The strategic significance of geological resources for sustainable development and the security of European societies is well established. Nevertheless, the subsurface resources are often not systematically assessed in spatial planning at the municipal level. In cities, there is a variety of increasing demands and land-use conflicts, but these issues are also relevant for smaller municipalities. The absence of strategic prioritisation results in suboptimal utilisation of subsurface resources. Accordingly, a multidisciplinary research project (UNDER) is developing novel methods to incorporate subsurface considerations into spatial planning. This work is being carried out in close collaboration with spatial planners at the City of Malmö (a medium-sized city) and at the municipality of Askersund (a small municipality) in Sweden. The geosystem services concept has been put forward as a concept that could support the efficient use of subsurface resources and improve systematic planning of the subsurface (e.g., Lundin Frisk, 2025). Geosystem services, analogous to ecosystem services, describe goods and services delivering benefits to humans either derived from the subsurface (van Ree van Beukering, 2016) or the geosphere (Gray, 2011), often referred to as abiotic nature in this context). Similar to the classification of ecosystem services, geosystem services are categorised into supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services. For instance, groundwater as a supply resource constitutes a provisioning geosystem service, whereas water quality regulation is considered a regulating service. The service perspective is holistic in the sense that it takes into account potentially conflicting uses of the subsurface and highlights a broader range of services and goods than typically included in spatial planning. In order to operationalise the concept, an indicator-based framework for assessing different geosystem services has been developed (Lundin Frisk et al., 2025). The City of Malmö in southern Sweden (≈370,000 inhabitants) is currently developing a climate resilience plan. To support this effort, the research project has developed seven thematic GIS maps of geosystem services, including stormwater infiltration and retention capacity and access to subsurface space (Lundin-Frisk et al., 2026). The municipality of Askersund (≈11,500 inhabitants) is simultaneously preparing its comprehensive plan. Within Askersund municipality, diverse subsurface resources, such as a zinc mine and mineral resources, groundwater reserves, and geological construction materials (gravel and sand) are present, alongside underground transport infrastructure. Five thematic GIS maps of geosystem services have been developed, including maps for erosion resistance and the access to bedrock with quality suitable for aggregate production (Gustafsson, in prep.). The thematic maps were presented in workshops with urban planners in Malmö and Askersund. Workshop feedback supported the relevance of geosystem services in supporting planning decisions and suggested future development needs for such maps. In Malmö, maps on stormwater infiltration and geoenergy were viewed as particularly valuable. In Askersund, participants emphasised that geosystem services provide a useful framework for communicating with non-experts, including decision-makers.
Mossmark et al. (Thu,) studied this question.