GÄVLE'S DELTA

A Post-Industrial Transformation Project for Sweden's Coastal Landscape

GÄVLE, SWEDEN

M.Sc. Landscape Architecture Masters Thesis Project 2022

S wedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Faced with urban growth, deindustrialisation and a threatened delta landscape, Reconnecting Gävle’s Delta is a design proposal which draws on Blue-Green Infrastructure principles, and ideas of the ‘productive city’ to imagine a new flood-resilient mixed-use district at Näringen. First, a new water channel island is proposed to deal with future sea level rise by preventatively ‘inviting the water’, resulting in the creation of a new recreation 'Delta Island' for the city. Second, a network of multifunctional blue-green corridors mitigates against cloudburst flooding while providing a focal point around which new mixed-use neighbourhoods can be designed.

Challenges for Näringen, Gävle

Objectives and Strategies

Gävle is flooding

Näringen is vulnerable to future sea level rise

Proposed

A climate-adapted coastal flood-resilient delta A new water channel 'invites the water'

Gävle is flooding

Näringen is vulnerable to flooding from cloudburst events

A climate-adapted cloudburst-resilient delta Swale parks lead rain water to the sea

Gävle is disconnected

Poor access between city and delta reserve

An accessible, connected delta Swales dually connect people to the delta

Gävle is growing / deindustrialising

Monofunctional industrial area offers growth opportunities

A dense, diverse, mixed-use delta Industry, housing, offices and community co-exist

EXISTING SITUATION: A delapidated urban condition disconnected from its delta landscape

Currently, the two sides of the Testeboåns river embody two very different conditions: on one side, the industrial development at Näringen, dominated by a vast swathe of impermeable concrete, contributes to the district’s flooding problems. On the other side of the delta lies Testeboåns Delta nature reserve, a protected wetland area indicative of how Näringen would have also looked prior to its development.

PROPOSED VISION:

A reconnected delta landscape supports sustainable, resilient, interconnected urban and ecological communities. NÄRINGEN

The project identifies an opportunity for the redevelopment of Näringen to remediate and restore the historic Testeboåns delta landscape. By removing borders and reframing the Näringen project area alongside the nature reserve area, the design makes a clear statement: Näringen is part of a wider delta landscape ecosystem - all of which must be collectively addressed as part of an interconnected social-ecological system