Christer Larsson

The City of Malmö

Christer Larsson is director of city planning for the innovative and modern city of Malmö in Sweden. Mr. Larsson has a background of 20 years in the private construction and architecture industry as both an architect and urban designer. Additionally, he taught architecture at the University of Technology, Lund and was a contributor to a number of private practices before starting his own. Prior to taking up his current position in 2005, Mr. Larsson worked as an architect in Malmö’s city planning department since 1998.

Since taking on the role as director of city planning, Mr. Larsson has been involved in the transformation of Malmö and has overseen various urban development projects, notably in the Western Harbour district. His vision for Malmö is to guarantee the quality of the built environment, thereby creating an attractive and exciting place to live and work. He considers safety and security in urban development to be of the utmost importance, alongside sustainability and issues of welfare. Mr. Larsson emphasizes that the city planning department is an important link between the various parties involved in urban development, including stakeholders, universities and industry.

Outside of his official city post, Mr. Larsson is chairman for the Nordic City Network, a network of 12 Nordic cities working on knowledge-based economies regarding social structure, regionalization, political leadership and innovative city planning, fostering interaction between local universities and the city. He was recently chosen by the government as a special government commissioner to review and suggest changes in state policies related to architecture and design.

Mr. Larsson was involved in a planning project with Tangshan and work with the eco-city Coefeidan concerning knowledge exchange in the field of sustainability. And just as The Academy of Urbanism seeks to learn from and disseminate knowledge about place, Mr. Larsson has been sharing his learning from the transformation of the Western Harbour and the city as a whole, helping to position Malmö as an innovative leader in urban development.