Over the last twenty years, Sweden has seen remarkable urban growth, with the urban population increasing from about 84% in 2003 to nearly 88.7% in 2023 (Statista, 2024). This rapid urbanization brings many opportunities but also a range of challenges, and along with that the need for municipal administrators to search for innovative solutions to such challenges (Guy and Marvin, 1999). Foresight and speculative methods are some of the tools that urban decision-makers could use to explore and test. These tools can help municipalities to familiarize themselves with and work on how future trends might affect them, to start conversations about alternative interventions and how these might turn out over time for the city, and also such tools can help them to improve their future literacy skills and learn how to navigate a more proactive approach to urban governance.

As a researcher based in Sweden my European colleagues often ask questions and comment on how they see Swedenquestions and comment on how they see Sweden as a pioneer in urban design and planning, a country where innovation and sustainability are at the heart of city-making. That is a viewpoint I share and have discussed already elsewhere. Swedish municipalities, more often than not, are open and interested in creative solutions and are setting aside resources to deliver on these ideas as well.

With this premise, perhaps it is not that surprising that the use of foresight and speculative methods in Sweden has been expanding rather fast over the past years. Yet, the use of futuring and visioning activities is particularly intriguing as it offers interesting opportunities for those working on sustainability in cities. These activities are highly valuable but remain understudied and underreported, and some questions we have about them are still without answers. For this reason, and to gain a better understanding of such efforts, my department conducted an inventory to identify and describe futuring, foresight, visioning, and speculative activities undertaken in Sweden over the past years. We were especially interested in those that involved community participation.

By the end of summer 2024, my colleague Shilan Hast and I had mapped out a total of 62 such activities and summarized that work in a recently published report. These activities, spanning from 1995 to 2024, vary in size, scope, and focus. A closer look at these provides valuable insights into Sweden’s approach to urban futures. Here are a few lines about what we have found with this mapping activity:

A Growing Focus on Sustainability: We found that about 70% of the activities recorded prioritize sustainability, incorporating goals like green infrastructure, energy efficiency, and climate resilience. This aligns with commitments to urban development that meet environmental imperatives and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Regional Disparities: Our research suggests that there are regional differences in the number and type of activities conducted. The South of Sweden appears to be emerging as a leader in such activities, accounting for 52% of all recorded in our database. In contrast, Northern Sweden, despite recent growth in initiatives, appears to be lagging behind.

Youth Engagement and Social Inclusion: We were particularly interested in how different voices might be included, or not, and found that approximately 32% of the activities included structured forms of youth participation in futuring. Some of these, such as “Youth Up North,” had a clear and specific focus on young people, which aligns with commitments to engage younger generations in shaping urban areas and their futures as per recent changes in the planning framework.

As urban areas worldwide grapple with sustainability and inclusivity challenges, Sweden’s experiences with futuring, foresight, and speculation might offer suggestions and insights for other cities elsewhere. We invite you to read more about our work in this REPORT and stay tuned for upcoming updates as we continue analyzing this data and seek to learn more about advancing urban futures in their contexts.

References

Guy, S., & Marvin, S. (1999). Understanding sustainable cities: competing urban futures. European Urban and Regional Studies, 6(3), 268–275.

Khakee, A., & Dahlgren, L. (1986). Values in futures studies and long-term planning: Two Swedish case studies. Futures, 18(1), 52–67.

Statista 2024. Sweden: Urbanization from 2013 to 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/455935/urbanization-in-sweden/