It is now well known that there are resources in north that Sweden and Europe need in order to transform. Both large and small companies have chosen to locate in the area. One example is the defence industry in Örnsköldsvik, which is developing rapidly.

A regional resource that is not so often highlighted in this context is the strong social capital. This is the view of Jonas Joelsson, Research and Business developer at RISE in Umeå. 

– The region holds the keys to the development that the whole of Europe needs to make. It is certainly about natural resources in the form of green energy, forests, clean water and minerals, but it is also about the social capital. There is a high level of trust in the system among residents, and when there is a list of the best places to live in Sweden, all the cities in northern Sweden are in top 15, he says: 

– At a time when social divisions and polarisation are major problems, it is a great advantage to be able to build on the trust that exists in Sweden and especially in the north. The social fabric is a European issue. In building sustainable, inclusive and attractive cities, wherever they are, the cultural and social sectors play an important role in creating attractiveness and cohesion.

"A virtual million city"

The North Sweden European Office, an association of regional actors in Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland Härjedalen and Västernorrland, describes how the region is considered part of the European Arctic with the most sparsely populated population structure in the EU – and at the same time has one of the strongest innovation systems in the Union, with an attractive urban environment. 

– I like to describe our region as a European systems demonstrator or mega testbed. The region as a whole has a current population of 900,000, and there has been talk of an increase of 100,000 in the context of the initiatives. That is a total of one million people, a virtual million city, you might say. The view of northern Sweden as a single entity gives the actors here more peace of mind and security in the face of change, says Albert Edman, Senior Project Manager at RISE in Umeå.

Individually, cities and municipalities would struggle to implement the infrastructure projects needed to keep the green industrialisation wave going, but together – united as a virtual city of millions - there is a completely different capacity.

RISE has taken on the role of facilitator and platform builder in northern Sweden to make it easier for public and private actors to work together and make joint decisions.  

Common strategy sets the framework for the future

A concrete example of "million city thinking" in action is "Thriving Northern Cities", where Luleå, Umeå, Örnsköldsvik, Östersund and Sundsvall have worked together to develop a strategy for sustainable urban development in the participating cities and in northern Sweden as a whole. One of the strategic goals is to build resource-efficient, climate-friendly and attractive buildings in order to attract people and, not least, investors who are committed to sustainable development.

Albert Edman gives an insight into what the discussions are about at the time of writing.

– In the past, the discussions were about attracting talents, but now the agenda is about retaining talents, i.e. keeping those who are already here. If jobs are lost in one of the larger companies, the region does not want to lose the people who have moved here from outside Europe. It is therefore crucial that other cities in the North are ready to receive and employ these talents as a city of millions.

Continuing to collaborate and mobilise around challenges such as talent retention is essential for sustainable urban development and as a crucial link in Europe's transformation.

– Adopting new ways of working and new knowledge is costly. It is much easier if you can do it effectively together. We are of course working with companies on technical development in detail, but the role of helping to create a structure for cooperation in the North is particularly important for the future, says Albert Edman.

- AI can be used to support certain sub-processes, especially in areas where we have large amounts of data to be investigated and analysed, which is time-consuming when done manually. The urban planning process that forms the basis for how we design and plan our communities is enormously information-intensive - and there are many parallel processes and documents to be produced that are interesting to consider how they can be streamlined with the support of the increased availability of data and new technology,’ says Jenny Carlstedt, project manager in architecture and spatial planning at RISE.  

She continues: 

- The process that is closest to being partially automated is the building permit process, which is very rule-driven. Here we can see some attempts made on simpler forms of building permits, for example for fences or similar limited cases. The vision here is to be able to streamline the process even more, and not least with the support of AI, to be able to offer residents more efficient processing. The difficulty in automating building permits lies partly in the documentation, which is not good enough today, and partly in regulations that are not designed for digital processes. In all historical regulations, such as those that apply to a detailed plan, the aim has been to give municipalities freedom in design and organisation. This means that there is room for many different interpretations within the regulations, which AI finds difficult to handle today. 

Jenny Carlstedt nevertheless believes that AI can already work in certain areas of the spatial planning process:

- For example, a lot of research is being done on how AI can support the digitalisation of older detailed plans. If we are to be able to create more automated processes for building permits, for example, older detailed plans are a volume of information that needs to be available. With the large amount of detailed plans that exist, as well as the complexity of the data, it is an interesting amount of information to test AI on.

Much to gain from increased digitalisation 

Built Environment is a complex sector with large amounts of information and processes, which creates good opportunities for streamlining in the future. But it is also a big part of the challenge ahead, according to Jenny Carlstedt: 

- There are many processes and stakeholders that need to understand each other. There is data from all systems both above and below ground. There are enormous opportunities for savings with new technology. Just think of the parts of management that could be improved, for example in predictive analysis such as the status of light bulbs in buildings or outdoors. There, a sensor could easily sense when it's time to change the bulb and maybe even send an order directly to the system. Or, even better, linked to sewers if there are sensors that can detect before leaks are likely to occur or if there is a risk of overflow during high water flows. This would mean huge savings for society,’ she says.  

Another aspect of digitalisation that is important to consider is the security aspect. Certain types of information related to critical societal functions may be sensitive to be fed into AI platforms, in the case of systems where the information becomes accessible to anyone. 

- We cannot make all types of information available for this reason, especially when access to multiple pieces of data that are not individually classified can become so when aggregated with other data. But despite this risk, there is still incredible potential in digital development for the spatial planning sector,’ explains Jenny Carlstedt.  

Supporting climate change adaptation 

One important area where AI and digitalisation can play a crucial role in the future is in climate adaptation. Alexander Gösta is an architect specialising in urban planning and the use of digital tools in the planning process at RISE. He has recently worked on a project looking at digitalisation in the service of the climate. 

- We looked at how digitalisation can support climate adaptation issues. Among other things, what opportunities there are to gather the flow of information and access relevant data for urban planners and for the operation of properties. Here, we have collaborated with a number of other actors in the field of visualisation, as well as the Open Platforms for Building Automation network coordinated by RISE,’ he says. 

This work is being developed with a number of municipalities that are interested and active in the issue. 

- We have involved our climate adaptation experts at RISE. This means that we can develop both digitalisation and climate adaptation work together,’ says Alexander Gösta. ‘These are two areas that both require coordination, and the municipalities can succeed if they work together in their respective organisations. So if you are interested and work in a municipality, just contact me or Jenny. 

Technology development in full swing 

Alexander Gösta is also involved in a new initiative at RISE focusing on the urban development of the future - AI as a catalyst for sustainable decisions. This work will involve RISE's collective expertise in everything from AI and cybersecurity to connected cities.   

- We will also work with a company that can create 3D models and examples of plots in a new way to test different exploitation possibilities. Here we will investigate the possibility of adding a machine learning component to make the programme work smarter, and take better account of the desired performance and boundary conditions before the system starts generating proposals. 

Many people today believe that AI can solve everything as long as you have an idea, but according to Alexander Gösta, it's not quite that simple.  

- No, but we hope to go a long way in this project by switching on better prediction models, such as an AI that can predict that if this is what you want, this is the best solution, before it generates thousands of proposals that take a lot of time and consume a lot of energy.  

Collaboration and data sharing  

AI and digitalisation are relevant and many discussions are ongoing in the industry. But according to Jenny Carlstedt, we are still in the very early stages of development.  

- Development is moving fast and in the near future we will have tools and technologies that will facilitate the entire industry, I am absolutely convinced of that. Some municipalities and cities will lead the way in this development and get a head start,’ she says.  

The big challenge, according to both, is that the built environment sector has been very traditional in terms of data historically, with different areas still working in silos, as well as the many processes that exist in a municipality on everything from building permits and traffic issues to education, care and emergency services.  

- This means that data is not available in a comprehensive way that would be needed to take advantage of all the possibilities of AI, and that is where the big work will be in the future. Collaboration between different actors is crucial, they both conclude.