After the conference held in Helsinki on June 9-11, the trip continued to Estonia, Sweden, and Norway, where local municipal engineering experts welcomed IFME guests and presented their own projects.
Participants from 18 countries traveled to Tallinn. There, they got to know the municipal engineering of the old city, as well as the Rail Baltic project under construction and its Tallinn station. In addition, the deputy mayor gave a status report on the city's technical development and told about the city's new street projects.
In Stockholm, it was time to get acquainted with the new solutions in the Slussen area. It enables life by the water, and the area will be turned into a cozy living room for city residents. The Slussen project is truly massive; an entire bridge deck was brought there from China on a single ship, and both a railway and a metro pass through the construction site.
Another target in Stockholm was the regional development project of an old slaughterhouse area. It is located in the immediate vicinity of the Globen arena, and although the area will be home to over 20,000 people and create a significant number of jobs, the development of the area has taken into account the preservation of buildings built in different decades.
In mountainous Bergen, the group explored the city's over a thousand-year history, the city's extensive waste pipe collection system, and the world's longest pedestrian and bicycle tunnel, an incredible 3 kilometers long.
The group was able to cycle in the tunnel
The temperature inside the tunnel is always around eight degrees, regardless of the season, which is excellent for moving around. It is said that the longest it has rained in Bergen was 70 days in a row, and at that time the tunnel became a popular outdoor recreation spot.
The piped collection system has improved the cleanliness of the city. The risk of fire in the UNESCO heritage site, the old town, has been reduced, and there is more space for people on the narrow streets because there are no longer large garbage cans on the streets.
The study trip brilliantly demonstrated that by meeting and getting to know representatives from other cities, it is very likely that you will get ideas and help with challenges in your own everyday life.