving a bleak and economically depressed urban center surrounded by an equally deprived suburban landscape.  The breadth of research already conducted by the Stockhohlm Resilience Center provides a more-than-adequate foundation for my investigation.  The study of multiple conditions—center and perimeter—allows for the development of case studies with transferable outcomes to other locales.  This research will serve as preliminary, independent study that will contribute to the formulation of my thesis next year, which will investigate ecological infrastructure as intervention.

The research I wish to conduct at the Stockholm Resilience Center will build upon the work I have done thus far at UW.  In our Urban Landscape studio this past fall, I completed a design proposal for ecological infrastructure in the form of a native beach and upland restoration along Seattle’s Central Waterfront that was based on bathymetric analysis, ecological performance, and historical considerations.  This winter, I will be studying advanced GIS analysis techniques through Ecological Land Use Planning, a course taught jointly between the Forestry Department and the Planning Department in the College of Built Environments.  This course will prepare me in part for the analysis I wish to do in Stockholm.  Implementing these analytical tools under the guidance of the Stockholm Resilience Center will help me hone these tools and develop my ability to apply these techniques in various urban and non-urban settings in the future.  In addition to analytical techniques, my time at the Stockholm Resilience Center will expose me to interdisciplinary modes of inquiry and expand my repertoire of research techniques as well as contribute critical underpinnings for my thesis and future professional work in which I plan to engage the urban-ecological interface at multiple scales.  Additional time will be spent attending courses at Stockholm University in the Biodiversity and Conservation Program as well as learning Swedish.

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[i] Quinn & Tyler; “Integrating ecological infrastructure in regional planning: a methodological case study from the Calgary region of western Canada,” in Sustainable Development & Planning III, © 2007, WIT Press, South Hampton, UK.

[ii] Orr, David; Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World, © 1992 SUNY Press, NY. p86.

[iii] Barthel, S. “Sustaining urban ecosystem services with local stewards participation in Stockholm (Sweden)” in Tress, ed et. al. Landscape Research to Landscape Planning, Aspects of Integration, Education and Application, Wageningen UR Frontis Series, Vol. 12 © 2006 Springer. p314.

[iv] Ibid.

 

Proposed Structure of Study

My stay will begin in mid-summer with an on-foot survey of Stockholm’s green fingers, using hand drawing and mapping techniques to analyze the character of both the central and peripheral conditions as they relate to the urban-ecological interface.  At the end of August, I will attend Stockholm’s international World Water Week conference, which is an exceptional opportunity to further explore the role of ecological infrastructure as it relates to the world water supply from the perspectives of science, business, and policy.  Classes commence at the end of August, and formal collaboration will begin at this time.

SRC Advisor                Stephan Barthel –    Researcher, Beijer Institute, SRC

Collaborators               Jeff Ranara –          PhD Candidate, SRC

Henrik Ernstson –  SRC Theme leader, Urban social-ecological systems and globalization

Thomas Elmqvist –  Professor in Natural Resource Management at Stockholm University

Jon Norberg –          PhD Research Fellow

UW Advisors               Thaisa Way –          Associate Professor & Graduate Program Advisor

Ken Yocom –           Assistant Professor

Stephan Barthel and I have discussed both independent directed research as well as the potential for collaboration on related, concurrent projects within the SRC, and in close cooperation with Jeff Ranara.  This cross-platform approach will allow me to advance my own objectives while contributing to and learning from other research projects at the SRC.  This course of study will be complemented by attending classes in the Biodiversity and Conservation Program at Stockholm University, as well as learning Swedish.

1)      Scope of Study

a)       Stockholm Center – Spatial distribution of significant green spaces

i)        National Urban Park

ii)      Allotment Gardens

iii)    Inner Green Fingers

iv)     Surrounding Landscape Patches

b)       Stockholm Periphery – Spatial distribution of minor green spaces

      i)        Cemeteries

      ii)      Solna

          (1)     urban middle class community, metropolitain Stockholm

     iii)    Rinkeby –

          (1)     semi-rural immigrant community, 10km from center

          (2)     Product of 1960’s social housing program

     iv)     Tentsta – semi rural immigrant community, 70km from center

   c)       The problem of scale – ecological infrastructure: urban parks, allotment gardens, green roofs and bio-swales

       i)        Nested infrastructures

      ii)      Local vs. regional strategies

   d)       Connectivity and distribution of green spaces in & around Stockholm

       i)        Critical connections

      ii)      Recent fragmentation

     iii)    Corridor analysis

   e)       Ecological Services

   f)        Development of green space augmentation framework plan

   g)       Proposal for ecological infrastructure as intervention

2)      Identified projects for potential collaborative research, (from Jeff Ranara (PhD, SRC))

   a)      Mapping of Social-Ecological Values in Stockholm (SRC, SU)

   b)      User-Managed Green ER Roofs and Walls: Integrated Network Analysis of Urban Social-Ecological Systems Providing Quantifiable Expanded Ecosystem Services (SRC)

   c)       Design development of green roofs & urban spaces for the Speckled Wood Butterfly, Pararge aegeria tercis

   d)      Ecological infrastructure retro-fit, w/ the School of Architecture at KTH (SRC, KTH)