Since 2000 former port areas in Swedish cities are increasingly being transformed into mainly residential areas with some elements of office, public and other service functions. These were among the first large-scale projects which were supposed to follow the national strategies for sustainable development, although there were very few concrete guidelines of how this should be done on a local level. In this multidisciplinary research project we have studied planning practices connected with urban sustainability. Previous research has highlighted that there is a need to understand how the city is planned in practice rather than simply focussing on analysing outcomes in relation to aims. So instead of asking the question what is urban sustainability, we asked howthe ideas of urban sustainability are expressed in four different regeneration projects in Sweden.  Our analysis includes general comparisons of aims and practices as well as detailed studies of recurring challenges: The role of contaminated land in spatial planning, Urban waterscapes in redevelopment areas - challenges and possibilities, Conflicts between commercial ports and urban visions, Mobilising place in urban planning. Our results indicate that planning practices connected with sustainable urban development in Sweden has several common features. These features concentrate partly on changing the identity of the cities to become better places to live in and partly on the ecologically and socially claimed benefits of the compact city. The main arguments are that regeneration preserves land through recycling of abandoned port and industrial areas, and that the compact city will lead to reduced climate impact and a better quality of life. This is also expected to create a milieu which supports economic growth. Further it also shows that economic growth is very much seen by the planners as a prerequisite for ecological building, and in spite of legal frameworks for managing environmental standards, the practice differs from place to place.

Key words: waterfront redevelopment, sustainable urban development, urban regeneration, brown field regeneration, compact city