How to “Renew a New City District”? : The citizens’ initiative HS2020 in Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm

How does the citizens’ initiative HS2020 realise its vision to ”Renew a New City District”? We followed the project organisation development between 2011-2014 and we applied strategic niche management and elements of actor network theory in order to assess barriers and opportunities. Hammarby Sjostad is, since 1997, internationally renowned for its environmental ambitions. HS2020’s visions are an extension and further development of the latter, exploring potential contributions to sustainable urban development. HS2020 has been developing an actor network to implement projects in electric mobility, energy efficiency, culture and ICT. It is a unique but instructive initiative: if realised, its visions contribute profoundly to Swedish environmental quality objectives. It offers a little explored approach to city district management, between construction and refurbishment. Its potential contribution to sustainable urban development makes it important to explore and fine-tune the organisational elements for similar processes in other city districts.