The conceptual foundation of this research emerges from the neurodivergent community’s long-standing struggle to assert their “right to the city”; a right which, as Harvey stated, “is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city.” 

This study therefore centers on the rights of a marginalized community to claim equitable access to resources, services, and opportunities, particularly within the realm of mobility and access to public transport, as essential conditions for their social and economic empowerment. 

This aligns with the target 11.2 of Agenda 2030, which urges to “provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons”.

The rationale for this project is that every child has the right to experience public transport as safe, welcoming, and empowering. Yet, for neurodivergent children, invisible barriers often stand in the way. Public transport feels overwhelming, pushing families to rely on costly, low-occupancy car travel. That intensifies environmental impact and places financial strain on households and municipalities. It also limits opportunities for developing independent community mobility skills.

As urbanization continues to accelerate—projected to encompass 70% of the global population by 2050—urban soils are increasingly recognized as vital for delivering essential ecosystem services that support healthy and resilient cities. These soils play a key role in regulating carbon and water cycles, contributing significantly to both climate adaptation and mitigation. They also offer important provisioning services, such as fostering biodiversity and enabling urban food production through initiatives like community gardens, but also vertical farming and green roofs that lowers the heat island effects.

Beyond their ecological functions, urban soils enhance green spaces that promote mental and physical well-being and add aesthetic value to urban landscapes. However, despite their critical importance, urban soils are frequently degraded by human activities—including soil sealing, contamination with heavy metals, and compaction—which severely limit their capacity to provide these services.

To address these challenges, the URSOILL project is establishing a network of five Living Labs across European cities. These labs will serve as collaborative platforms where city planners, policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders co-develop and test innovative solutions for urban soil restoration. The project emphasizes sustainable land management, nature-based solutions, and emerging technologies, ensuring that all approaches are scientifically sound, socially inclusive, and economically viable. Ultimately, URSOILL aims to make urban environments more climate-resilient, sustainable, and livable.

RISE åtaganden omfattar nedanstående tre fokusområden

I. Kvalitetssäkring och utveckling 

Kvalitetssäkra och utveckla det som Centrum för AMP gör idag genom att:

• bidra med evidensbaserade teorier, modeller, metoder och nya arbetssätt med målet att utveckla Centrum för AMP:s verksamheter och praktiker;
• bidra med verifieringsstöd för att kvalitetssäkra att produkter, tjänster, processer och personer uppfyller specifika, ställda krav;
• bidra med resursstöd via 3 300 experter inom samtliga hållbarhetsområden.

II. Forskningsverksamheter

Knyta Centrum för AMP:s verksamheter närmare forskningen genom att:

• bevaka och presentera forskningsutlysningar som fokuserar på platsutvecklingsprojekt, med Centrum för AMP och kommuner som centrala projektparter.
• anknyta platsutvecklingsprojekt till forskningsbaserad omvärldsanalys och erfarenheter av tidigare och/eller pågående forskningsprojekt.
• stödja Centrum för AMP:s ambition att medverka och bidraga i forskningssammanhang med särskilt fokus på platsutvecklingsmetodik.

III. Samverkanshubb

RISE samverkar med Centrum för AMP genom att: 

• delta på strategiska möten för att skapa en nära förståelse av behov och utvecklingsmöjligheter;
• bistå med expertkompetens;
• bereda avgränsade frågeställningar inför möten, konferenser och andra typer av utvecklingsinriktade insatser. 

Residents in Sweden have access to more living space per capita than residents in almost every other country in Europe. At the same time, Sweden's population is growing and Swedes are more likely to move than residents of any other European country in a given year. Today, housing and construction account for 22% of the country's total carbon dioxide emissions and 40% of all waste generated in Sweden. Although carbon dioxide emissions per square metre of living space have decreased in recent years, total carbon dioxide emissions from buildings have continued to increase as the population lives in larger homes, often alone. It is clear that structural changes in the use of living space are needed to meet Sweden's ambitious goals for carbon neutrality (net zero by 2045) and for waste from the construction sector (collection of 70% of non-hazardous waste by 2025). In this project, we want to investigate how Sweden's housing needs can be met while reducing the physical expansion of housing. We want to do this by investigating the use of existing common living spaces, such as laundry rooms, entrances, courtyards, and recreation rooms. Developing and improving these spaces could be a way to reduce the demand for living space in existing and future residential buildings. There is little knowledge about how these spaces are used today and about the cost and consequences of increasing their use.

Our hypothesis is that increasing the functionality and utilization rate of public spaces that are currently underutilized, as well as finding creative solutions to encourage more sharing of spaces, can lead to a significant reduction in the need for new residential space in Sweden. The project consists of two main phases over a period of four years:

Phase 1 consists of benchmarking i) how often, ii) under what circumstances, iii) by whom, iv) for what purposes different types of shared spaces in residential buildings are used. This is done through two main data collections: The first looks at the big picture by conducting a national survey that asks a large and representative sample of Swedes how they use spaces such as lobbies, laundry rooms, courtyards, recreation rooms, and rooftop terraces. The survey will also follow participants if they move to a new home and observe whether individuals who currently have access to shared spaces are more or less likely to move to homes with shared spaces. In short, we want to know whether access to shared spaces in residential buildings reduces or increases the need for more private space for individuals and how factors such as income, age, and family situation affect their housing.

Phase 2 will use data collected during Phase 1 to create a vision for how shared spaces can be redesigned for optimal use in the future. Through discussions with property owners, we will investigate how shared spaces can be optimized to be both circular and profitable for builders and developers. We will also use life cycle analyses to understand how the optimized use of shared spaces affects environmental indicators, such as resource use and carbon dioxide emissions. Finally, we will develop new metrics and standards that can be used by architects and policymakers to effectively measure and communicate the benefits of shared spaces in existing residential buildings and future renovation projects.

This project is being carried out by an interdisciplinary group of researchers from RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, with expertise in urban planning, consumption and climate psychology, property management and architecture, life cycle analysis, business economics, and circular business models. The project collaborates with a reference group consisting of Swedish architectural firms, interest groups for housing issues, and housing developers, who will be involved in several phases of the project, including the design of surveys, scenario building, and policy development.

How can social and cultural meeting places become engines of the energy transition? Co-PED – Community-based cultural and social centres as incubators for Positive Energy Districts – is a European research project that explores this very question. By establishing energy communities around cultural and civic centers in eight urban, peri-urban, and rural contexts across Europe, the project aims to empower local communities and promote sustainable energy systems.

As a research partner, RISE contributes with method development, energy systems expertise, and analysis of both technical and social impacts in these contexts. We collaborate closely with the eight participating cultural hubs – known as Urban Living Labs – supporting their development and how their facilities can be transformed into positive energy assets for their communities.

The eight cultural centers participating in Co-PED are:

• 1. Ifö Center – Bromölla, Sweden
• 2. La Friche La Belle de Mai – Marseille, France
• 3. BASIS Vinschgau Venosta – Silandro, Italy
• 4. Die Bäckerei Kulturbackstube – Innsbruck, Austria
• 5. Bakelit Multi Art Center – Budapest, Hungary
• 6. Bartók Quarter – Budapest, Hungary
• 7. Hart van Zuid – Rotterdam, Netherlands
• 8. Green Kommon – Plaine Commune (north of Paris), France

The project combines technological, social, and economic innovation with a strong focus on energy and climate justice. Through inclusive processes, where marginalized groups are also given a voice, Co-PED aims to create scalable, adaptable solutions for diverse local contexts across Europe.

The project, will the full title Exnovation for sufficiency: exploring pathways to an exnovation mindset and sufficiency futures, challenges the current approach of accelerating the transition to a circular economy mainly through innovation, i.e. adding circular solutions, such as products, business models and systems. In contrast, it addresses opportunities for exnovation, i.e. the phasing out and removal of key lock-ins mechanisms – material, social, and structural – that perpetuate unsustainable consumption and production practices. In this project, RISE, Lund University and Chalmers University of Technology set out to explore and realise the potential of exnovation for supporting a sufficiency-oriented circular economy.

To concretise the research, two sectors associated with high resource flows and significant impacts will be addressed: textiles, including clothing, and electronics, including information technology. Opportunities for exnovation at different system levels will be explored through literature reviews and small-scale exnovation experiments for three key actors: policy makers, organisations and consumers.

Guiding tools will be developed to support the actors in putting an exnovation for sufficiency mindset into practice, and implications for each actor will be synthesised, including exnovation pathways for sufficiency. Findings will be disseminated in the form of scientific publications, seminars, visual material and videos via a variety of channels. Expected impacts include the adoption of new mindsets and practices by policy makers, organisations and consumers, contributing to changes in consumption and production that enable society to stay within social and planetary boundaries.

The project is led by RISE and carried out together with the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University and Chalmers University of Technology. The project members consist of Sara Renström and Anneli Selvefors at RISE, Jessika Luth Richter and Carl Dalhammar at IIIEE and Helena Strömberg at Chalmers.

Are you curious about exnovation?

Do you want to stay updated on the project? Would you like to be invited to presentations, seminars, focus groups, workshops, or other activities? Would you like to participate in exnovation experiments? May we interview you? Or would you like to collaborate in some other way? Then you can sign up for our contact list via the turquoise button above to the right. You can also contact the project leader, Sara Renström.

Whatever age we are now, all of us are getting older. In the future, the proportion of older people will increase. Unless the system is fundamentally changed, society’s costs for elderly care will increase drastically.  

The project outcome, the speculative dining prototype worked as a pop-up display. It was designed as a 4-course dinner at a large table. The experiences at the table took participants on a journey where they got to create a relationship with their future older self. 

The purpose of the project was to help envision a future where no elderly person is undernourished and wherethe whole meal experience is a satisfying and positive experience. The work of “We are all Old” is relevant to PUSH:s mission of a food system that is promoting healthy lives for all. 

See video: https://vimeo.com/1068590785?share=copy

See publication: https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/nordes/nordes2025/researchpapers/8/

Register your interest.

During the last 30 years the climate challenge has primarily been approached as a risk and as a problem for companies. The focus has been on reducing emissions in companies and their value chains. Policies, tools and incentive structures have been developed based on the assumption that the best a company can do is reduce its own emissions and reach “Net-Zero”. This is based on a “static problem approach”, an approach where the large companies, the infrastructure and consumption patterns, are assumed as static and companies are only sources of emissions. Hence innovation has largely been limited to improvements, often incremental, in existing systems. This static problem approach made sense from 1997 when the Kyoto protocol was agreed and the rich countries agreed to reduce their emissions by 5%. But since 2015 and the Paris agreement, when the world agreed to deliver solutions to stay below 2 °C and aim for 1.5 °C while supporting global sustainability, a static problem approach is not enough. It is time to expand the climate and innovation agenda. 

While companies must ensure that the emissions over the value chain are compatible with a 1.5 °C development path, these emissions are only one side of the coin, and the less important from an innovation and a long-term perspective. Now the time has come for companies to stop taking their current business model as given and start to focus on what society needs and how they can deliver such solutions in ways that are globally sustainable.

The original reason society developed the idea of companies with limited liability was to accelerate innovation in areas where companies could deliver important contributions to society. As we now urgently need solutions that can deliver on human needs in sustainable ways, companies need to use their innovation capacity as solution providers. For this to happen the innovation ecosystem must shift focus from only a static problem approach to also include a dynamic solution approach where companies move from only climate risk innovation to also embrace climate solution innovation.

The need for companies as solution providers becomes even more important when we shift the focus to what is ultimately needed, i.e. not just solutions to stay below 1.5 °C, but a future where everyone can live flourishing lives on a flourishing planet. Instead of the reduction of emissions from existing companies and structures, the main challenge from a long-term perspective is to avoid emissions as we make people’s lives better, with the help of innovation. For this innovation to happen we need a new approach – a dynamic solution approach – an approach that focusses on companies as solution providers that deliver on human needs in ways that are globally sustainable.

When it comes to changes that are more than optimization of existing systems it is important to focus on start-ups, as it is among these where the future is born. This is where most groundbreaking innovations in areas such as energy, mobility, and nutrition have reached society the last 30 years. It is also among start-ups where innovations have been born that allow us to meet, find information, work, and find friends in totally new ways. Hence, we need also to shift focus from large established companies to start-ups and new clusters with new innovative ways of delivering on human needs if we want to support global sustainability.

In order to unleash the full potential of companies they must move beyond product substitution. The four-step strategy developed by the Net-Zero Compatible Innovation Initiative was created to support a shift from a narrow product substitution and profit driven approach among companies, to a purpose driven approach with a focus on flourishing lives on a flourishing planet, where profit is a tool for positive change. It also encourages large companies to go beyond thinking of start-ups as only helping them to reduce scope 1-3 emissions. Instead, the four-step strategy supports and encourages large companies to approach start-ups as crucial partners for business model innovation that identify new revenue opportunities linked to delivering sustainable solutions that deliver on human needs, i.e. deliver avoided emissions in society. 

Through Win the Future, clusters of multinational companies and start-ups, together with key stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem will gain information, tools, and training to implement an expanded climate and innovation agenda, supported by:

• New tools such as scanning for human needs- and solution leadership
• Business model development for climate solution providers
• Innovative matchmaking
• Capacity to use established tools and concepts such as Planetary Boundaries and Science Based Targets to support an expanded climate and innovation agenda.
• New roles for the innovation ecosystem, including incubators, will also be explored.

We are looking for leadership and the work will be tailor-made for each participant. No resources are required beside active engagement and help to identify relevant data for smart solutions and business model development. We plan to bring an initial set of leaders to COP30 in November 2025 and those with interest for this should register before the end of March. Welcome to becoming a part of the future we need.

Register your interest to #winthefuture

The growth of fast fashion and textile production is associated with a substantial increase in global greenhouse gas emissions. A promising alternative to reduce the environmental impact of textiles is prolonging the useful life of clothes through repairs. The project intends to generate robust and data-based evidence on consumers’ motivations to repair garments and preferences for characteristics of garments that require repairs.

In this project, we rely on qualitative and quantitative approaches to investigate both garment’s features and personal attributes that drive consumers’ repair decisions. More specifically, to generate qualitative insights, we use the social practice theory, which considers a behaviour as consisting of materials (objects), competences (skills, etc.) and meanings (such as social significance). The project conducts a series focus group discussions to understand how garment repairs can fit into everyday life practices.

Our quantitative approach is grounded in the theory of random utility maximization in which we examine consumers’ preferences for various characteristics of garments that require repair services. For this purpose, the project develops and conducts a choice experiment survey on scenarios the mimic garment repair decisions consumers face in reality. The quantitative analysis generates insights about the trade-offs consumers make between repair costs and important garment characteristics including durability, damage severity, repair time and replacement value.   

The project intends to also identify and test behavioural interventions that encourage consumers to repair garments. We leverage a digital platform for garment repairs that is under development by one of the project partners, Circle Wear AB, to test our proposed interventions.  Better understanding people's motivations and preferences for repairs leads to offering tailored services in the short-term, and consequently to a real-life transformation of clothing consumption habits where repairs are prioritized over purchasing new clothes.