Riksbyggen signs an agreement with the University of Gothenburg

Riksbyggen has signed an agreement with the University of Gothenburg. The associate professor Björn Andersson at the Department for Social Work will lead the research with the ambition to practically apply the concept of sustainability to an actual housing project.

- It is an exciting and interesting initiative in several respects. We will work on developing theoretical perspectives on social sustainability as well as monitor the realization of an actual housing project, says Björn Andersson.

Social work has an important role to play with regards to establishing social perspectives on societal planning processes. In this project we will have the opportunity to develop our knowledge while working together with significant actors in the housing-sector as well as researchers from other departments, says Mona Franséhn who is the Head of the Department of Social Work.

Björn’s research will become part of a larger cooperative project called Positive Footprint Housing where a housing project and a research project are completed simultaneously. Riksbyggen initiated the collaboration with Chalmers’ Department of Architecture at Johanneberg Science Park in January, and both students and researchers are already actively involved in the process of designing the projects.

With a focus on people
Riksbyggen’s intention is to create a housing project where the discussion concerning social sustainability is developed and put to practice through a specific project. The research aims to, amongst other things, explore how the house is planned: for whom will the house be built and how do we create the preconditions for a sustainable existence. The project also involves the development of assessment criteria intended to be used when evaluating what it is like to live in the house.

- Riksbyggen is a cooperative company where people always come first. Not only do we build new buildings, but we also actively involve ourselves in the housing cooperatives to contribute with administrative services and collective activities. Our goal in this project is to connect the discussion about sustainability with the cooperative tradition and with the housing cooperative as the preferred type of organization, says Mikael Ekberg, regional manager at Riksbyggen.

The construction project is also intended to develop in positive interaction with the preexisting buildings and settlements in the local area. The research primarily aims to follow and monitor how the planning-process and the communication between different actors involved progresses, and potentially provide the support required for the process to evolve in a constructive manner.

Riksbyggen runs the research-project Positive Footprint Housing in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg at Johanneberg Science Park, which provides platforms to facilitate collaboration and cross-disciplinary exchange of ideas and knowledge between academia, industry, research institutes and the public sector.

Contact information:

Riksbyggen
Positive Footprint Housing
Michael Ekberg - regional manager, michael [dot] ekberg [at] riksbyggen [dot] se, 070-577 70 65
Mikael Ahlén - project manager, mikael [dot] ahlen [at] riksbyggen [dot] se, 070-587 24 04
www.riksbyggen.se
 
Johanneberg Science Park
Mats Bergh CEO,
mats [dot] bergh [at] johannebergsciencepark [dot] com, tel 031-772 4130

University of Gothenburg, Department for social work
Björn Andersson, bjorn [dot] andersson [at] socwork [dot] gu [dot] se, 031-786 1583
www.socwork.gu.se