Bo01 was a housing exhibition held in Malmö, Sweden, from May to September 2001. It combined a public exhibition with the creation of a new neighbourhood in Västra hamnen, a former industrial area. 12
The exhibition’s theme was “The City of Tomorrow in the Ecologically Sustainable Information and Welfare Society.” It was expressed through art, design and landscape architecture, alongside the neighbourhood’s buildings and public spaces. The new district included housing ranging from student apartments to homes for older residents. 1
Klas Tham, then an architect and later professor emeritus at Lund University of Technology, served as exhibition architect. His stated aim was to create a varied urban environment drawing on the medieval Hanseatic city and the small-scale work of Swedish-British architect Ralph Erskine. 1 The neighbourhood’s plan includes narrow lanes, small canals and buildings of different heights; taller buildings at the seafront provide shelter for lower, denser development behind them. 1
A planned component called European Village was intended to feature small houses built by EU countries to represent their building traditions. It was substantially delayed and was largely built after the exhibition; the completed row houses represent around ten European countries. 1
Malmö city’s account also records criticism of the area’s high costs and scarcity of rental housing, as well as construction concerns linked to the exceptionally tight building schedule and damp conditions. It notes that some buildings required repeated repairs. 1 The city describes Bo01 as the starting point for the wider development of Västra hamnen. 2