A sustainable city requires appropriate infrastructure and policy to provide a physical structure that works — to facilitate the flow of traffic, whilst investing in renewable energy, and proper services to manage solid and liquid waste.
Technical and infrastructural solutions offer one avenue to alleviate urban environmental stresses. However, sincere sustainability can only be achieved if citizens choose to utilize public infrastructure, and participate in patterns of sustainable behaviour. In this regard, the city has many programmes to engage residents in related environmental behaviours and choice access. Below are some examples:
Consumption
FairtradeCity Malmö
Malmö isSweden ´s first FairtradeCity, already since 2006. Since its official labelling as a FairtradeCity, the city´s ethical consumption continues to rise.
Malmö Schools serve organic meals
Organic meals are a common reality for students studying in Malmö. Nearly half of all meals are organic, with this number on the rise — by 2012, the goal is to have 100% organic food served in the Malmö´sSchool District .
Learning
Learning for Sustainable Development
Linked to the United Nations overarching goals in regards to the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005 — 2014), MalmöCity has made an active investment in learning across various levels of the academic experience. Malmö, together with Lund Universty and MalmöUniversity and related partners, host RCE Skåne (or the Regional Cetnre of Expertise in Skåne) supported in part by the United Nations University. RCE Skåne is one of 62 global RCE locations, the only one currently in Sweden. RCE Skåne is a regional network to disseminate learning for sustainable development in various forms of learning, including formal and non-formal education.
Green Media
To inform residents and interested parties about Malmö´s efforts and policies to create a sustainable city, the city hosts an environmental newspaper, Green city, already for over ten years.
Collaboration
ISU
The Institute for Sustainable Urban Development linksMalmöUniversityand the City of Malmö through a joint collaboration to link researchers and practitioners.
Helix
Helix is Malmö's Centre for Sustainable Development. This physical location links a wide range of stakeholders working with various important elements of urban sustainability, providing a common meeting place to discuss and exchange information and ideas. The City of Malmö is the coordinator and the landlord of the Helix building.
Participation in ‘green´ experiences
Malmö has developed a checklist on how to ‘green´ particular events in order to make common activities not only enjoyable, but also sustainable
Climate Custom Tourism
The City of Malmö aims to build awareness in terms of climate-adapted tourism. This includes training employees in the tourism industry on the need to incorporate sustainability — both to reduce the overall environmental impact, but also to improve the notion of quality.
