Rethinking Jakobsberg. A multi-faceted approach to nature-based solutions implementation.

By Siqi Xiong and Izabella Ståhl

Due to climate change cities will face challenges such as heat stress, flooding, and biodiversity loss. A possible way to mitigate these challenges is to retrofit Nature Based Solutions (NBS). This project was conducted in the Autumn term of 2023 at KTH in liaison with Järfälla municipality. The project aimed to explore how NBS are currently used in the municipality in Jakobsberg, what NBS could be added to mitigate challenges created by climate change, and finally to explore the perspective of citizens living in Jakobsberg. These three aspects were assessed using a multi-modal methodology. Firstly, looking at previous research on how NBS can be implemented to help the urban adaptation to climate change. Secondly, a site visit was conducted to better grasp the implementation of NBS in Jakobsberg. Thirdly, a policy analysis was conducted in order to assess how the municipality was using NBS in Jakobsberg and Järfälla. Finally, a Facebook survey was conducted in order to collect the perspectives of people living in Jakobsberg. The results showed that NBS played a focal role in some of the municipal plans, yet there was a gap between implementation and citizen expectations. We suggested that this could be remedied with the application of other types of NBS as suggested by citizens and previous literature. Citizen involvement in both the planning process and the implementation and maintenance of NBS was also found to be a possible source of community engagement that could be better utilised by the municipality. As a final note, Jakobsberg and Järfälla seem to have nature at the heart of their policy, and the citizens were very clear that nature is an integral part of their home. By using NBS the municipality could better protect nature crucial to Jakosberg, while also benefiting the citizens living there, creating an urban area where humans and non-humans thrive alike.

News article about Rethinking Jakobsberg
Full project report Rethinking Jakobsberg