SUSTAINORDIC

Project

SUSTAINORDIC is a Nordic platform operated by Form/Design Center that aims to promote sustainable cities and societies, as well as sustainable consumption and production in accordance with the UN’s global goals 11 and 12 in Agenda 2030.

Dorte Bo Bojesen, CEO Form/Design Center, during a SUSTAINORDIC event.

During 2022–2024, SUSTAINORDIC will focus on sustainable building materials and architecture, as part of a Nordic initiative to strengthen sustainable and competitive construction. The Nordic countries have joined together in an effort to find new knowledge and solutions to support the construction sector in becoming more sustainable.

The Nordic region is leading when it comes to green transition of construction and the Nordic Ministers of Construction and Housing wish to support this continual process through the implementation of the action plan for “Nordic Sustainable and Competitive Construction”.

The action plan is executed through a program of approx. 7,5 million EUR which is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and Nordic Innovation. The action plan forms part of Nordic Vision 2030, a vision for the Nordic countries to become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030.

The programs partners are from across the Nordic region and will collaborate on executing the work of five work packages that runs until the end of 2024. The Danish Housing and Planning Authority will be the secretariat for the program collaboration.

The five work packages will run through 2024 and the responsible partners are:

Nordic life cycle assessment and data (Ministry of Environment, Finland)
Circular business models and procurement (Nordic Innovation)
Sustainable construction materials and architecture (Form/Design Center)
Emission-free construction sites (Ministry of Social Affairs, Iceland)
Secretariat for Nordic co-operation on sustainable and competitive construction (The Danish Housing and Planning Authority)

Bild på byggnad från Carlsberg byen i Köpenhamn

Publication – Building within the Safe Operating Space

The construction industry is responsible for 40% of global carbon emissions and 50% of raw material extraction – a massive environmental impact. This publication dives into these critical issues, exploring how the sector can align our building industry with planetary boundaries.

The publication is published on the Nordic Council of Ministers' knowledge bank.

Read the publication

Knowledge bank

The first phase of SUSTAINORDIC has focussed on knowledge gathering around the question of what it takes to implement a truly sustainable construction sector in the Nordics. The take aways can be clustered into four focus areas or topics that is further explored in four articles with the purpose to have a deeper understanding and wider debate. Read these articles, and related round table conversations, on SUSTAINORDIC's website.

To the knowledge bank

Events 2022

Watch Pernille Martini Modvig the goal and purpose of the project.

Goal and purpose

With a focus on sustainable building materials and architecture during 2022–2024, SUSTAINORDIC will act as a bridge builder between the public sector, industry and academia with the goal of creating positive change and development in sustainable construction. To highlight the role of architecture, the possibilities of design processes and the importance of design in the development of sustainable living environments for all.

Through interdisciplinary collaboration and a broad knowledge platform, the goal is to strengthen and increase Nordic wood construction. To work according to a Nordic action plan for how the bioeconomy in building materials and construction can be used as a lever in the Nordic region to achieve the vision in Agenda 2030. SUSTAINORDIC focuses on relevant rules for wood construction and the value chain from forest to wooden houses based on a design perspective. The project also promotes other relevant bio-based materials.

The approach to achieving the project's goals is to initiate, facilitate and catalyze current issues and focus areas. To gather different actors and develop program formats such as lectures, debate and panel discussions relevant to the democracy festivals in the Nordics and a number of events such as The North West and Nordic Edge in Norway, New European Bauhaus Festival in Belgium, Southern Sweden Design Days and the Architecture Days at Form/Design Center in Sweden, Oslo Architecture Triennial in Norway, Forum Wood Building Nordic in Finland, Building Green and UIA World Congress in Denmark, and COP27 in Egypt. Pop-up exhibition formats can also be used for communication in a broader sense.

SUSTAINORDIC TEAM

Pernille Martini Modvig, project manager EIT Climate-KIC
https://nordic.climate-kic.org/who-we-are/climate-kic-in-the-nordics

Angelica Åkerman, manager strategic development architecture Form/Design Center

Dorte Bo Bojesen, CEO Form/Design Center

ASSOCIATED PARTNERS

Mads Randbøll Wolff, CEO and founder BÆREDYGTIGHED 2030

Nikolaj Sveistrup, CEO and founder URBAN AGENDA
https://urbanagenda.dk

WATCH THE EVENT FRONTIERS OF CIRCULAR ARCHITECTURE

The event, co-hosted by SUSTAINORDIC and Form/Design Center, focused on the role of architecture in mitigating climate change at the New European Bauhaus Festival in Brussels, 9th June 2022. Watch the full stream here!

Läs mer

BACKGROUND

SUSTAINORDIC was formed in 2015 with the aim of collecting and disseminating good Nordic examples of sustainable production and consumption internationally, as well as stimulating the development of national policies in the area. The project takes its starting point in a joint manifesto that has been developed to inspire patterns of sustainable consumption and production, with twelve underlying sub-goals. These are associated with ongoing Nordic projects with explicit sustainability ambitions in the field of the built environment. The project’s primary target groups were decision makers, politicians and academia.

SUSTAINORDIC was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and is in accordance with their vision of disseminating the Nordic perspective internationally. Participating stakeholders were The Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design (ArkDes)and Form/Design Center in Sweden, Design Forum Finland, Design og arkitektur Norge, Danish Design Center and Iceland Design Centre. The initiators and project owners were ArkDes and Form/Design Center. Since 2021, SUSTAINORDIC is run by Form/Design Center with the aim of promoting sustainable cities and communities from a Nordic perspective, as well as sustainable consumption and production in accordance with the UN's global goals 11 and 12 in Agenda 2030.

Ett samtal och en diskussion med en nordisk expertpanel som gjordes i samband med boklanseringen av The Nordic Report 03.

The Nordic Report

During 2018–2020, SUSTAINORDIC published the book The Nordic Report annually, which highlights good examples in sustainable production and consumption in the Nordic region. The publication is a summary of external monitoring and a deep dive into the UN's global goal 12 – sustainable production and consumption.

The Nordic Report 03 was published in 2020 and makes a deep dive for increased insight and understanding within Goal 12 in Agenda 2030 with twelve in-depth phenomena. Available to read online on sustainordic.com or buy a copy at Form/Design Centers webshop.

The Nordic Report 02 from 2019 contains twelve interviews and over a hundred initiatives that work towards the UN's global goal 12 – sustainable production and consumption. Available to read online on sustainordic.com or buy a copy at Form/Design Centers webshop.

The Nordic Report 01 was produced in 2018 and highlights good examples in sustainable production and consumption in the Nordic region. The aim is to promote sustainable consumption and production from a Nordic perspective. Available to read online on sustainordic.com or buy a copy at Form/Design Centers webshop.

SUSTAINORDIC

Publication – Building within the Safe Operating Space

Knowledge bank

Events 2022

The Nordic Pavilion – UIA World Congress of Architects

COP27, Sharm El-Sheikh

Arctic Circle Reykjavík

Democracy Festival Reykjavík

The Architecture Day 2022

Democracy Festival Arendalsuka

Democracy Festival SoumiAreena

Democracy Festival Almedalen Week Visby

Democracy Festival Folkemødet Bornholm