The Scaling of Sustainable Urban Form: A Case of Scale-related Issues and Sustainable Planning in Malmo, Sweden

Summary, in English

In this article, I investigate ospatial scaleo as an aspect that needs to be more carefully addressed in the discussion and planning of osustainable urban formso. Focusing on the Malmo-Lund region in Sweden, I discuss problems of scale as related to the new take on sustainability in Malmo planning documents, especially the update of the Malmo comprehensive plan from 2005. The article is divided into three sections. First, I discuss the concept and problem of spatial scale, contextualizing it in theory as well as in recent discussions on urban transformations. Second, I briefly discuss the discourse of sustainable urban forms, pointing out some scale-related issues that need to be more carefully addressed. In the third and main section of the article, I investigate plans and projects for urban development in Malmo, focusing and elaborating on spatial scale and discussing the findings in terms of three kinds of scale stabilization: in terms of territory, size and hierarchy. The article concludes with a call for further work for the possibilities of a more dynamic and multi-scalar approach in urban planning.