A New Planning Approach - preparing for an increased flood risk

Abstract: How should we deal with city planning in a world that is rapidly turning urban, without destroying valuable nature assets along the way? The last decades are proof that the system we are using today is not up to the challenge. Therefore this thesis is showing a new approach to how comprehensive city planning can grow from nature based values and a deeper understanding of a city’s foundation. Today cities grow in empty plots of land or out into the country side. Increasingly greenery within cities are also at risk due to the urban development, while at the same time, everyone is in agreement that we not only need to protect the green we have in cities but also increase it. At the same time we also need to continue building. The question is; how to do this? Taking Malmö as an example the thesis shows where the city should continue to grow with new development as well as where to densify. Based on an analysis of the soil, the topography of the landscape and the prognosis of future floods (both due to sea level rise and cloudbursts) a new map of Malmö is created, one that shows places suitable for green, suitable for extended water management, for new development and for densification. The design work reinvents one of these areas and shows what a transformation of the city might look like when prioritizing differently than today when it comes to planning and exploitation. Meaning; instead of letting short-term monetary gains and “the easy choice” control our views on which places are suitable for city development, we look at the longterm effects (economical, ecological and social) of city development and what natural components the city’s made up off to determine how and where we should continue our efforts towards building a strong society.