Some of these communities are cities with populations over 500,000; some are villages of about 300 inhabitants. Some are grappling with the demands of growth — how best to meet needs and service demands for mobility, solid waste disposal, heat, power, and social services for elders and those in need. Some have struggled to cope with declining populations, when young people leave to find better jobs and a more exciting lifestyle in an urban center. Some are older industrialized cities seeking ways to absorb waves of immigrants with different cultures and languages.

Others in remote rural areas have undergone economic depressions where almost one-half the population cannot find work. Some are seeking ways to recognize basic rights and culture of indigenous minorities — the Sámi people. Some have been working to preserve historic neighborhoods and buildings in the onslaught of new development.

So what do these seemingly disparate communities dealing with varied economies, sizes, and circumstances have in common? From radically different starting points, each has embarked on a journey to become a sustainable community.

What does this mean? For one thing, each of these cities, towns, and villages has made a collective commitment to sustainable change and has officially adopted the Natural Step framework to guide the process. For another, each municipality has committed to a democratic, participatory change process involving citizens and municipal employees. These two commitments also qualify a city or town to become a member of the national association of eco-municipalities, known in Sweden as SeKom. The results have been remarkable — change occurring throughout all municipal and community functions. Results include drastic reductions in fossil fuel use; up to 90 percent recycling rates of solid waste; healthy, ecological buildings; restoration of threatened native wildlife; and transport alternatives to gas-powered vehicles. These communities represent 20 percent, or one-fifth, of all the municipalities in Sweden. And all this has happened in the last 15 years.

In 1990, a pivotal conference took place in Orsa (Uh’shah), Sweden, bringing together municipal officials, environmental experts, and others to discuss what an ecological future society might look like. From this event emerged the first association of Swedish cities and towns that became eco-municipalities. The Orsa conference was also the meeting ground for the individuals who were to become the primary designers of the Natural Step conditions for a sustainable society — Karl-Henrik Robèrt, John Holmberg, and Karl-Erik-Eriksson — and the event that brought the Natural Step framework into the sphere of municipalities.

Since then, over 60 cities and towns have joined to support each other and work for change at the national level. Of course, other cities and towns in Sweden and elsewhere in the world have undertaken sustainable development initiatives. What distinguishes these eco-municipalities from their counterparts is that they have embarked upon an across-the-board, systematic approach to changing to sustainable practices.

For example, eco-municipalities have educated thousands of their employees about unsustainable environmental and social trends and the reasons why new local practices are essential for helping to change these trends. These municipalities have engaged community citizens — sometimes, entire villages — in planning and revitalization initiatives toward sustainability. These community initiatives have found locally suited ways to reduce use of fossil fuels, metals and minerals, chemicals, encroachment upon nature, and to meet human and community needs fairly and efficiently. Eco-municipalities have developed city or town master plans that integrate sustainability objectives throughout the range of planning policy areas.¹ Most of these communities have involved every aspect of town or city government in the change process. Most have established ongoing education, management systems, and monitoring programs to make sustainable practices part of business-as-usual in municipal service provision and community planning.

Between 1990 and 1992, 14 more towns picked up the idea, becoming the second generation of eco-municipalities. All 16 communities agreed, at the 1990 Orsa conference, to work on a common vision-led development strategy that identified sustainability objectives for community issues. Each municipality would develop its own three-year action program, develop demonstration projects, and carry out employee and public education to raise ecological awareness throughout their communities and municipal governments. The work of these municipalities, presented at the 1992 World Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, helped shape that conference’s local sustainable development planning guide known as Agenda 21.

Between 1993 and 1998, 55 cities and towns became the third generation of Swedish communities to adopt the eco-municipality concept. Several municipalities applied for joint funding for sustainable development projects in trade, industry, housing, and building. During this period, all eco-municipalities adopted the Natural Step framework as their defining guide for sustainable development.

In 1995, eco-municipality representatives met to form SeKom, the national association of eco-municipalities in Sweden. Since then, SeKom’s membership has increased to over 60 cities and towns — the fourth generation of eco-municipalities. Through SeKom, Swedish eco-municipalities have made connections with sister communities in Estonia, and 20 Estonian communities have since adopted the eco-municipality concept. SeKom has helped develop municipal strategies for environmentally friendly purchasing and local sustainable development implementation. The organization also has established a national technical assistance center for eco-municipality change processes and projects.

Towns and cities in Norway and Denmark also have begun eco-municipality journeys. While their definitions of this term may differ, they all are working toward developing sustainable communities with their municipal governments as the development engine.

At the beginning of the third millenium, a fifth generation of eco-municipalities is applying a systems management approach to integrating sustainable practices throughout their municipal governments and larger communities. The stories of two such municipalities, Sundsvall and Robertsfors, are presented in Part III.

The Swedish eco-municipalities and the results of their successful adoption of sustainable practices are the subject of the next ten chapters. These practices include renewable energy sources, ecological housing, solid waste reduction, and increased recycling, organic agriculture, protection of biodiversity, and support of sustainable business practices. How they accomplished this — the change process and keys to its success — is the story in Part III.

Communities, particularly those in colder climates, have become heavily dependent upon burning fossil fuels for heat and for power. Reducing this dependence requires a combination of steps, including reducing the need for energy in the first place and seeking alternative energy sources that are renewable and, ideally, locally derived.

Communities around the world already are seeking out and using energy sources that are alternatives to fossil fuels. This chapter highlights a few of the steps taken by Swedish eco-municipalities, large and small, to change from fossil fuels to alternative and local sources of energy, accomplishing significant reduction in fossil fuel dependency. Two strategies used by these exemplar communities are demonstrated here — harnessing the energy of the wind and sun, and using waste as a resource.

In Sweden, municipal governments are responsible for providing power and heat to housing, businesses, and institutions within their jurisdictions. Over one-half of Sweden’s 289 municipalities supply this heat through district heating systems. District heating systems usually deliver heat in the form of steam or hot water that is pumped through a system of underground pipes to homes and commercial buildings. In 1981, over 85 percent of all district heating systems in Sweden used oil or coal as an energy source. By 1993, the proportion of district heating systems using oil had dropped to 23 percent.²

Falkenberg has been implementing a municipal plan for sustainable development since 1995. To raise community awareness about sustainable development, the city has reached out to schools, daycare centers, and businesses through forums, workshops, seminars, and the media. City officials decreed that all municipal departments should adopt and implement sustainable development goals. The city trained 2,000 staff — 60 percent of all municipal employees — in the Natural Step approach to sustainable development.

Falkenberg city planners use sustainable development objectives as guidelines for city planning. For instance, planning policies discourage location of shopping centers outside urban areas and encourage closer living and working relationships to reduce driving and support community life. Planners conduct environmental assessments prior to land use decisions. Falkenberg has excelled in protecting soil quality, an area where policies in food production, industrial development, and public health intersect. Falkenberg also uses green purchasing policies, buying municipal supplies, such as paper, cleaning agents, and office equipment, that are made of recycled materials, have low or no toxic chemical content, and which can be recycled in turn.