INVITATION
Sustainable Sweden Association provides an opportunity for people to visit Sweden for inspiration and learning. The educational program covers one week. All education, travel, meals and accommodations are included.
This is an excellent opportunity to deepen your knowledge, expand your network and exchange experiences.
Join us on a journey starting in Copenhagen, Denmark, for a short introduction to the tour’s theme – eco-municipalities in theory and practice.
After that, we will take the train to Karlskrona, kicking off a trip designed to utilize nearly entirely climate-smart public transport.
In Karlskrona you will meet Torbjörn Lahti, Sustainable Sweden Association, who started Sweden’s first eco-municipality 40 years ago and Lisa Välitalo, Blekinge Institute of Technology, who recently completed her PhD on the topic of Swedish eco-municipalities. The municipalities we are going to visit during this tour have participated in her project, as is also documented in her doctoral thesis. Torbjörn and Lisa will talk about the history and framework of the Swedish eco-municipalities and how it has developed over the years. Through a visit to Blekinge Institute of Technology, you’ll learn all about systems thinking, a cornerstone of the eco-municipality model.
We’re in for an amazing journey! Together, we’ll be exploring the theory and seeing how it plays out in our host municipalities. The first example is Karlskrona, a city with magnificent historic wings and an incredible archipelago. Here we will learn about how the municipality is guided by the framework to plan and implement measures in its mission to meet the needs of citizens.
The journey then continues along the beautiful east coast to the eco-municipality of Västervik, located by the Baltic Sea but also in one of the driest areas of Sweden. The need to conserve water resources led to fascinating initiatives, for example collecting rainwater on the roof of an old age care home for use in toilets. Here, oak trees are common in the landscape. They can be the home of up to a thousand species and are therefore important for maintaining biodiversity. Trees also provide shadow and health benefits in a hotter climate, an ecosystem service of great value!
Our next trip by bus and ferry will take us to our third destination: Åland. The Åland Islands, or Åland, is an autonomous region of Finland. This Swedish-speaking archipelago is located in the Baltic Sea. This autonomous area showcases how culture and values can change society in a sustainable direction! Our study visit will explore experiences in many different areas. After the presentations, we offer study visits with choices to learn about social empowerment, sustainable consumption, food and fish production, biological diversity (water, wetland) or sustainable banking.
Finally, we will end up in Sweden’s vibrant capital, Stockholm, where we offer a city walk that mixes history and sustainability. You’ll discover how Stockholm integrates sustainability into its daily life through innovative urban solutions. Stockholm’s unique charm and progressive spirit provide the perfect conclusion to this tour! Before we part ways, we will summarize the journey and our experiences during a reflective session.
This is an excellent opportunity to deepen your knowledge, expand your network and exchange experiences. Traveling together with like-minded people from different countries is an incredible experience! It’s hard to put into words how much we learn from each other, but we’re excited to share this amazing journey with you.
We are thrilled to announce that Torbjörn Lahti and Barbro Kalla from Sustainable Sweden will guide you throughout your journey!
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About us
- Torbjörn Lahti, Sustainable Sweden Association, started Sweden’s first eco-municipality 40 years ago and has been fundamentally important for the development of the world’s eco-community movement. From having been a project manager in the world’s oldest eco-municipality during the 1980s. He coordinated and trained the Swedish eco-municipalities during the 1990s. He developed the concept of eco-municipality 5.0 as his guiding star, and he spent the last twenty years working to spread the concept internationally. He has been a tour leader in around twenty Sustainable Sweden Tours where participants from all over the world were able to take part in the Swedish eco-communities experience. In this way, the eco-community concept has taken hold around the world. He is now actively working to build a global virtual platform for eco-municipalities called Ecomuna.
- Lisa Välitalo, Blekinge Institute of Technology, recently completed her PhD on the topic of Swedish eco-municipalities. Lisa also has her roots in the Swedish eco-community movement. Already during her first university years, she came into contact with Torbjörn Lahti and did both an internship and a thesis work in collaboration with him. Well out on the job market, she eventually ended up in the eco-municipality of Karlskrona. She was later employed by SEKOM (The Swedish Ecomunicipality Association), which had its office in Karlskrona. A few years later, she began her research studies at BTH (Blekinge Technical University) with a focus on how eco-municipalities implement FSSD (Framework for Sustainable Development) concept, which is an important part of Eco-municipality 5.0.
- Kenneth Gyllensting, Coordinator of the National Association of Swedish Eco-municipalities (SEKOM) and Environmental Strategist for Karlskrona municipality.
- Barbro Kalla, Sustainable Sweden Tour Leader, has provided expertise in sustainable development to a diverse range of clients for over two decades. Her experience includes guiding 15 Sustainable Sweden Tours tours.
