Introduction to infrastructure systems integration

Bornholm & Bæredygtighed is one company on our sunshine island that wants to make an impact and transform it into a sustainable community. Or, I would better say we want to HELP to transform the island, because alone none of the companies or the municipality would be able to achieve the goals set back in 2008 for a Bright Green Island, by 2035. Therefore I am writing three blogs about a very important subject, urban infrastructure synergies, and how infrastructures could, should or do work together here. Starting with an INTRODUCTION TO INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS INTEGRATION.

Bornholm has several goals for the future of the island, many of them are goals for a more sustainable future, like the already mentioned Bright Green island plan. [1] In less than 15 years the island is to be a zero emission society, 100% CO² neutral and treating all waste as a resource. Sustainable housing, mobility and danish food products are also on the list of goals while making sure to protect the local nature.

Those visions have the same goal, sustainability, but they are distributed in very different topics. Fortunately that is the beauty of infrastructure systems integration, the synergies between the different sectors and infrastructures making possible to achieve one goal by investing and achieving another goal. Looking forward to the year 2035, the air is protected from pollution as the cars in the island are electric and some cities are even car-free during the tourist season. Not only is the air cleaner, but it is easier and more effective for garbage trucks to collect the waste in cities where it has been impossible when all tourists were parket in the streets. Talking about tourists, one of the biggest economic incomes for the island, more are coming to witness a zero emission society. They enjoy their stay in sustainable housing and have a wide variety of sustainable local products, which makes it even more interesting to produce more on the island. As all waste on Bornholm now is considered resources, there is new and innovative materials for more bike paths, green roofs and organic material for agriculture. The citizens are participating in different decisions to achieve a waste free island by 2032 by participating in projects like a living lab on the island (Wasteman) [2], among others. This is a way to reach the goal to have citizens aware of the changes and make sure people make their part on the changes Bornholm will go through. All that is a small part of an integrated urban plan for Bornholm.

When you prepare cooked potatoes for your meal, you can use the salted and tasty water with potato starch in a sauce to give an extra texture and flavor to it. System integration in an urban environment is, at its heart, the same. Boiling the potatoes is not only resolving one part of the dish (the cooked potatoes), but also the sauce. Somewhere in Bornholm the “potatoes are being cooked” and somewhere else in the same island there is a need for “the tasty water for the sauce”.

Achieving the goals by being smarter

When a government sets a vision for the future, like the project for a Bright Green Island or the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there are several paths unknown about how to reach those goals. There is much unknown or unpredictable information, but there is a lot that can be estimated and made scenarios for the future. One point that can be realized in the grand majority of present researches of scenarios about sustainability in the future is that the so-called “business as usual”, the scenario where no one makes a change, the results are constantly negative. Same policies and actions at the same pace will not result in achieving the goals. In 2018 the Stockholm Resilience Center published a description for three scenarios other than the “business as usual” on the Transformation is feasible - How to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals within Planetary Boundaries [3]. The first other scenarios being a faster pathway, with accelerating economic growth help, or the harder pathway taking in consideration that governments and industry tries even harder to deliver on the SDGs, but it is the fourth pathway that results in better impacts and a bigger possibility to achieve the goals. This last scenario is the smarter pathway, where governments and industry choose transformational actions. By rethinking the usage of actual infrastructures and planning on synergies and system integration you are planning smarter and that is how Bornholm can work to achieve all its goals.

For more about conceptualising governance for systems integration AND practical approaches for systems integration, take a look at our next two blogs. Any questions or comments just write us a message to jm@bornholmb.dk

References

[1] Bright Green Island website http://www.brightgreenisland.dk/Sider/In-English.aspx assessed the 10th May 2021

[2] BOFA website for Wasteman project https://bofa.dk/wasteman/ assessed the 10th May 2021

[3] Stockholm Resilience Centre (2018) Transformation is feasible - How to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals within Planetary Boundaries, A report to the Club of Rome for its 50 years anniversary, October 2018 - p 9-31 (https://www.stockholmresilience.org/download/18.51d83659166367a9a16353/1539675518425/Report_Achieving%20the%20Sustainable%20Development%20Goals_WEB.pdf)