Gothenburg

Managing industrial legacy of contaminated land by soil-inclusive planning

Gothenburg is Sweden's second largest city and covers an area of approximately 448 km² on the west coast of the country. The Göta Älv river runs through the city and flows into the Kattegat sea. The area shows signs of Mesolithic settlement and was of strategic importance as early as the 14th century. Gothenburg was officially founded in 1621 and built with the help of Dutch engineers, whose influence can still be seen in the city's canal system.

During the 18th century, the city became a hub for international trade through the East India Company and the export of iron and timber. In the 19th century, industrialisation and the expansion of the port infrastructure transformed Gothenburg into a major industrial city. Although the shipbuilding industry has disappeared, Gothenburg remains Scandinavia's largest port for container shipping and trade.

Today, the city combines dense urban development with extensive green and natural areas. Regeneration projects have transformed former industrial areas along the river - such as Lindholmen Science Park and Norra Älvstranden - into vibrant mixed-use areas. Urban expansion now focuses on reclaiming central waterfront areas for high-density development, with sustainability as a guiding principle. The surrounding landscape consists of rocky ridges and clay plains shaped by the last Ice Age. Thick marine clay deposits dominate the urbanised valleys, while the coastline transitions into an archipelago. Land uplift (about 3 mm/year) still exceeds sea level rise, but is partly offset by local subsidence.

Soil and Planning Challenges

Two of the main soil challenges in Göteborg are stability issues and subsidence due to the soft clay, and filling materials of different origins resulting in soil contamination. Large parts of the city are built upon filling material overlaying a thick layer of soft clay. The filling material is a mix of old waste material, dredging materials from the harbour, sludge from wastewater treatment plants and clean soils. Industrial activities, especially those from the city's rich maritime and manufacturing history, have left a legacy of polluted sites, sometimes in areas that are prone to landslides or flooding and erosion. Large infrastructure and city development projects within the city give rise to excessive amounts of excavated materials, which often do not become part of a circular economy, and the City of Gothenburg has set an ambitious goal to reuse 100% of environmentally and technically reusable excavated soil masses until year 2030.

Soil and Planning Opportunities

Urban regeneration projects have already repurposed several former industrial sites into mixed-use developments, particularly along the river. Gothenburg’s focus on sustainable urban development and green urbanism, including numerous parks and green spaces, shows the potential for integrating soil and environmental concerns into broader planning strategies. More effective management of contaminated land to reduce waste and increase reuse of excavated soil represents a significant opportunity to mitigate contamination, reduce waste, and support the city’s environmental and circular economy goals.

Ambition for the SPADES project

The focus of the pilot work in SPADES will be on how to improve the overall strategy and specific planning processes with regard to managing polluted sites and how to decrease the amount of waste generated by increasing the reuse of excavated soils. Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology are involved in the pilot together with representatives from the city’s Department of Development which is the largest landowner and develops and manages the land owned by the city.

Image by Göteborgs Stad. Used with permission.

Aerial view of Gothenburg.