Stuck in experimentation
Exploring practical experiences and challenges of using floating housing to climate-proof waterfront urban development in Sweden
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12820747 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sofie Storbjörk (0000-0003-0109-2288, Linköping University, corresponding author), Mattias Hjerpe (0000-0002-5500-3300, Linköping University) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 2263-2284 |
| Publication date | 2022-04-15 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Housing and the Built Environment (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1566-4910 • E-ISSN: 1573-7772 |
| Publisher | Springer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10901-022-09942-4 |
| OpenAlex | W4223916889 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 42 |
With climate change already underway, cities are looking for ways to deal with its effects. To balance urban waterfront development and climate adaptation, floating housing is presented as a promising solution—however it has not been studied sufficiently. This paper explores floating housing as urban climate experimentation, targeting vision/motivation, practice and upscaling in a national context where support mechanisms and traditions are absent. Interviews with innovation entrepreneurs and municipal planners involved with planning and building floating districts show that, with one exception, the Swedish initiatives are at odds with the theoretical assumptions behind urban climate experimentation. Initiatives are neither challenge-led in terms of climate risk nor inclusive and community-based. Rather, the small-scale private entrepreneurs are pioneers in offering unique living on water as one-off innovations. While allowing experimentation, municipal planners are less convinced by the effectiveness and appropriateness of upscaling. Floating housing may contribute to local identity building and place marketing, but are riddled with implementation challenges regarding shoreline protection, privatization/accessibility, limited market interest and urban development fit. While the floating houses themselves withstand flooding, thus safeguarding individual house owners, they do not protect the land-based city with its vulnerable waterfront development patterns. Results thus suggest the limitation of floating houses in shifting development pathways and strengthening urban climate proofing
Business · Civil engineering · Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental planning · Geography · Odds · Safeguarding · Urban planning · Coastal and Marine Management · Engineering · Flood Risk Assessment and Management
The urban laboratory and emerging sites of urban experimentation
Experimenting in the city
Scaling up sustainable energy innovations
Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient
Experiments in climate governance – A systematic review of research on energy and built environment transitions
Triggering transformative change
Experimenting for sustainability transitions
Strategic niche management and sustainable innovation journeys
Sustainability transitions
Climate Change 2014 Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability
Smart City Pilot Projects
Forward planning to maintain the attractiveness of coastal areas
Interrogating urban experiments
How cities prepare for climate change
Understanding the notion of resilience in spatial planning
Floating architecture in the landscape
Scaling-up low-carbon urban initiatives
Adaptive climate change governance for urban resilience
Government by experiment? Global cities and the governing of climate change
The Experimental City
Evaluating Qualitative Research in Social Geography
Revisiting the urban politics of climate change
| Highly cited | No |
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