Malmö 2100: Green By Design

This project plans to forecast the future of the 10000 cities across the globe -- as though they have survived climate change and gone on to flourish anew. Today, we highlight the future of Malmö, Sweden.

Malmö’s future doesn’t arrive all at once—it photosynthesizes its way in. By the late 21st century, the city quietly reorganizes itself around a small cast of botanical heroes: eelgrass restoring the city's underwater carbon sinks, silver birch cooling streets with light-filtering canopies, sea buckthorn armoring the coast while feeding people and pollinators, and moss walls turning old brick into living air filters. Ecological science guides where each species thrives best, and design makes sure they’re beautiful neighbors.

Neighborhoods become experiments you can walk through. Roots manage stormwater better than pipes ever did, algae panels glow softly at night while producing biofuel, and mycelium networks under parks shuttle nutrients like a citywide internet for soil. Malmö’s wind and solar still matter—but plants do the patient work, knitting buildings, water, and people into an interlocked series of ecosystems.