Background

We are facing a demographic development with an increasing proportion of elderly people in our society. With challenges in competence provision as a consequence. Society has a limited amount of resources available to create and maintain our welfare.

In care, one measure could be to introduce more digital solutions to use the resources you have in an optimized way. In the long run, the goal is a dignified life and well-being for the elderly, cost-effective solutions for the municipality and a developing and attractive work environment for employees.

About the project

This project mapped, researched, analyzed and summarized the conditions that exist for a property to function as a hub for sharing data, which ultimately creates the conditions for resource optimization and better health.

Within the framework of the project, a digital twin was developed where data can be collected, put together and analyzed. The digital twin served as a test bed for the simulation of events, interventions and the development of new services and functions.

Through, among other things, technology and IoT in the property, data can be collected and then used to create value. The need for data collection comes from stakeholders with different motivations and areas of use. It can be about nursing, healthcare, technology, asset management, resource optimization, service services, business support /work tools, environment/, IoT.

The project's goal was to understand the conditions for data collection and the digital infrastructure. The project explored how data can be made available to different actors and create benefit in a controlled and innovation-promoting way (secure, standardized, efficient).

Lessons learned

The project gave us the knowledge to be able to prepare our properties in terms of construction technology and infrastructure to create increased safety and quality of life and a better working environment for employees. The experience can be used internally within the municipality for future procurement of new housing. As well as being returned to existing accommodation and future suppliers of real estate and technology.

The project's conditions

The project was carried out together with Haparanda, Hudiksvall municipality and Riksbyggen.

The work was carried out within The strategic innovation program IoT Sverige, 
a joint venture of Vinnova, Formas and Energimyndigheten.

Results

The guides consist of 6 quick guides that can be a guide and inspiration for those involved in the process of creating a new home for the elderly. You can find the quick guides on Riksbyggen's website

Project focus

The project analysed how location (central–peripheral), accessibility and social inclusion interact, and how these factors can inform decisions on school siting and school structure.

Methods

• Cross-sector, municipal perspective for policy analysis and evaluation of policy.
• Collaboration with two municipalities and twelve schools.
• Surveys of pupils and caregivers on perceived social values.
• Map-based web tool to collect and visualise data.
• Social Return on Investment (SROI) as the framework guiding the development and testing of a prototype valuation tool for school planning.

Results and benefits

• A methodology for strategic school siting that accounts for school choice, accessibility and social inclusion.
• A prototype valuation tool that supports cross-sector planning and enables comparison of alternatives.
• Basis to align objectives and policies related to school structure and location.

The quality of life for individuals with Autism is highly influenced not only by societal attitudes and the level of support provided by local and national authorities, but also by the spatial aspects of their surrounding environments. Spatial accessibility is a key factor that contributes to shaping the quality and range of social experiences available to individuals with autism and their families.

In line with the sustainability goals of fostering an inclusive society, this project offers new perspectives on how integrating the participation of the autism and autistic communities in public transport planning processes can help initiate and improve the general conditions around the social life of autistic individuals.

The project results aim to enhance the participation of the neurodiverse communities in the urban and community planning processes, thereby reinforcing the ideal of an inclusive, equitable and diverse society as the required conditions for living ‘together-in-difference’ in spatially just urban areas.

The Swedish forestry sector and manufacturing industry have long recognized the importance of actively addressing gender equality issues to create a more equal, attractive, and competitive industry. Commitment to these issues exists at many levels, and much has already been accomplished! However, a challenge remains in making the issue "top of mind" and integrating the work into the industry's everyday operations.

This project takes on the task of exploring how, together with industry stakeholders, we can utilize new approaches such as working with incentives, gamification, and new digital tools like Artificial Intelligence. The aim is to see how we can sustain engagement even in everyday activities.

The project employs a co-creative, norm-conscious design process to collaboratively develop and disseminate new knowledge together with employees from Indexator and Skogstekniska Klustret and its network.

To enhance the impact of the project, both insights and learnings about the solution developed and tested by the project, as well as the methodology employed, will be disseminated. Through the project, the goal is to inspire and make it accessible for more individuals to dare and want to incorporate methods/tools such as Artificial Intelligence and, for example, gamification into the industry's development and gender equality efforts.

This project examines whether, and the extent to which, individuals in different European contexts are willing to pay for urban housing amenities that encourage sharing. One pathway toward achieving the low-consumption goals of the Circular Economy is by sharing appliances, spaces, and facilities that are typically owned and accessed by isolated households.

European efforts to achieve the goals of the Circular Economy must reconcile a fast-growing cohort of single-person households. Each year more Europeans are living alone: Between 2009 and 2021, growth in the number of “single adult” households outpaced growth in all other household types by far, from 60.2 million to 76.7 million (27.4 percent growth) (Eurostat, 2022a). Meanwhile, in the same period “couple” households grew only about 4.0 percent and all other household types declined in number. “Single adult, childless” households now constitute the majority (50.9 percent) of total households in Sweden, 41 percent of households in the Netherlands, 34 percent of households in Slovenia, and approximately 36 percent of total households in the European Union (Eurostat, 2022b). In short: it has become increasingly common for individuals to live alone, in relatively larger units equipped with an exclusive set of appliances, accessories, and furniture. Residential sharing may help slow or reverse these trends, yet integrating such opportunities into residential development could be seen as a risk to housing developers as there is little knowledge about how consumers value different types of sharing opportunities in or near their home.

The primary goal of this study is thus to understand whether including shared-access amenities as part of a residential offering influences consumers’ willingness to pay for housing. 

Secondly, the study will examine in which contexts and with which customer segments housing developers and architects can profit by encouraging amenity sharing among residents. 

Thirdly, results will be compared to existing residential design standards and shared with building and design professionals to determine how sharing opportunities can be integrated systematically into future residential building projects. The study will use online surveys that help determine consumer preferences plus in-depth qualitative methods to examine how opportunities to share appliances, spaces, and other facilities influences individuals’ willingness to pay for urban housing. We will draw from large, randomized samples of adults in three countires: Sweden, The Netherlands, and Slovenia to determine how consumers' willingness to pay for residential sharing varies across international contexts. Sampling will allow researchers to test the influences of respondents' age, gender, income, household structure, and urban/suburban/rural location to identify potential customer segments for circular housing. Researchers from all three countries will collaborate with housing developers, architects, urban public authorities, and special interest groups to co-design survey items and data collection methods so that results offer insights into existing and upcoming residential development projects. Understanding whether, where, and among what types of customers the demand for circular housing solutions already exists could help encourage the production of circular housing options and speed up transitions for sustainability.

This project is managed by researchers at RISE Research Institiutes of Sweden. The Swedish research team will oversee project goals and coordinate budgeting, internal communication, and communication with funding agencies. RISE researchers will also contribute all other portions of the project including focus groups, article composition, and external communication. RISE researchers will be leading the core data collectioin and analysis portion of the project, specifically with regard to web-based surveys and choice modelling. RISE researchers will be supported by professionals from Krook & Tjäder Architects, MKB Fästigets (Malmö), and housing developer Riksbyggen. These industry partners will help develop a survey questions for Swedish housing consumers and ensure that the results of the research are delivered in a way that is relevant and inspiring to the Swedish housing industry.

Hemmaplan is a newly formed real estate company that develops and manages downtown properties and meeting places in neighborhoods with socio-economic challenges. The company's long-term goal is to contribute to positive social development in the areas where they own properties together with those who live and work there, as well as to show how positive social development can contribute to good business opportunities for the real estate company.

In October 2022, Hemmaplan took over as property owner in Gottsunda Centrum: a center facility that contains everything from shops, restaurants and cafes to office hotels, cultural center, health center, public dental care, family center as well as recurring events and festivals. This with the goal that Gottsunda Center should be an economically robust center environment that generates positive outcomes for both center visitors and the surrounding area, this in the form of values such as health, safety, employment, education and participation.

As part of this, RISE and Hemmaplan have established a joint research partnership and project with a focus on Gottsunda Centre. The purpose of the project is for RISE and Hemmaplan to together realize the latter's ability to conduct an even more inclusive, small-scale, fast-paced, communicative, scientifically based and needs- and data-driven working method that is integrated into the entire local line organization, which can then be scaled up to other properties that Hemmaplan owns.

The project's working method: action research

The project's overall working method is so-called action research. Action research means, firstly, that RISE contributes with learning, development efforts and qualitative process support. This takes place partly as a support function that challenges and supports the development work in Gottsunda. Partly by contributing to and testing new working methods and models in order to systematically and continuously design and follow up the effects of physical and social interventions and investments on the site. Action research means, secondly, that RISE simultaneously studies both Hemmaplan's way of organizing itself and the effects of the tests that the partners carry out together, this in dialogue with previous research in relevant fields.

The action researcher acts proactively by anticipating future situations, for example when a project effort risks not reaching its goals. In such a case, the task of the action researcher may be to create space for preventive measures by assisting with support for a management and organizational change.

The project's parts

The project consists of a number of overall parts.

1.  Current situation analysis: In dialogue with Hemmaplan, RISE conducts a current situation analysis of how the latter's work is organized with a focus on 1) how they currently invest in, design, implement and follow up their efforts and 2) how Gottsunda Center functions as a place. A theoretical framework is developed that gives the project participants a common frame of reference and conceptual apparatus.

2.  Theory of change: a so-called theory of change is developed that shows the change that the various parts of the project are supposed to contribute to in connection with Hemmaplan's goals. The theory of change helps Hemmaplan in the implementation of working methods and reporting of results.

3.  Trend & Scenario Model: A trend and scenario model is developed and applied by Hemmaplan continuously during the project as a way to systematically and continuously discuss possible future interventions and their effects, this as support for achieving Hemmaplan's goals and vision.

4.  Indicators and model for data collection and analysis: Indicators in the form of process measures (for example visitor statistics) and impact measures (for example perceived security) are developed, as well as methods for data collection and analysis. These are tested by Hemmaplan and RISE on a number of actual interventions and further developed accordingly.

5.  Analysis guidance: An analysis guidance aimed at Hemmaplan is drawn up, which aims to ensure Hemmaplan's conditions to continuously follow up and evaluate its operations on its own in the future.

6.  Universal design: A model for universal design is developed and tested. Universal design means that people with different individual requirements must be involved in social governance as early as possible and throughout the entire process. This via design solutions in the form of services, products and environments that respond to needs. In the case of Gottsunda centre, it is about both an accessible social living environment (being able to socialize and be part of context) and physical accessibility (being able to safely move through, stay in, and use both the indoor and outdoor environment). Universal design is as much about social and experience-based inclusion as physical, it must not only be possible to enter and use an environment, it must also be experienced as safe and inviting.

7.  Ongoing efforts - Tertiary follow-up: RISE carries out ongoing evaluations three times a year (tertially) based on the collection, analysis and reporting of data as well as follow-up efforts to support Hemmaplan's continued work.

Project organization

From RISE's side, a team of researchers and analysts with expertise in people's behaviors and experiences in downtown environments, universal design and accessible places, health and welfare issues, organization, management and control, social economy and qualitative and quantitative methodology participates.

Frövi is an urban area in the south-eastern part of Lindesberg municipality with just over 2,500 inhabitants. A total of approximately 23,500 people live in the municipality. Frövi and the region are expected to need a significant increase in population with the expansion of the Hinseberg institution and the industrial-scale tomato cultivation production. This is about 350 new jobs. RISE is conducting a current situation analysis that will clarify the prevailing conditions for the urban area of Frövi in Lindesberg municipality. In addition, Frövi's community development needs must be investigated in a local, municipal and regional context. The current situation analysis must describe a zero/now situation for Frövi and its surroundings. The following questions are central: – What defines Frövi, Lindesberg municipality and the region today based on needs and challenges? -Which inter-municipal and regional cooperation processes can be decisive for Frövi's long-term sustainable development?

CURRENT SITUATION ANALYSIS

The current situation analysis should serve as support for the municipality and the region to concretize long-term goals. RISE's ambition over time is to – based on the current situation analysis – support Frövi's development process. The main purpose of the current situation analysis is to build organizational conditions and institutional capacity as a basis for meeting the adjustment process that Frövi, Lindesberg municipality, neighboring municipalities and the region are facing.

Welfare challenges. The current situation analysis must include analysis of the following:

• Housing supply: Housing needs based on demographics, growth, labor market development, current housing stock
• Mobility: National, regional and municipal traffic supply plans. Location of industry – freight transport – infrastructure mobilization. Mobility solutions - public transport - work and study commuting
• Labor market: Labor market needs - changing labor market - demand for labor relative to the demographic situation
• Competence supply: Capacity to supply the needs of working life with competences – accessibility to education – opportunities for competence conversion
• Service: Access to public and commercial service – capacity to change for increased need
• School: Study results – eligibility for upper secondary school – school attendance – mental illness – drug abuse – crime – initiatives LVU
• Culture and leisure: Access to cultural and leisure institutions – cultural school and leisure activities – free cultural and leisure life (non-profit involvement)
• Health and well-being: Groups in particularly vulnerable positions - mobilization for people's sustainable well-being and mental health.

Data collection. The data collection of the current situation analysis is carried out via:

• Statistical basis: demographic data, i.a. Kolada
• Governing documents: Analysis of existing governing documents that regulate the municipal and regional activities (overview plan, detailed plans, sustainability programs, the RUS, rural programs, etcetera)
• Documentation: Of already completed meetings during the spring and summer of 2023
• Workshops and interviews: Mainly municipal and regional representation