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Good practice Imported

Ekostaden Augustenborg - Malmo's Stormwater-Financed Green Roof & Open-Drainage Retrofit

Sweden · Malmo · See the Sweden profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 39% 53/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Facing chronic flooding, Malmo's 1997-2002 Augustenborg retrofit added ~10,000 m2 of green roofs and open stormwater channels/ponds across a 1950s estate, cutting annual runoff ~20% and surviving a 2007 50-year storm with no flooding, on a ~EUR 24m public/EU budget.

~10,000 m2
Green roof area added (1997-2002)
~20 %
Annual runoff volume reduction (vs conventional piped system)
6 km
Open stormwater channels built
10
Retention ponds built
~24 EUR million
Total programme funding
~90 %
Runoff routed to open system
~10 %
Energy efficiency gain vs 1998 baseline
Ekostaden Augustenborg - Malmo's Stormwater-Financed Green Roof & Open-Drainage Retrofit

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
City of Malmo & MKB Fastighets AB (public housing company)
Period
1997-2002 (core retrofit), ongoing
Region (NUTS)
SE224
Keywords
urban greening, green roofs, stormwater management, eco-district regeneration

Context

Augustenborg, a public-housing district built 1948-1952 in Malmo, suffered recurring basement flooding and social decline by the 1990s under a conventional piped drainage system.

Objectives

Rebuild the district's drainage around nature-based, open stormwater infrastructure instead of enlarging underground pipes, cutting flood risk while regenerating the estate.

Activities

From 1997-2002 the City of Malmo and housing company MKB added roughly 10,000 m2 of green roofs (including a 9,500 m2 botanical roof garden), 6 km of open surface-water channels, ten retention ponds and porous paving, routing about 90% of roof and hard-surface runoff into the open system.

Results

Total annual runoff volume fell about 20% versus a conventional piped system; energy efficiency rose roughly 10% versus a 1998 baseline (35% versus the original 1950s construction); and when a 50-year rainfall event struck Malmo in 2007, Augustenborg was the district spared flooding. Public sources do not report a quantified biodiversity monitoring result despite qualitative claims that the roofs and ponds increase biodiversity.

Conclusions

The retrofit won the UN World Habitat Award in 2010 and is widely cited as a reference model for financing nature-based drainage through a multi-funder public budget, though its biodiversity claims remain unmeasured.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
City of Malmo, MKB Fastighets AB (public housing company)

Conditions for success

  • Multi-funder financing combining the city, national Local Investment Programme and EU LIFE fund with the housing company
  • Integrated open stormwater design replacing pipe enlargement
  • Sustained city-housing company partnership over the multi-year retrofit

Commonly funded by

LIFE Programme National / regional programmes Own resources / municipal budget

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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