Rosendal is a district being created in Uppsala within the area known as Södra Staden. Several new ideas and technologies related to sustainable urban development and ecosystem services will be implemented here, making it one of the most innovative Swedish districts to date.

Rosendal is a pilot project for the development of a Swedish BREEM certification for sustainable cities. This certification system provides a framework for achieving sustainable urban development. Being a pilot project means that Rosendal will influence how the final certification system will be shaped.

Ambitious goals and an innovative mindset made us re-think the concept how we design public spaces for vegetation and water. We came to the conclusion that if we want to design streets that are multifunctional and can enhance resilience towards extreme rain, then we can’t keep all the rainwater at street level. Instead, water can be diverted to other areas and used to irrigate vegetation on-site. In order to do this we used open subbase layer (OSL), which increases water retention while also providing adequate space for roots. Because OSL can be laid underneath parking spaces and pedestrian and bike paths, it has the advantage of not impacting street-level functions.