Svartöstaden, Luleå (Sustainable Urban Development, 2014)

Svartöstaden is a residential district to the West of Luleå. Originally the area served as the main worker neighborhood for nearby activities and then for SSAB steal factory. The area is today listed as a heritage site by the national authorities. In recent years, cheap property prices in Svartöstaden have contributed to attract new inhabitants such as artists, young families, etc. Today, this new social milieu has come together to advocate for better social inclusion policies (e.g., to support new rental housing) and urban amenities (e.g., schools, markets, cultural buildings, etc.) as well as to contest other, more aggressive land uses (e.g., Norrbotniabanan Corridor).
Credits (check in the attached booklet)




The aim of this exercise is to deliver a sustainable urban regeneration plan for the neighborhood of Svartöstaden. For urban regeneration we understand a well-established approach by which an area is upgraded by leveraging on the energies, and skills of the local community as opposite to top-down, urban redevelopment. In this project we have focused on Urban Livability that according to  David Godschalk [1] is one of the main dimensions of sustainable urban planning (the others being economy, environment, and social sustainability).

The project is articulated in following steps:

1. Analysis of Svartöstaden
In the first step each group will analyze one urban layer:
  • Land Use (e.g., housing, entrepreneurship, culture, education, etc.);
  • Networks (energy, mobility, etc.);
  • Subsoil (topography, environmental units, etc.);
  • City/Regional Trends & Policy (e.g., regional & city planning, demography, etc.);
  • Local Trends & Policy (e.g., local masterplan, local real estate market, etc.);
  • Stakeholders (e.g., community, public agencies, etc.).
These analyses consist of desktop research and fieldwork observations and interviews that have been carried out during the Svartöstaden Fieldwork Workshop (held on September, 15th).

2. Vision Seminar
Each Group has presented its analyses and visions for Svartöstaden during a course seminar. During the seminar visions were discussed and voted. One consolidated vision has been elaborated to be the basis for the second part of the exercise.

3. Svartöstaden Urban Regeneration Project
The second part of the project consists mainly of, but not limited to, an urban design exercise that will explore the potentials of the Vision. Sub-areas within and beside Svartöstaden have been chosen and designed accordingly.

4. Final Project Presentation
On October, 23rd posters have been presented during an open event held in Svartöstaden. A jury made of course leaders, LTU staff, Luleå Kommun and Svartöstaden representatives helped discussed the six urban regeneration projects.

Below, two of the six submitted proposals




[1] Godschalk, D. R. (2004). Land use planning challenges: Coping with conflicts in visions of sustainable development and livable communities. Journal of the American Planning Association70(1), 5-13.