7-9 October, 2025. A large group NbS enthusiasts in Arcadia from Austria, Denmark, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands gathered in Skåne, Sweden at the beginning of October learn about concrete NbS measures in the city and in the countryside. Together, they explored an urban forest, blue-green corridors and wetlands, and restoration measures around the Tullstorp river to handle droughts, heat, floodings and pollution. Solutions that are interesting to replicate elsewhere, often in collaboration with community groups and land owners.
The urban forest in a ferry terminal can be a model for other cities
The urban forest in an old ferry terminal in city of Malmö, first of the three Living Labs built in Arcadia in Sweden, has taken shape with high raised earth beds with newly planted trees. In front of the old ferry terminal, the city of Malmö is testing planting above ground. The reason they cannot dig below the asphalt is the contaminated soil and large amounts of cables hidden under the surface. If the experiment works, the concept can be used to green more places in Malmö and cities around Sweden. Contaminated soil and underground cables are a common problem when planting plants and trees in all cities.
Five different substrate mixtures are being tested in the beds, the most innovative one consisting of sand and compost. The plants are seedlings typical of coastal vegetation to mimic what originally grew on the site, which is known to withstand the special conditions of harbor site with salt and wind exposure. This increases the chances of the plants surviving.
We believe that the plants and trees will cope. How much they will grow is another question, but we expect up to eight meters. They have plenty of soil, actually more than when we plant directly in the ground on the street. The disadvantage is that we need to water if it does not rain enough, explained Ludwig Sonesson, project manager for the urban forest in the city of Malmö.
The urban forest in front of the old ferry terminal in Nyhamnen in Malmö has five plant beds with different substrate mixtures. They are located above ground due to contaminated soil and the large number of underground pipes.
Blue-green corridors with wetlands, two-step ditches and re-meandered watercourses
From city to countryside. The group went on to Helsingborg to look at blue-green corridors that the municipality has been working on since the 1990s and still continue to expand. Here, wetlands, two-step ditches and re-meandered watercourses have been created to reduce flooding in the fields. The old type of ditches is narrow with steep edges and quickly flood when there is heavy rain. To reduce flooding, the edges have been dug out and made sloping, so-called two-step ditches, to swallow significantly more water. In general, Helsingborg has not planted plants and trees and instead let nature “plant itself”. The positive thing is that the corridors need very little maintenance.
Even though landowners have needed to hand over some land for the solutions, their agricultural production has not decreased since the land they released was often flooded in the past.
Helsingborg is working with two-stage ditches, wetlands and “re-meandering” of watercourses. Instead of planting plants, they have let nature take care of the planting itself.
Landowners implemented nature-based solutions at Tullstorp river
The last study visit was made at Tullstorp river in Trelleborg. It is not a Co-Innovation Lab in Arcadia, but what has been achieved serves as a model for what city of Lund Municipality wants to do on a larger scale at Kävlinge river, their Co-Innovation Lab. In the Tullstorp river project, the landowners themselves came together in 2009 and decided to implement measures to reduce the landscape effects of drought, pollution and flooding. They saw a destroyed landscape and wanted to restore it.
In addition to restoring the river, they aimed to create 200 hectares of wetland, restoring good water quality in the Tullstorp river and reduce nutrient emissions to the Baltic Sea. Since then, they have worked with several different measures such as two-stage ditches, the construction of wetlands, re-meandering the river, planting trees and shrubs, and multifunctional water reservoirs.
Today, 15 years later, they can boast good results:
- 20 kilometers of the river have been restored
- More than 200 hectares of wetlands have been recreated
- Nitrogen has decreased by 30 percent
- Phosphorus has decreased by 30 percent on an annual basis
- Floods are gone
- Sea trout are back
- Water quality has improved
Christoffer Bonthron shows the measures taken at Tullstorp river. The project serves as a model for what Lund Municipality wants to do on a larger scale at Kävlinge river.
All of this has been implemented with external funding. The landowners have not had to contribute money and have been compensated for setting aside land for the solutions. Of the 51 landowners in the area, 50 ultimately participated in the work.
In the header: participants from Model Region Funen, Model Region Lower Austria, Fellow Region Plovdiv, Model Region Skåne and WUR in the Netherlands.