The City of Gothenburg is a port city with a strategic location between Oslo and Copenhagen. It has a population of around 548 000 and is Sweden’s second largest city. It was classed by Forbes as the world´s 12th most inventive city in 2013. The Gothenburg region, which spans 13 municipalities in Greater Gothenburg, has a population of 1.1 million. The Gothenburg region is right at the epicentre of Scandinavia and the Baltic States, and the gateway to a market of 190 million people. 70 % of Scandinavia´s total industrial capacity is located within a 500-km radius of the Gothenburg region and 30% of Swedish foreign trade passes through the Port of Gothenburg. Traditionally an industrial city, Gothenburg lost its shipyards in the 1970 and thus became largely dependent on the local automotive industry as a large scale employer. The city now faces the challenge of replacing the waning industrial employment with new jobs in services, new high-tech enterprises and qualified jobs in the knowledge sector. Gothenburg has drawn up ambitious strategies for city development that aim to make it one of the most progressive cities in the world concerning climate impact, energy efficiency, mobility/logistics and social inclusion.

The aim is that by 2050 the city will have a sustainable and ambitiously reduced level of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions: the average level of CO2 equivalent emission per person in Gothenburg will have to be reduced to less than 2t per person for the goal to be reached. The city has adopted an interim target which states that by 2020 emission levels of CO2 will be reduced by at least 40 % compared to the levels in 1990. Gothenburg has signed the EU Covenant of Mayors and has committed to go beyond the objectives of EU energy policy.

To foster international cooperation and innovation, the City of Gothenburg participates in many European networks and programmes; EUROCITIES, Climate-KIC (Europe’s largest public-private innovation partnership for climate change), the EIP Smart Cities and Communities, ERRIN, POLIS (President 2020-2021), LUCI and the European EIT Climate-KIC network. The City of Gothenburg is a member of 51 organizations. Six of the memberships are directly linked to the municipal government: EUROCITIES, Göteborg-Oslo cooperation, the Scandinavian arena, Cities for Children, ICLEI and the Mayors for Peace.

In recent years, substantial effort has been put in to establish strategies for the development of the city in the years to come, including strategies towards 2035. These are four guiding documents: 1. Vision Älvstaden, 2. Traffic Strategy for a Close City 3. Green Strategy for a Dense, Green City and 4. Strategy for Gothenburg 2035 Expansion Planning – jointly indicate the direction Gothenburg will develop in over the next 20 years.

The following agencies and municipal bodies will be involved in MOVE21:

• Urban Transport Administration
• Kretslopp och Vatten
• BRG (Partner)
• GOT-PARK (Partner)
• Renova (Partner)
• Relevant skills and experience

Overview of the first set of measures

Within the project, workshops were held with both MOVE21 partners and other stakeholders, such as property owners, through which a first set of measures and concepts was identified. The process then moved into the validation and preparation of pilots. The first set of measures was to be combined with others along the way. This was one of the advantages in a broad innovation project – the results combined could surpass stand-alone solutions.

The first measures prioritised were:

• Zero emission mobility hub for service providers
• MaaS integration (parking, shared bicycles, public transport)
• Bicycle service concept
• Goods consolidation for parcel lockers

Focus areas and test sites

Gothenburg Living Labs was working towards the vision to transform Gothenburg into a smart zero-emissions node for mobility and logistics. The project focused on three geographically defined test sites with different characteristics, challenges, possibilities, and visions.

In and around Nordstan, where a major shopping mall is located in the very city centre, solutions regarding micro-mobility and cyclists were under discussion, alongside efforts to further develop freight and logistics collaboration. In the Klippan area, there was comparatively more space available for development, making it an ideal test site to explore seamless and integrated solutions promoting active transport modes and public transport. Lindholmen, meanwhile, was a dynamic and innovative area undergoing large-scale urban development. An existing solution for consolidating waste and goods reduced heavy traffic in the area, and stakeholders showed interest in further developing this approach.

Plan for the implementations of solutions

The first set of measures was combined with other measures along the way. This was one of the advantages in a broad innovation project – the results combined could surpass stand-alone solutions.

The timeline and plan differed for different measures. For example, the goods consolidation for parcel lockers was already under piloting, while the zero emission mobility hub for service providers was under planning, and at the time we were conducting a series of interviews with potential users which carried a lot of weight in the further development of the concept.

What is the innovation?

There were several innovative components in the different measures, and in the collaborative process within the project and what we could learn. For example, the integration of different mobility services from different operators in the same app was not only a MaaS-integration; by integrating this in the parking app, this could nudge traditional motorists to try other modes of transport for the first time.

If you have ideas or suggestions that can be useful, please do not hesitate to contact:

• Suzanne Green, Project manager for the Gothenburg Living Lab
  suzanne.green@trafikkontoret.goteborg.se