5.0 Critical Evaluation

Figure 15: Critical Evaluation Circular Scoring

It is clear from this evaluation that Stockholm has a good understanding of resilience and has applied measures to ensure the city becomes a more resilient city. The city scored particularly well in the governance pillar due to the governments pro-active approach to sustainability. They source robust data from a multitude of stakeholders and promote research-based policies. They also have an excellent leadership structure which allows the public to air their thoughts on governance through their communities. This is especially effective as there is a good structure for education on sustainable topics. This takes us onto the society pillar which also scored well. The cities approach to promoting Swedish culture aides in giving sense of belonging and part of a collective community. The importance of diversity and equality is also highlighted. However, there was distinct lack of evidence to support competent policing and criminal justice. With these, the society pillar could have achieved a very high score. Health and Well-being was clearly important to Stockholm in terms of preventing vulnerability to human occupants. However, there was only brief mentions of emergency health initiatives, access to healthcare and adaptability following shock, which are all especially relevant in the current climate of the covid-19 pandemic. Infrastructure makes up for this with the climate action plan clearly identifying the importance of flexibility in these critical systems. The access to affordable transportation, energy and electricity were all very important within the action plan. This mainly being down to developing on from the existing world class district heating and movement strategies from previous action plans. There is clearly a strong argument to protect existing ecosystems as well, with the huge about of nation parks being a common theme throughout. The only weakness within the infrastructure pillar was continuity for critical assets and services. A resilient economy was the poorest scoring pillar, however there were some good actions identified. The incentive for placing a business within the city was obvious, with great connections to a more global audience. What let it down was also what let the society pillar down – lack of evidence for police resilience and anti-corruption.

Through the even spread of indicators between social and physical resilience, with social resilience seeming to have slightly more emphasis within Stockholm’s action plan. This is possibly due to the interest in socio-ecological factors the Stockholm Resilience Centre has, who have aided the government in developing the action plans.