Stepwise Planning Pathways for Land Use in a Changing Coast (STEPMARK)

Project title: Stepwise Planning Pathways for Land Use in a Changing Coast (STEPMARK)
Project leader: Marcus Adolphson , SoM, KTH
Participating universities/companies/other organisations: Statens geotekniska institut (SGI), Statens väg- och transportforskningsinstitut (VTI), Kalmar kommun, Region Blekinge, Länsstyrelsen Kalmar, Boverket
Financing: Formas
Project period: 2025-2027

In the low-lying coastal areas in Blekinge and Kalmar counties, rising sea levels and flooding risk affecting residential areas, infrastructure, and valuable cultural and natural environments. Through the network Regional Coastal Cooperation Blekinge, Kalmar, and Gotland (RKS-BKG), it has become clear that coastal municipalities have significant needs for additional support in planning areas that may be affected by a rising sea. The STEPMARK policy lab aims to strengthen the institutional capacity of local, regional and national planning actors to move towards a dynamic and step-by-step planning model for land use along the coast. The STEPMARK policy lab builds on identified problems and need of planning actors and knowledge from ongoing research projects to develop policies to strengthen approaches to handle uncertainty and to gradually change coastal land use under changing conditions. STEPMARK gathers researchers with expertise in climate adaptation, urban planning, ecology, geology, scenario planning, and co-creation processes from SGI, VTI, and KTH together with Kalmar municipality, the County Administrative Board in Kalmar, Region Blekinge, and Boverket. STEPMARK uses methods such as backcasting, development of common visons and goals, and Dynamic Adaptation Policy Pathways in workshops and focus groups to develop a Handbook that can lead to a dynamic and stepwise planning tool with decision points.

Contact