Intriguing, often quirky architecture, innovative garden and park concepts, ponds, restaurants, bars, cafés, nightclubs and services, and Turning Torso – an awe-inspiring 190-metre residential building and a magnificent display of a technological expertise.

Västra Hamnen – this stylish seaside neighbourhood of Malmö is described as a City of Tomorrow. Rooftops and walls fitted with solar collectors, wind turbines, network of canals and dams for water management, super-efficient waste treatment systems, virtually no cars, biogas buses – all aesthetically mixed with pleasing urban spaces and attractive places where residents can get together.

By the time we arrived there, it was happily packed with crowds of people sitting at the promenade and enjoying a gorgeous Sunday evening. The quality of life at Västra Hamnen seems to exceed anything I could possibly write or even photograph. It just has to be experienced.

As I learnt later, a series of pioneering residential construction projects had put Malmö on the map as one of the world’s top cities for sustainable city development.