"How can you be cold?!" Experiences from a Swede in the Netherlands

Since I moved to the Netherlands, I’ve come across two very common reactions (among many other of course): 1. “You’re cold? But, you’re from Sweden!? How can you be cold?” – This reaction is not exclusive for the Netherlands, but quite international. I find it amusing, since we don’t, after all, although we do come from Sweden, grow fur. 

The second reaction is that there’s a common agreement of how far Sweden has come with matters like the social system, innovation, sustainability, labor conditions etc. 

Going home is associated with being taken care of, good food and lots of love. This time, since I enjoy my work very much (lucky in that way), I wanted to connect my work with my home country. I decided to reach out to some cities in my surroundings, and I received a very enthusiastic reply from the ‘Miljöförvaltningen’ in Sweden. The main focus of the department is to work with all environment aspects of the city. Soon I had my agenda full with a meeting with one of the biggest radio stations in Sweden and with the ‘Miljöförvaltningen’ and two other representatives from the city of Malmö. The radio station is working on broadcasting a show where they will involve the sharing economy in relation to the elderly population. The city of Malmö was eager to utilize the sharing economy as a solution to challenges that cities face, and I found how many initiatives already existed in the city. Would you like to know more about what’s happening in Malmö? Let us know in the comments. 

Leaving my home town on a high note, both work-wise and personally, it’s exciting to see how cities all around the world work to embrace the sharing and collaborative economy. Although every city has to find their own approach and there’s no one-size-fits-all, I can see once again how important it is that all players in the sharing economy field are involved and work together. As I describe in my previous blog, cities experience many challenges; and the collaborative economy also brings challenges. But through utilizing and working with the collaborative economy, it can offer solutions to already existing challenges and newly recognized ones. Read more about how we work with cities here.

by Theresa Thomasson