Master thesis: Abstract

ABSTRACT

Sea level is rising and glaciers are shrinking. Some animals have already moved to new homes while others are at the risk of extinction. Many agreed that it is already too late to stop climate change completely. We should accept the fact that our world is changing faster than we expected. It is time to change the way we build our cities in order to cope with this change. 

During the last decade, Gothenburg city has been faced major challenges in development of its waterfront areas. On one hand, there are many abandoned industrial land placed next tothe water in central parts of the city which need to be renewed. On the other hand, there is a high risk of flooding in these low-lying areas due to climate change. Thus, it is highly crucial to manage the future waterfront development in a way that the city and its waterfront are secured from being washed away.  

The key question here is how to develop a low-lying site along the water- such as Frihamnen in Gothenburg city- considering the serious risks of sea level rise and extreme weather events? What is an appropriate urban structure and city-water relationship in this context? 

The intention in this project is to find an optimum balance between pursuing economic growth and tackling climate change in the development of Frihamnen - former shipyard area along the Göta River in central Gothenburg. In other word, the purpose is to introduce a new urban waterfront structure which fulfills both economic and environmental needs of the society. The point of departure in this project was to study global and regional impacts of climate change and to investigate different ways of dealing with these impacts through planning and design of the built environment. Then a thorough analysis of different climatic and non climatic factors regarding the chosen site was conducted.  Based on the results of the earlier investigations and the site analysis, a new urban structure was proposed for the future development of Frihamnen. At the end, the design proposal was discussed and evaluated according to the defined planning objectives and new questions were formulated for further research in this field. 

Keywords:

Climate change, Climate adaptation and mitigation, Sustainable development, Living with water, Floating buildings