Streets as catalysts of urban transformation

Abstract

Street experiments are an increasingly popular approach for local authorities to reconfigure the public realm and support local businesses, promote low-carbon mobility options, introduce new environmental services, and create new open space for residents and visitors. There is an implicit assumption that the outcomes of these discrete interventions can be upscaled and translated into policies and regulations, resulting in broader changes to urban development processes. In this presentation, Andrew Karvonen will provide some insights on how street experiments have evolved in Stockholm over the last decade. These activities have not reinvented the streetscape of the city, but they have created an emerging mode of urban governance that is place-based, collaborative, and action-oriented. The institutionalization of street experiments in Stockholm offers new ways to frame and act upon the built environment, with uncertain implications to urban development dynamics. 

Bio

Andrew Karvonen is a professor of urban design and planning at Lund University in Sweden. His research addresses the social, cultural, and political aspects of infrastructures and technologies in cities. His current projects involve city streets as testbeds to inform broader mobility policies (EmbedterLabs, 2022–2025) and the role of intermediary organizations in facilitating urban transformations (TRANS-LEARN, 2021–2025). His most recent co-edited volumes include Artificial Intelligence and the City: Urbanistic Perspectives on AI (Routledge, 2024) and Smart and Sustainable Cities? Pipedreams, Practicalities and Possibilities (Routledge, 2021).