Slagelse: The "Green City" - taking the initiative for ecologically sound urban

Abstract:

The "Green City" project of the Danish town Slagelse is the heading for a number of urban renewal and development projects which over the last decade have positioned Slagelse as one of the leading municipalities in the promotion of sustainable urban environment. The general objectives are to integrate environmental and ecological considerations in strategies of urban planning and to promote and intensify the instances of public participation. At the national level Slagelse Green City has functioned as an exemplary pilot project from which valuable conclusions have been derived. The Slagelse "Green City" project is an outstanding and exemplary initiative for several reasons:

• the project is explicitly shaped to bring environmental problems to public consciousness,
• it provides and improves opportunities for public participation,
• principles of integrated planning at municipal level are developed and applied,
• besides technical aspects, social, aesthetic and artistic aspects of the project are considered,
• it aims at national dissemination.

Concept and aims

In 1986, the Municipality of Slagelse embarked upon the "Slagelse Green City" project, an overall strategy to incorporate "green ideas" in both private and public activities. In the frame of the project, many major subjects areas dealing with effects on the urban environment are touched: waste, water, energy, urban green spaces, ecological building renewal, or traffic.

The "Green City" project is centered around the renewal of an area comprising eight blocks with 770 dwellings and 1,500 residents in the old centre of Slagelse. Delapidated housing, poor public space conditions and a heterogeneous population, many with low or no income, had lead the area to fall prey to urban and social decay and had necessitated alleviating and precautionary action by the municipality. While the Municipal Council was considering to subject the district to urban renewal measures, it was approached by a group of architects, engineers, and planers interested in developing and testing ecological urban renewal concepts. Their ideas received support from several key Slagelse administrators as well as from national associations and administrative agencies and has resulted in a long-term effort visible in numerous projects continued up to this date.

The "Slagelse Green City" project is embedded in a larger national strategy to develop guidelines and policies for ecologically sound urban development in response to national and international calls for environmental protection and sustainable development (e.g. to the Rio Declaration of the UNCED in 1992 or to efforts to protect the North and Baltic Sea from pollution). Over the last decade, primarily under the direction of the Danish Ministries of the Environment and Energy and of Housing and Building several national initiatives have been taken in support of these efforts. Exemplary by international standards are measures such as taxes on ambient and solid discharges or on energy use and the publication of guidelines, e.g. for the re-cycling of building materials.

Another national initiative is the Green Municipality Project which was established in 1989. For it, ideas also from the Slagelse ecological urban renewal project had been taken up. In its organisational framework, Slagelse Green City together with nine other cities functions as one of several pilot projects to promote sustainable development; the projects are subject to extensive evaluation especially with regard to their economic implications and procedural dynamics. The cooperation begun in the course of the Green Municipality Project has created a vital network between Danish cities, municipal and other public associations and organisations, private councillors and adminitrative units, which have continued activities beyond completion of the national project in 1992. Thus, experiences from the Slagelse Green City project are mirrored in national acitivities while at the same time national initiatives have often influenced the choice of individual sub-projects and substantially supported their execution.

Therefore, the Slagelse Green City project pursues several interlacing goals. First and foremost, the aim is to improve the environmental and living quality in the district for the benefit of the inhabitants. This concerns purely physical improvements of the dwellings and communal space, such as reducing discharges and pollution or improving the urban climate. It also concerns the enhancement of the social, interactive characteristics of the area.

Closely connected to the latter concern is the goal to involve the residents with their concrete ideas in designing and carrying out the individual projects. The aim is to give them a sense of responsibility for their neighbourhood and its environmental condition as well as a meaningful and viable opportunity to act on it. In this process, different approaches to public participation in planning and implementation are explored.

From a purely practical perspective, the object is to test different methods and examples of how ecological considerations can be met in urban renewal areas. The technical as well as economical practicality of the projects is evaluated.

In the long run, procedural and technical results are taken as a starting point for the design of new instruments and guidelines for regional and local planning processes. These new, nationally applied rules should explicitly give consideration to the environmental effects of urban development activities and try to reduce their negative impacts.

Implementation

After the ecological urban renewal project was officially approved in 1986, over the following two years the project was prepared in cooperation with Byfornyelsesselskabet, a large urban renewal company. In 1988, execution of the first projects began. Since then numerous projects have been carried out in the 'Green City' district but also in other parts of the town.

Strategic mainstay of the "Green City" project is to proceed in phases by implementing several smaller trial projects. This allows to test different approaches and measures. Another advantage is that these consecutive projects can more easily be scheduled in accordance with financial means available at the time.

In each case, project implementation followed along the same basic principles and structure. The Municipality's Division of Technical Services and the Department of Planning held the responsibility and took over the day-to-day planning of the project. Depending on the subject of the individual sub- projects, external advisors such as planning agencies or engineering firms were consulted and engaged with individual construction steps. Throughout the projects, participation of the residents and the larger population was encouraged and facilitated and many of the features result directly from ideas and wishes of the residents and owners of the area.

Green City Office. An important means to encourage public participation in the ecological renewal was the Green City office which functioned as an informational and communicational link between the municipality and the residents. It was maintained within the renewal district from 1988 to 1990. Its main objective was to inform the residents and owners of the district as well as the rest of Slagelse of the projects planned and their opportunities to get involved. In addition, it sponsored public meetings and film presentations, excursions to renewable energy facilities and other educational programmes, and kept close contacts to the local media.

Passive and active solar energy use. One of the first projects initiated in 1989 was the renewal of the three typical residential buildings as demonstration projects for passive and active solar energy use. As a fourth building a housing project for the elderly was remodelled. It incorporated solar energy installations comprising a covered street, a large glass addition and solar panels.

Reducing waste. From 1990 to 1992, first experiments with waste sorting were carried out in the

Green City district. Paper, glass and compostable waste were begun to be separated and transported to centralized recycling and composting facilities. During implementation, the municipality tested different approaches toward informing the residents about the issue and motivating them to participate in the project. The residents were instructed about the system through the press, mailed out leaflets of different formats, and through questionnaires and interviews. Another method was to leave notes in the waste bins in cases of incorrect sorting.

In subsequent waste projects in other quarters of Slagelse home composting was introduced (provided the required yard space is available), which led to much greater success than centralized methods (in a very homogeneous area with detached houses, the participation rate was close to 100%). Since the residents can utilize the compost produced themselves, they are more easily motivated to participate. Moreover, for the city, decentral composting is a much less expensive solution. Therefore, attempts are being made to implement home composting all over Slagelse, also in the Green City district.

Re-creating open space in the Valdemarsgade Area. Primary object of this major project was to establish ecological, open space areas within two blocks of the area and re-build the street as a semi- private zone where people can interact. The aim is to demonstrate a wide range of examples of how ecological considerations can be met in areas like these. The project area covers the two blocks north and south of Valdemarsgade and comprises about 148 houses with approximately 260 residents. It contains roughly 4,000 m2 of communal area open space, adjoining 6,600 m2 of private yards.

In the course of the renewal, which started in 1991 and was completed in summer 1993, the open spaces were given a completely new appearance: several green "rooms" with different characters, serving different activities and purposes (play, resting, communication, sun, shade, walking, gardening and keeping animals) were arranged, separated by espaliers and ponds. Based on an overall ecological perspective, various aspects of energy, water, waste, and the careful choice of building materials and plants were central to the design. For examples, it integrates solar panels, a greenhouse and also some artistic features designed by an artist. The street of Valdemarsgade was closed for through traffic and converted into a pedestrian street; in it, artistically designed posts with electric outlets have been installed for electrical cars.

For the implementation of this project special attention was given to encouraging participation of the residents. To each household a prepared catalogue of ideas about urban ecology was distributed and residents were invited to take part in the preparatory groups which met every two weeks for six months. A newsletter kept all residents informed of the project's progress.

Unique from a Danish as well as international perspective is the legal ownership structure and, consequently, the organisation and financing of the maintenance of the area. Although the joint open space and communal facilities of the blocks are privately owned, legally they must be kept open for common purposes of all tenants and can only be used in accordance with the municipal renewal plans for the area. Therefore, responsibility for maintenance rests with the property owners, who are legally bound to join an owners' association. The elected governing body and the annual general meeting decides on the budget, maintenance planning and distribution of individual tasks, alterations, and acquisitions, etc. Although legally limited to the property owners, participation of tenants is encouraged. Should problems arise, the City Council has the right to take proceedings.

Projects planned for the Future are a major questionnaire and interview survey of the residents' attitudes towards their new area; a green development and educational centre to house local organisations, the technical college as well as representatives of the public administration; renovating an abandoned railway freight yard for dwellings and open spaces according to ecologically sound principles; as well as a comprehensive plan to improve the urban environment in the city centre.

Finance

All expenses for the projects have been borne by the public. They were partly financed by ordinary urban renewal funds equally shared by local and state authorities. Other parts were supported by extraordinary funds for demonstrations projects provided by the National Housing and Building Agency and/or other national agencies.

In the case of the open space renewal in the Valdemarsgade Area, for example, expenses amounted to a total of DKK 7,6 million. The composting project was mainly financed by the municipality of Slagelse and the intermunicipal waste removal company, and it was supported by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency with DKK 361,000.

Results and Evaluations

After a decade of experiences gathered from the Slagelse Green City project, many results have become visible. On the whole, success of the projects to a great extent hinges on the engaged and enthusiastic involvement of individual councillors, administrators, and residents. In first evaluations it was possible to draw some important lessons and give important procedural hints for future activities.

As far as tangible results are concerned, the Green City Project has so far been a success. For example, an immediately visible result of the Valdemarsgade open space project is that insects such as dragonflies and water striders and other animals have arrived. As the plants mature over the following years, these are expected to become even more noticeable. On the whole, living quality has been increased substantially. Through the project, at least among those of the residents actively involved, social networks and exchange have been developed and strengthened. Similarly positive responses were expressed by the residents of the renewed buildings.

Regarding economic considerations, experiences from the projects show that many initiatives for ecological measures can be taken at no or only limited extra costs compared to regular spending levels for urban open space improvement. These measures include the choice of alternative materials for fencing, planting and paving and singling out areas for purposes such as gardening or domestic animals. At only limited extra costs, rain water filtration and butts, local composting facilities and small solar cells, e.g. for outhouses, can be integrated. Substantially exceeding the normal cost range are measures such as large-scale solar installations, green houses, or espalier constructions.

Instructive results could also be derived from the public information and participation campaigns carried out. Participation proved to be most effectively encouraged through direct contacts with the residents, e.g. in interviews, and by regularly informing them. For small, limited projects such as waste separation, leaflets relying on simple illustrations more than primarily on text were preferable.

Regarding the level of public participation in more comprehensive projects, several important conclusions for the procedural structuring of future projects could be drawn:

1. To instigate public interest and involvement, projects must concern issues that are important to the people in an immediate and day-to-day way, i.e. activities should be concrete and not remain on a theoretical level. Positive results were obtained from initiating social activities to bring the residents together.
2. Sustained and long-term involvement of the residents in the renewal demands that their ideas are not only welcome as contributions to the discussion process but that they also become visible in actual features of the project itself.
3. Even though substantial time is required to mediate, initiate and follow up public participation efforts, the project time frame should be kept as limited as possible. Projects carried on over long periods without concrete results - i.e. with planning stages exceeding 6 months - are prone to lose the public's interest.
4. With respect to the personnel involved from the Municipality, administrators with skills in human resources are much more important for continued public participation than those with professional skills. To the active residents it is decisive that they meet people in the municipal system that can understand their concerns and respect their view-points.
5. Therefore, in addition to outward-directed public participation efforts, the compartmentalized municipal administration is well advised to find ways of internal, cross- divisional cooperation. This has proved to be difficult to achieve in Slagelse, although the newly established post of a green coordinator to mediate contact between the municipal devisions can be interpreted as a first meaningful result.

In summary, the Green City project has positioned Slagelse as one of the leading municipalities in the promotion of sustainable urban environments which has generated considerable political backing. Consequently, evaluation of the Green City project is continuing in order to disseminate the lessons of the project and further productive results are to be expected from future projects.

Source of Information

Danish Ministries of Environment and Energy and of Housing and Building 1995: The Ecological City - Denmark, National report for the OECD Project on the Ecological City, April

Munkstrup, Nina 1995: Examples of Urban Ecology in Denmark, Interplan, No. 13, published by the Danish Association for International Urban and Regional Planning, December 1995

Slagelse Borough Council 1993: Green Urban Renewal in Slagelse - The Valdemarsgade Area, August

Contact:

Cities:

Slagelse :

The municipality of Slagelse is the largest of four urban centres in Vestsjaelland County. The town is situated 80 km south-east of Copenhagen and has 35,000 inhabitants (30,000 of which live in the town of Slagelse). It is a regional economic centre located on the main road and rail connection between Sjaelland and Fyn. This function will possibly be strengthened in the future when the bridges across the Storebaelt and the Oresund to Sweden have been completed. Once an agricultural centre, today industry (24%), trade (30%) and services (43%) dominate the occupational distribution. Important industries are food processing, machinery, furniture and textile industries.

Population:

Project was added at 08.04.1997
Project was changed at 10.03.1998

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