The Scandanavian city of Stockholm has developed a rather interesting means of incorporating green space into an urban environment. Areas in the city that have been restricted to the public in previous decades (royal gardens, military academies) have been transformed into agricultural and forestry areas which they call green wedges. They extend from the center of the city to the rural area outside Stockholm and support many functions. The green wedges act as the link between the city’s greenery and the surrounding countryside which is important for the potential for maintaining a functioning ecosystem and natural biological diversity in rural and urban areas alike. The forestry improves the air quality and storm runoff water from built-up areas can be infiltrated in these areas. The City of Stockholm is developing a ”Green map” to plan its land use. It consists of three parts: biotope map, recycling map and sociotope map. The biotopes map makes it possible to valuate biodiversity. The recycling map identifies areas for recycling of nutrients from composting, storm runoff water treatment, energy forestry and so on. The sociotope map introduces the concept sociotope in planning, and is a way of managing sociocultural aspects.
