Trelleborg (SE)

How can the site contribute to the productive city?

The Port of Trelleborg has just expanded and moved to the eastern part of the city and Trelleborg is facing its greatest challenge ever; how to transform itself from a Port City to a Coastal City.
The industrial heritage, the existing structures and the long quays provide conditions to create something much more interesting that just another sea-front development. Together they provide conditions to build a city where housing and production co-exists, next to the sea.

City strategy

Trelleborg strives to diversify, economically and demographically. Improved infrastructure and making use of its beautiful coastal location are parts of this strategy. The target is to become a coastal city.
A campus will be established in the city bringing inbound commuters, students and academics. A new terminus already makes commuting from Trelleborg to Malmö, Lund and Copenhagen feasible. Small town qualities as well as water front living would be among the attractions for new residents and commuters. As a step in this process, big investments have been undertaken by the Port to move its docks east and a new ring-road and logistics centre outside the city proper will be built in the coming years.

Site definition 

The relative size of the project site is enormous, compared with the existing city. The site is made up of reclaimed land with–among other structures–a fairly new 30 000 sqm warehouse that’s worth preserving. Large surfaces are paved over or covered with concrete foundation.
There’s about 5 km of quay and shoreline and on the southern tip of the location is a mound of dredge spoil that’s no longer in use and is currently used as a public lookout point.
The site has a southern orientation with an unobstructed view towards the sea and consequently, that means it’s sunny but also very wind exposed.

How is Production Considered in the Urban Diversity Program?

There has long been the ambition in the city centre to have a mix of programs, to make it attractive and reduce car transport to establishments outside the city.
There is a similar ambition for Sjöstaden, to create a mixed city. However this will be a mix with focus on the co-existence of housing and light production, which puts a lot of questions on the table.

- How can the city’s current identity as a productive / working city be developed or reformulated with Sjöstaden?
- What kind of production is not just possible, but would also contribute to this new identity?
- How can elements of production enrich the streetscapes?
- How to utilize facilities already present at the site with new uses?
- What kind of production can benefit from the proximity to water and the quays?

To loop back to the first and maybe most important sentence in this brief; how can the element of production support the transformation from a Port City to a Coastal City?

View from the East

Footpath on “dredge hill“. Southern tip of western harbour.

Housing and production side by side