Borders are essential in the current planning of cities since new forms of social relations are needed to support more sustainable ways of life. In this article, we present a case study of a sustainability-profiled new neighbourhood, Vallastaden in Sweden. We focus on how sustainability is enacted in different socio-material versions, which often include defusing borders between private and shared spaces. Shared space in Vallastaden includes spaces to facilitate meetings, such as felleshus (built as semi-communal, ground-level buildings, semi-indoor spaces, and greenhouses), winter gardens (built as rooftop, semi-private, semi-indoor, and social spaces), and the shared brook-park Broparken and farm-park Paradiset with rental allotments and communal gardens. Analysing how bordering practices create inclusion and exclusion, we study their consequences for the everyday lives of humans and non-humans in Vallastaden. We conceptualise these dynamics as fluid and fire space in order to make the ontological politics of bordering visible. Our study shows that the borders in the planned shared spaces are dynamic and create both fluid and fire space, depending on their socio-material relations. The research shows that planners need to take these heterogeneous socio-material relations into account when creating borders because, otherwise, they risk creating unfair exclusions.

Urban areas play an important role in attaining the sustainability and energy goals set by municipalities. Despite the often ambitious sustainability visions and goals for new urban areas, there is limited understanding of how these aspirations are integrated into the planning and development process. This paper aims to provide insights into how energy-related visions and goals, in a new district in Sweden, are formulated and further translated into instruments employed by the municipality. Brunnshög, a new sustainability-profiled district in Lund envisioned to become a leading example of sustainable urban development, is used as a case study. The district’s long-term energy goal is to generate more energy than what is used, emphasizing a strong focus on energy efficiency and local renewable energy generation. Key to Brunnshög’s energy strategy is the implementation of the world’s largest low-temperature district heating network supplied with excess heat from two high-tech research facilities. The planning process for Brunnshög began in 2006 and the district is expected to be completed in 2055, accommodating an estimated 40,000 residents and workers.

Adopting a municipal planning perspective, this paper combines analysis of planning documents with interviews conducted with developers and the municipality’s project manager for Brunnshög. The results provide an overview of how the energy-related visions and goals for Brunnshög have been included in the planning documents for the district and describe the utilization of three instruments used by the municipality to achieve these visions and goals: (1) collaboration contract with the local energy company, (2) land allocation competitions, and (3) sustainability agreements with the developers.

The formulation of visions and goals for Brunnshög, divided into long-term visionary goals and more immediate operational goals, allows for adjustments of specific aspects based on changing circumstances while still maintaining a commitment to broader visions and goals. The translation of energy goals into commitments is an evolving process, with the level of ambition influenced by factors such as the demand for housing and office space, competition among developers, and prevailing sustainability trends. This paper concludes that the integration of sustainability criteria into land allocation competitions is a powerful instrument for driving ambitious building projects. However, in contexts where the municipality lacks ownership of the land or faces subdued market conditions, there is a need for additional tools to be developed. Furthermore, sustainability agreements with developers serve as an important tool to track the sustainability commitments made in land allocation competitions. However, implementing a more systematic review and evaluation of these agreements, including long-term assessments, is necessary to learn from the experiences and hold the actors accountable. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of how energy goals can be sustained throughout lengthy urban development processes. Insights gained from development processes such as Brunnshög are essential for implementing the necessary changes to decrease the climate impact of new urban development projects and to mainstream the practices of sustainable urban development.

This paper explores the ontological politics and practices of handwashing using hot tap water during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden through attending to how handwashing was performed, what thoughts and emotions handwashing practices evoked, and reflections about why these thoughts and emotions emerged. In analyses based on written diaries, stories, digital photos, and videos from the private sphere of the home, we show how the concepts of humans, non-humans, childhood, economy, ethics, infrastructure, and nature – together with public health organizations’ promotions of handwashing recommendations – are enacted and woven into the fabric of hot tap water use. Hot tap water emerged as an ambiguous commodity, differently shaped depending on past experiences and how messages from authorities were received. The politics of the seemingly mundane activity of washing hands (especially prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) consists of connectivities and relationships between various phenomena in fluid space, and blurs the boundaries between local and global, past and present. Thrifty handwashing practices previously established in the private sphere were challenged during the COVID-19 pandemic, as popular versions of surgical scrubbing were promoted. These versions were sometimes challenged when the inclusion of hot water was questioned at home and in public debate.

Este artículo explora la política y las prácticas ontológicas del lavado de manos con agua caliente durante la pandemia de COVID-19 en Suecia, prestando atención a cómo se realizaba el lavado de manos, qué pensamientos y emociones evocaban las prácticas de lavado de manos y reflexiones sobre por qué surgieron estos pensamientos y emociones. En análisis basados en diarios escritos, historias, fotografías digitales y videos de la esfera privada del hogar, mostramos cómo los conceptos de humanos, no humanos, infancia, economía, ética, infraestructura y naturaleza, junto con las organizaciones de salud pública que promovían las recomendaciones de lavado de manos; se promulgan y se integran en el tejido del uso de agua caliente. El agua caliente desde el grifo surgió como un bien ambiguo, con formas diferentes según las experiencias pasadas y cómo se recibieron los mensajes de las autoridades. La política de la actividad aparentemente mundana de lavarse las manos (especialmente antes de la pandemia de COVID-19) consiste en conectividades y relaciones entre diversos fenómenos en un espacio fluido, y desdibuja los límites entre lo local y lo global, el pasado y el presente. Las prácticas ahorrativas de lavado de manos previamente establecidas en la esfera privada fueron cuestionadas durante la pandemia de COVID-19, cuando se promovieron versiones populares del lavado de manos quirúrgico. Estas versiones fueron cuestionadas en ocasiones cuando la inclusión del agua caliente fue cuestionada en el hogar y en el debate público.

Cet article étudie la politique ontologique et les pratiques de lavage de mains à l’eau chaude du robinet pendant la pandémie de COVID-19 en Suède. Il examine les techniques de lavage de mains, puis les pensées et les émotions qui en ont résulté. Il considère ensuite pourquoi ces dernières apparaissent. À l’aide d’analyses reposant sur des journaux personnels, des histoires, des photographies numériques et des vidéos provenant de l’espace privé du domicile, il montre comment les concepts d’humain, de non-humain, d’enfance, d’économie, d’éthique, d’infrastructure et de nature, ainsi que les promotions de conseils pour se laver les mains issus des organizations de santé publique, ont été adoptés et incorporés dans la trame de l’usage de l’eau chaude du robinet. Celle-ci s’avère être une ressource ambiguë, prenant des formes différentes selon les expériences vécues et la perception des messages gouvernementaux. La politique de cette activité apparemment ordinaire, surtout avant la pandémie, consistait de connectivités et de liens entre des phénomènes divers dans l’espace fluide, et estompe les frontières entre les échelles locale et internationale, entre le passé et le présent. Les pratiques économiques de lavage de mains, établies antérieurement dans l’espace privé, ont été remises en question pendant la pandémie de COVID-19, avec la promotion de versions populaires de la désinfection chirurgicale. Celles-ci étaient parfois contestées quand l’inclusion de l’eau chaude était remise en cause à la maison ou dans le discours public.

This article explores how sustainability is made present and visible in the life of residents in a new neighbourhood. Glass is enacted by design professionals and a Swedish municipality to create spaces for residents that fulfil sustainability objectives and put daily life on display. However, some practises developed by residents resist the intended uses of these spaces. Through a detailed case study of the proclaimed new role model neighbourhood of Vallastaden in Linkoping, Sweden, we critically investigate the ontological politics of the residents everyday life, including their social life with neighbours, low-energy living, interactions with local small businesses, recycling habits and mobility habits. By attending to glass, we show how humans, non-humans, materials and technologies become part of everyday practises and help uncover the ontological politics of mundane life.

Over the past 30 years, several sustainability-profiled districts have been developed in Sweden with high ambitions for the energy systems, such as Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm and Western Harbor in Malmö. Research into energy systems in urban districts is interdisciplinary and therefore spread over different areas, which means that an overview of the current state of knowledge and lessons learned is lacking. This semi-systematic literature review aims to provide an overview of previous research on the planning, development, and evaluation of energy systems in sustainability-profiled districts in Sweden. The review of 70 journal and conference articles reveals seven research themes in the interdisciplinary nexus of energy systems and sustainability-profiled districts: (1) Conceptualizations and critique of sustainability-profiled districts, (2) Evaluations of energy goals and requirements, (3) Technical and economic assessments of heating and electricity systems, (4) Integration of innovative (energy) solutions in urban planning, (5) Stakeholder perspectives on energy systems, (6) Stakeholder collaboration on the building and the district level, (7) Governance and policy instruments for sustainable urban development and energy systems. We use a socio-technical ecology approach to critically discuss the existing research on energy systems planning, development, and evaluation to guide future research on energy systems development in urban districts. An increase in integrated approaches across all identified research themes and relationships between scales, phases, and impacts are discussed as central observations that can guide future research. Future research is needed on new or better-adapted energy indicators, the inclusion, perspectives, and roles of (new) stakeholders, and the consideration of ecology and nature in research on the planning, development, and evaluation of energy systems.

Workshops provide a flexible approach to study complex issues through socio-material practices and this paper discusses the methodological considerations involved in doing research through workshops. The paper builds on two research projects where workshops were used to study the practices of professionals’ use of digital tools at a consultancy firm and the everyday life of residents in a newly built city district. While the workshops targeted different groups and had different forms, they both made use of material expressions to visualise everyday practices. We reflect on how we can make use of workshops to study professional and everyday practices and how knowledge is enacted in the different workshops. Building on a socio-material relations approach we discuss our choices in designing workshops, the analytical processes involved and the consequences these choices have on what knowledge we create in interaction with the participants.

Making buildings more energy efficient is an important part of achieving the European Union's energy and climate goals, which several directives, policies, and measures has addressed over the years. This paper aims to study changes over a 10-year period in perception on barriers to and drivers for energy efficiency in the Swedish building sector and identifying success factors. The data collection consists of surveys conducted in 2010 and 2020 among organizations that mainly build, own, and manage multi-dwelling buildings. Besides the overall result, special focus is given to changes depending on type of ownership, size of organization, and organizational hierarchy. Lack of time or other priorities and slim organizations remain the most important barriers, which is most evident among small organizations. Reducing cost remains the major driver. The uncertainty surrounding a rising energy price has diminished and cost-effective solutions are more adaptable. More capital for energy efficiency is available, particularly in the private sector. Furthermore, the result acknowledges the impact of regulatory measures. The study recognizes a connection between organizational development and the integration of energy efficiency in an organizations’ agenda. Future challenges are related to hidden costs and knowledge acquisition.

Over the past decade, the field of design for sustainable behaviour (DfSB) has gained agrowing amount of research interest. However, as the field evolves, new challenges also arise.A suitable unit of analysis is needed to contextualize users’ behaviour issues in a broadersocio-cultural and long-term perspective. This paper explores the use of activity theory(AT) as a potential lens for guiding empirical analysis and design exploration in DfSB. Byemploying a meta-synthesis approach, we systematically search and synthesize existingstudies that adopted AT in design for sustainability. Key findings show that AT’s principlesand theoretical implications are especially useful for helping design researchers frame andaddress DfSB challenges. We argue that by taking activity as the unit of analysis, the AT lenscan enable researchers to incorporate users’ dynamic, multi-level and complex activitysystems into DfSB considerations.

The notion of borders as topological and processes could elucidate ecological and social dimensions of sustainability and aid analyses of relations between humans, non-humans and our socio-material world. In this paper we present research based on a detailed case study on a state-of-the-art new neighbourhood with political objectives to display sustainability in the built environment and housing. We focus on glass as a building material and feature to include, exclude, show and hide elements of sustainability in time-space. Some recurring components featuring glass in this neighbourhood are: Felleshus (built as semi-communal ground level buildings, semi-indoor spaces and greenhouses), Wintergardens (built as roof-top semi-private, semi-indoor and social spaces), bicycle storage rooms and spaces for household waste recycling. When humans and non-humans interact in different practices relations are dynamic and constantly negotiated; bordering processes indicate that borders are made and remade. Topological understandings of borders show how quieter registers of power find reach into this neighbourhood and homes. Political definitions of ecological and social dimensions of sustainability are found in different socio-material versions, often including glass as a feature to aid desirable bordering processes. These processes may sometimes invite sustainable interactions between humans and non-humans, sometimes reject interactions. We argue that despite the solid state of glass, it could be enacted for making ecological and social dimension of sustainability fluid and partly open, partly closed for different versions of sustainability.