Certification Systems and Urban Experiments

QC 20260415

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to deepen understanding of how sustainability is integrated into urban development through different governance instruments.The thesis focuses on two central instruments in contemporary urban development in Sweden: certification systems for sustainable urban areas and urban experiments. Previous research on certification systems has primarily examined the content, indicators, and structures of existing systems. This thesis instead focuses on how certification systems for urban areas are developed and shaped through trade-offs between competing principles and requirements that guide their design. By analysing a development process, the thesis contributes knowledge about the rationales and considerations that underpin certification as a governance instrument. In the case of urban experiments, it is often assumed that experimental projects generate learning that can be transferred beyond individual cases. However, questions of how such learning is organised and scaled within municipal organisations have received less attention. This thesis therefore examines how learning from urban experiments can be identified, organised, and scaled in municipal practice. The research draws primarily on transdisciplinary and design-oriented approaches, in which knowledge is developed through close engagement with practice. A central empirical component is the development of the certification system Citylab Post-Construction, in which the researcher was actively involved. This provided an in-depth basis for analysing the trade-offs and considerations that shape certification system design. In addition, the thesis includes two empirical studies of urban experiments in municipal contexts, examining both the testing of new approaches to structuring upscaling and municipal practitioners’ perspectives on learning and organisational conditions. The findings show that the development of certification systems for sustainable urban areas is characterised by recurring trade-offs between competing principles, such as simplicity, comprehensiveness, and methodological credibility. Making these trade-offs explicit enhances understanding of why certification systems take the forms they do and what limitations follow from different design choices. The studies of urban experiments show that while experimentation can create opportunities for learning and innovation, such learning often remains project-bound unless supported by organisational structures. Upscaling learning depends primarily on organisational conditions within municipalities, including mandates, resources, and recipient capacity, rather than on the content or scope of individual experiments. Clarifying what should be scaled, how it can be scaled, and under what conditions is therefore a central part of making experimental knowledge actionable. Overall, the thesis shows that certification systems and urban experiments shape sustainable urban development in fundamentally different ways. Certification systems tend to reinforce established standards and ways of working, while their reliance on measurable and influenceable indicators means that sustainability dimensions that are difficult to quantify or attribute to specific actors risk receiving less attention. Urban experiments, in contrast, often stabilise project-based approaches to sustainability work, where continuous cycles of pilots and innovation can overshadow the upscaling of already tested solutions. At the same time, both instruments can play important roles in supporting the integration of sustainability in urban development, provided that their governing effects and limitations are recognised and managed in practice.

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