How hard is it to make a city more sustainable? Would you like to try?

Now you can. You can take total control of a city’s energy, transport and waste investments and see what the outcome is.

Sound too good to be true? Well ok, you can’t literally do it. But you can try the excellent SymbioCity Scenarios simulation.

Can you solve a city’s problems?

Go on, give it a go – it only takes 15 minutes or so. It’s fun and you get to see what you can do about problems such as urban sprawl, energy shortages, growing landfill and a lack of leadership in the city.

You have a budget and can prioritise whether you focus on renewable energy, a new tram system or recycling facilities. At the end you get a score and can see how you did compared to others.

How did you do? Let me know, and let me know what you think is the key to successful sustainable city development.

What is SymbioCity?

SymbioCity is a Swedish concept. When I lived & worked in Sweden, I was introduced to SymbioCity by colleagues at the Swedish Trade Council.

The idea in my mind is simple. Instead of looking at one solution for one problem, find a solution that helps solve many problems. E.g. A waste to energy plant takes away your waste problem, creates jobs & money and generates cheap energy for the city.

This kind of system thinking is something I think the Swedes do impressively. Like in the Western Harbour, Malmo.

And my score was?

Umm…did you have to ask?

A little over 40,000. Not very high up on the leaderboard. I overspent and underdelivered. Looks like I’ve got a lot to learn about cities.

What do you think of SymbioCity Scenarios?

(p.s thanks to Lars Lindgren, who e-mailed me about SymbioCity Scenarios. Lars works for BTS, the company who developed the software)