Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm's first eco-district

This guided tour of Hammarby Sjöstad will take you to a neighborhood located in the southeast of Greater Stockholm. This eco-district showcases Swedish expertise in eco-construction as well as ecological solutions applied to urban spaces.

Once a port and industrial area that was unsafe to venture into after dark, the neighborhood underwent an urbanization plan in the late 1980s in preparation for the Summer Olympics in 2006. Although Stockholm did not win the games, the city decided to carry on with this sustainable development project.

Thus, at the beginning of the 1990s, the first buildings emerged near the old docks, giving rise to what is known as the “Hammarby model” or the “eco-cycle.” The principle is quite simple: reuse and recycle resources to achieve 100% autonomy. Therefore, energy consumption comes entirely from renewable sources, wastewater is treated to produce biogas for domestic stoves, waste is sorted and recycled, and it feeds the urban cooling and heating network.

During our guided walk through the Hammarby Sjöstad neighborhood, we will discover the eco-friendly architecture of this pioneering area as well as all the methods implemented to make the neighborhood energy autonomous: solar panels, eco-ducts, waste recycling, water treatment, and more. Each step of our walk will help us better understand how the city of tomorrow can function.