City under Microscope Gothenburg
Speakers
Björn Siesjö, City Architect, City of Gothenburg
As a City Architect, Björn has overall responsibility for city planning in Gothenburg. He previously worked as a freelance architect, and was the CEO and owner of Kanozi Arhitects.
Ulf Moback, Landscape Architect, Strategic Department, Gothenburg City Planning Authority
Ulf coordinates the city’s investigation and planning for climate adaptation. He previously worked as a Landscape Architect educated at Ultuna and Alnarp universities. He has conducted various research studies, as well as cooperation and exchange projects with cities around the world. He has also developed concepts for climate adaptation in Frihamnen.
Mona Hellman, Lighting Engineer, ÅF lighting
Mona worked for more than 30 years with maintenance related subjects in public spaces for municipalities. She has worked for more than 10 years as a member of the team responsible for strategic planning and maintenance of the street lighting in Gothenburg. She is also engaged in projects with Swedish Transport Administration related to new regulations for old lighting installations.
Lars Ocklund, Head of Street Lighting, Traffic and Public transport Authority, City of Gothenburg
Lars has extensive experience working with lighting and illumination in the urban landscape, from the early stages as Master Plans to lighting tests and all the way down to “nuts and bolts level”. Always in a fine balance between function and aesthetics with a focus on the people who will use the space.
Mårten Westlund, Communications Director, West Sweden Chamber of Commerce
Large cities have different strengths and weaknesses and consequently different needs for future development. Gothenburg is the driving force of the West Sweden region and has unparalleled growth in store for the next 20 years. Mårten will paint a picture of what we can expect in a future Gothenburg and its surrounding region.
Helena Bjarnegård, Head Landscape Architect, City of Gothenburg
Helena works with strategic planning for public realm and landscape. She is the project manager for a new strategic plan for green spaces in Gothenburg, focusing on green social and ecological values in an urban perspective. She is also the project leader for the public realm policy.
Daniel Sjölund, Civil engineer, City of Gothenburg Urban Transport Administration
Daniel is a civil engineer working with urban planning and street design at the City of Gothenburg Urban Transport Administration. He focuses on making the public spaces more attractive both day and night in the city.Daniel was the project manager for the lighting policy “Stadens ljus” and is now the project manager for the lighting masterplans of the “Frihamnen” and “Södra Älvstranden” districts.
Mia Edström, Architect and Frihamnen Project Manager, City planning department, City of Gothenburg
Mia is the project manager for the Frihamnen district development. Her responsibility is to plan and coordinate the whole Frihamnnen area, the 5 different phases of the projects, together with Hanna Areslätt, project manager at Älvstranden utveckling AB.
Janica Wicklander, Lighting Designer, Architect and Landscaper, TENGBOM
Nicolas Houel holds a PhD in urban planning. Since 2021, he has headed the Observatoire de la nuit consulting agency, and is an associate researcher at the AAU laboratory in Nantes, France. His work focuses on the evolution of cultural representations of night and artificial lighting, around which he is developing expertise in mediation and shared design of lighting ambiences, as well as a series of innovative digital tools, synthesized under the purpose to contribute to the emergence of new nocturnal narratives.
Mathias Leimalm, Senior Project Manager IT & traffic solutions, SWECO
Mathias is an engineer from Chalmers Technical University. He has been working with IT-solutions (IT-security and communication) for the past 25 years for companies like StoraEnso, SCA and the Swedish defense industry. Mathias has worked with intelligent lighting systems since 2012 for the City of Gothenburg.
Kajsa Sperling, Architect and Lighting Designer, White Arkitekter
Kajsa has been working with light in the public domain for 16 years. She has in recent years been part of a framework agreement with the City of Gothenburg, where she worked closely with artists, children and youth. She participated in several research projects including “The Limitation of the Human Eye” with a focus on the aging eye’s sensitivity to glare and a research project with a focus on light and equality. Kajsa is currently responsible for several projects in Gothenburg, including Kungsportavenyn and Skeppsbrokajen.
Lena From, Head of Special Projects, Public Art Agency Sweden
Lena has recently joined The Public Art Agency where she is responsible for the government Commission entitled Konst händer: “Art happens”. She studied journalism and art history and has a background as an editor for cultural reportage in Göteborgsposten, chief editor for the Tidskriften Digital Fotografi and editor of the magazine Arkitektur. In the past 8 years she has been head of projects for the public art in Stockholm, where she together with colleagues, project managers and artists, finalised more than a 100 temporary and permanent art projects.
Christina Vildinge, Designer, White Arkitekter
Christina is a designer with a background in business management and design methodologies in strategic processes for sustainable development. She also teaches at the School of Design and Crafts at Gothenburg University. Christina has deep knowledge of the aesthetic experience and learning as a creator of value and innovation in the encounter between the physical material and social life. She is currently engaged as researcher in the EU mapping of design as driver of innovation and growth.
Magnus Borelius, Finance Director, City of Gothenburg
Magnus works as the Director for Finance at the City of Gothenburg. He is a member of a working group under the United Nations Environment Programme – Finance Initiative and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
Lars Fredén, Architect and Lighting Designer, Ljus & Form Design
Lars works as an architect and lighting designer in his own company Ljus & Form Design. He has more than 35 years of experience in the field of architecture and 20 years in lighting design. Within his former employment at Ramböll Sverige AB, he carried out many lighting design projects. These include streets, squares, parks and buildings such as Götaplatsen – winner of the Swedish Lighting Award 2010 and honored by the Nordic Lighting award 2014 – Götatunneln, Gubberoparken and Vasagatan in Gothenburg.
Alexandra Stratimirovic, Visual Artist
Aleksandra works in the field of art and light. She has completed a number of permanent site-specific artworks for various public places in Sweden and abroad. She is the co-founder of the Lighting Guerrilla festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia, a core member of Transnational Lighting Detectives, and founder and artistic director of the event Belgrade of Light in Serbia. She is also the author of the awarded book You Say Light – I Think Shadow, together with Sandra Praun.
Kjell Hult, Strategic Development Manager, City of Alingsås
Kjell holds a Master in Urban Planning. He is responsible for the city strategic plan for growth and development including housing and infrastructure as well as investment in lighting design, key elements in the strategy.
Margaretha Stenmark, Project Manager, Lights in Alingsås festival, City of Alingsås
Margaretha is a lighting designer and technician at Alingsås Energi. She is responsible for street lighting in Alingsås, both current and future, as well as for the workshop held in the framework of the Lights in Alingsås festival. She has previously worked for 30 years as an electric engineer and consultant and as a salesperson at different companies like Fagerhult and Zumtobel to mention some.
Angelica Larsson, Project Manager, Lights in Alingsås festival, City of Alingsås
Angelica is Lights in Alingsås’ event manager. She manages the festival creating activities for people to meet during October month. She studied project management in the meeting industry and has been working with Lights in Alingsås for 7 years now. Before that she worked with different kinds of events, such as STCC – Swedish Touring Car Championship.
Photo credits
©Bettmaya Foott