Linköping’s key takeaways from the lab

What are Linköpings key takeaways from the lab?

 

• What we concretely take with us are the inputs regarding the two cases here in Linköping. In the continued work on developing these areas, it will be relevant to review the groups’ presentations in more detail to see what we can continue to use.

 

• Other broader perspectives that were interesting to hear were the reactions from Norwegian and Danish municipalities, as well as from Malmö, about the importance of working long-term with a holistic approach and immeasurable values in urban development.

 

 

How can Linköping use the lab’s results in your ongoing work?

 

• The lab serves partly as inspiration, giving us fresh eyes on urban planning challenges that we have mostly handled internally before. It also allows us to use the results to reinforce ideas and plans we have previously based our work on. In this way, the lab both strengthens existing thoughts and provides opportunities to work with new angles.

 

What is the greatest benefit of organizing a lab?

 

• The lab gives us the opportunity to receive new input for development projects we have worked on or are working on, where colleagues from outside—who do not share our “colored lenses”—offer their perspective on urban planning issues and challenges. In general, the lab serves as a chance to “broaden our outlook” giving us insight into projects and work taking place across the Nordic region—essentially a concentrated form of trend monitoring.

 

• Many participants also highlighted qualities in the different areas (and in Linköping as a whole) that are easy to become “blind” to when we focus too much on the challenges. It is also valuable that our politicians hear the same things as we, the civil servants, do—not necessarily to create consensus on all issues, but to establish a shared reference point.