In addition to a single-family housing development, the Municipality of Kalmar (Sweden) proposes a new urban area of more than 3,000 houses in a recognised coastal area of great landscape value. Under this parameter, an intervention based on economic, social, environmental, and cultural sustainability is proposed, through an urban development based on the preservation of the existing environment and the reduction of territorial impacts.

In reality, it is a proposal based on a statistical factor, because if urban growth were to follow the preliminary scheme of single-family houses, it would practically consume 27% of the existing area. For this reason, from a new perspective of sustainability and preservation of the areas of high environmental value that make up Kalmar’s identity, a system of apartment buildings grouped in four-storey towers concentrating eight standard flats is proposed, which would reduce area occupancy to only 2%. According to these considerations, this new restructuring aims to consolidate and protect the existing landscapes by reusing the streets as connecting axes, given the parallel realities between the countryside and the city.

But while it is true that the criterion of minimizing environmental impact has been decisive in the design process, there is an even more problematic factor. The flood forecast in the coming years increases considerably over time, which makes it necessary to anticipate the elevation of both the access roads and the multi-family units on the ground to an approximate margin of three meters. With this measure, the general intervention scheme would be completed with a parameter no less important and which results from the conjunction of those listed so far: the viability of the project.