This paper analyses the alignment between urban planning targets and realized projects in Stockholm from 2012 to 2019. Employing both conformance and performance-based evaluation methods, it scrutinizes changes in street networks at both citywide and project -specific levels. The study entails a comprehensive review of planning documents, detailed configurational analyses, and an assessment of public transportation access. By examining the discrepancy between planning objectives and actual urban transformations, the research underscores the necessity for more effective monitoring techniques to achieve planning targets accurately. Notably, the analysis reveals that while municipal comprehensive plans (MCPs) articulate ambitious goals for urban development, the translation of these objectives into tangible changes in the built environment remains challenging. Despite the existence of regulatory frameworks and legal mandates, such as the MCPs and zoning plans, the paper identifies significant inconsistencies in target implementation across different projects. These disparities are attributed to various factors, including changes in political will, long timeframes and limited understanding of the complexity in the built environment. Furthermore, the research advocates for the integration of digital tools and methodologies to enhance monitoring and evaluation processes in urban planning. Overall, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse on urban development by providing valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities inherent in aligning planning targets with actual urban transformations, thereby offering recommendations for enhancing the efficacy of urban planning practices.

The prevailing implementation and usage of contemporary lighting technologies and design practices in cities have created over-illuminated built environments. Recent studies indicate that exposure to electric lighting effects formed through spatial characteristics has visual, physiological, and behavioural effects on both humans and non-humans, such as wildlife. In order to gain a better understanding of the impact that electric lighting has on space and different organism groups, a comprehensive literature review was conducted applying PRISMA 2020 systematic review guidelines. Results of the searches from various databases, such as Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus, identified 5260 related studies. A total of 55 papers connected to four themes: (1) urban morphology; (2) human visual impressions; (3) ecological impacts; and (4) design approaches and methods were analysed with a focus on urban morphology. The review provided the following general findings: lighting properties alone are inadequate to depict visual impressions of pedestrians, patterns formed through light interacting with spatial characteristics can contribute to understanding how spaces are visually perceived and help characterising the exposure of wildlife organisms to potential disturbances.

Museum architecture and curatorial exhibition designs structure the experiences and social relations associated with museum visits. Such experiences and relations are generated and qualified by movement. While patterns of movement and social relations in museums are richly studied in configurational research and museum studies respectively, qualitative aspects of movement remain to be more deeply understood – especially in relation to museum configurations. In this chapter, four museums – the Asakura Museum of Sculpture in Tokyo, Artipelag in Stockholm, Kiasma in Helsinki, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum – are put in dialogue to investigate the qualitative aspects of movement. In the investigation, movement is considered individual, collective, communicative, and performative acts, recognising the entanglement of the observer, the observed, and the participant. Working from the point of view of architecture, choreography is used to qualitatively differentiate types of movement and enrich our understanding of the role of bodies and embodiment by discussing path, figure, and gesture. This is further extended into dramaturgy by investigating rhythm, co-presence, and configurational staging. Choreographic and dramaturgical aspects are important parts of the holistic experience of the museum and exhibition narratives. Fundamental to the visitor reconstruction of museum narratives is the retrieval of synchronic configurational meaning from the sequential patterns in which museum space is initially perceived and experienced. This chapter concludes by making the case for the development of a notational language for describing and designing movement both in its local, directly perceived aspects and its emergent configurations.

Movement has been a central concept in space syntax research since its conception, and the field has significantly contributed to knowledge on relations between the articulation and configuration of space, patterns of movement flows, spatial cognition, and experience. However, this understanding remains largely focused on cognition as a mental process, and on the perceiving subject through affordances of accessibility-visibility combinations. Movement “as such” tends to remain largely undifferentiated, understood as either rates, densities, or paths. This raises questions concerning the role of embodied experience as well as bodily expressions, communication, and forms of knowledge. This paper engages with choreographic studies to develop a differentiated understanding of movement and find experiential, communicative, and qualitative aspects that can be further linked to spatial configuration, where choreographic concepts such as path, figure, and gesture are understood to operate through architectural formulations. Building on these concepts, this paper addresses the need to (1) develop how configurative analysis can be employed to capture if, how, where, and when movement is differentiated and characterized into different choreographies, and (2) develop notational techniques that enable observations to include such qualitative characteristics and thereby enable more thoroughly qualitative analysis of relations between architecture and movement.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant changes in day-to-day mobility patterns. Much research has revealed the socioeconomic disparities in travel behavior during the pandemic, focusing on the differences between different socioeconomic groups. By contrast, relatively little research has been done to explore the potentially different responses to the pandemic even within the same socioeconomic group. Based on data collected from a map-based online survey conducted in Sweden from 2020 to 2021, we applied multivariate clustering to identify distinct types of travel behavior for people with different income levels and from different geographic areas in the City of Stockholm. Our results show that seven distinct clusters can be identified by simultaneously taking into account income, accessibility, and travel distance. These distinct clusters may speak of distinct modes of living during the pandemic. By acknowledging and recognizing the heterogeneity within the high-income or low-income population group, this study provides more angles and adds more depth to discussions of equal and resilient cities.

Morphological studies of buildings have long emphasized the analysis of their enduring spatial configuration. However, with the growing contemporary demand for building resilience, frequent reconfiguration is necessary, often involving the introduction of lighter, more flexible elements or the remodeling of permanent structures. Drawing from exhibition spaces, where frequent reconfigurations reflect the ongoing negotiation between social demands and architectural constraints, the concept of ‘spatial mediation’ (Nóbrega, 2022) addresses these interactions. It relates ephemeral layouts to the apparent limitations of occupation and movement within the enduring structure of the building. Through an extensive study of the São Paulo Biennial, comprised of thirty-five art exhibitions and a pavilion, nine cases were intensively analysed before and after exhibition-induced reconfigurations. Three distinct models delineate between the minimum and maximum conditions of occupation and circulation inherent in the long-term building layout (complex and generic models) and those resulting from the short-term exhibition layout (specific model). The distribution sequences of these models define two types of spatial mediation: ‘mediation as a means’ and ‘mediation as an end’, indicating whether the exhibition layout conforms to or extends beyond the physical constraints of the building. This work contributes to museum and exhibition studies by helping curators and designers implement specific organizational strategies within the limitations of floor plate shapes, as well as can be adapted to the study of other building types that undergo recurrent reconfigurations. 

That there are challenges translating the "smart city" to rural contexts is alreadyestablished, as is discourse on whom the "smart city" is for. ln an era of suddenchange, and in locations of noticeable demographic transformation, some of thesechallenges become particularly noticeable. Sometimes—at least in popular mediaand discourse—understood as conflicts between those who adapt and adopt, andthose who resist or reject. While, indeed, conflicts do emerge, they are much lessclear-cut, and need to be understood in a more nuanced way. This is where thiswork makes its contribution, building its argument from a research and innovationproject in Duved, outside of Åre, Sweden. I say that it builds its argument becausewhile it takes some observations to explore how they relate to ideas, ideals, andprocesses of digitalization and smart city development, the intent is not to give arepresentative account of Duved (as site, society, individual or collective actors, orresearch and innovation project), but to learn from some of Duved's sites of contestationand conflict as forces of different scale operate on, in, and through the localcontext-where conflicts should be understood in the full range from (silent or open)confrontation to the meetings of difference that in their chafing interaction drive potentials of deepened mutual understanding, social change, and development.

Att idén om den “smarta staden” inte helt lätt översätts till ett landsbygdssammanhang är relativt etablerat, liksom en kritisk diskussion om vem den ”smarta staden” är för. När samhällen såväl brett som lokalt genomgår omvälvningar blir några av dessa utmaningar särskilt påtagliga. Ibland framställs det som en skillnad mellan de som bejakar och de som gör motstånd, men en sådan uppdelning är problematisk, och döljer betydligt mer komplexa utmaningar. Det är dessa utmaningar det här kapitlet fördjupar sig i, byggt på lördomar från forskning kring utveckling av hållbara lokalsamhällen i Duved utanför Åre, Sverige. Det ”bygger på”, eftersom kapitlet inte syftar till att beskriva Duved, utan att utifrån observationer från Duved bygga en förståelse för utmaningar för digitalisering i landsbygden specifikt, men, visar det sig, för digitalisering och konceptualisering av ”smarta städer” i allmänhet. Eftersom syftet är att förstå utmaningar, så ligger också fokus till viss del på utmaningar och konflikter, där ”konflikter” inkluderar allt från tysta eller öppna konfrontationer till de möten av skillnader som kanske skaver, men samtidigt leder till ökad integration och potential för djupare ömsesidig förståelse mellan människor, liksom social förändring och utveckling.

Duved genomgår en påtaglig demografisk förändring, och har gjort så under flera år. Inflyttningen är relativt stor från en större kontext, framförallt från Sverige utanför Åre kommun, och en utflyttning till övriga kommunen. Under senare år, och särskilt under pandemin, har en påtaglig del av inflyttningen också varit för olika typer av distansarbete. Samtidigt tenderar såväl långtida boende som nyinflyttade att vilja ”bevara Duved”, och relationen till Åre tenderar att vara en något motstridig blandning av att ”inte vilja bli som Åre” i en allt för stark exploatering och turistifiering, men samtidigt ett praktiskt beroende men också sociala och samhälleliga nätverk som knyter ihop orterna. I ett sådant sammanhang uppstår än tydligare utmaningar med digitalisering och den urbana livsstil som tenderar att knytas till ”smarta städer”, och som är mer vanlig hos inflyttade distansarbetare och de mer långvarigt boende. Livsstil går här djupt och berör allt från identitet till platsanknytning, grad av platsanknytning, förståelse för sin sociala och samhälleliga kontext, mobilitet, hur sociala nätverk byggs, och mycket mer. Det är dessa frågor som fördjupas i kapitlet, för att visa hur komplex frågan är och knappast kan förstås som ”gamla” mot ”nya” invånare, och där allianser, förstått som när olika invånare delar åsikt i frågor eller känner samma tillhörighet, kan skifta beroende på fråga och sammanhang.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, physical distancing, mobility restrictions and self-isolation measures were implemented around the world as the primary intervention to prevent the virus from spreading. Urban life has undergone sweeping changes, with people using spaces in new ways. Stockholm is a particularly relevant case of this phenomenon since most facilities, such as day care centres and schools, have remained open, in contrast to cities with a broader lockdown. In this study, we use Twitter data and an online map survey to study how COVID-19 restrictions have impacted the use of different locations, services and amenities in Stockholm. First, we compare the spatial distribution of 87,000 geolocated tweets pre-COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, we analyse 895 survey responses asking people to identify places they ‘still visit’, ‘use more’, ‘avoid’ and self-report reasons for using locations. The survey provides a nuanced understanding of whether and how restrictions have affected people. Service and seclusion were found to be important; therefore, the accessibility of such amenities was analysed, demonstrating how changes in urban habits are related to conditions of the local environment. We find how different parts of the city show different capacities to accommodate new habits and mitigate the effects of restrictions on people’s use of urban spaces. In addition to the immediate relevance to COVID-19, this paper thus contributes to understanding how restrictions on movement and gathering, in any situation, expose more profound urban challenges related to segregation and social inequality.

Modeling spaces and their relationships is at the core of syntactic analysis, including reach analysis. In a syntactic model, two spaces can be described as close together or far apart based on the directional distance between them. In this study, we compare three different ways of measuring directional distance—namely, by number of steps, by number of direction changes, and by angular deviation—in the context of accessibility and reach analysis. By graphically showing how choosing a different way of measuring directional distance can result in a different reach or accessibility pattern, we provide an intuitive understanding of the different natures of the syntactic measures. By demonstrating how the modeling conventions and the geometric composition of lines at a local scale can have a huge impact on the results of syntactic analysis at a larger scale, we call for more attention to the conventions and principles used for modeling street networks.

Recent empirical research has confirmed the importance of green infrastructure and outdoor recreation to urban people’s well- being during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, only a few studies provide cross-city analyses. We analyse outdoor recreation behaviour across four Nordic cities ranging from metropolitan areas to a middle-sized city. We collected map based survey data from residents (n = 469–4992) in spring 2020 and spatially analyse green infrastructure near mapped outdoor recreation sites and respondents’ places of residence. Our statistical examination reveals how the interplay among access to green infrastructure across cities and at respondents’ residential location, together with respondents’ socio-demographic profiles and lockdown policies or pandemic restrictions, affects outdoor recreation behaviour. The results highlight that for pandemic resilience, the history of Nordic spatial planning is important. To support well-being in exceptional situations as well as in the long term, green infrastructure planning should prioritise nature wedges in and close to cities and support small-scale green infrastructure