The Urban Design of Kroksbäck and Hyllie Analysing vibrancy

The Urban Design of Kroksbäck and Hyllie Analysing vibrancy Sofia Linderoth Agata Ostrowska Matthijs Tromp

INTRODUCTION In the light of rapid urbanization and the turn to a planning paradigm in which livability, ecological and social sustainability is at the forefront, this research aims to put Jane Jacobs’ vision of great cities in a contemporary setting by comparing the neighbourhoods of Hyllie and Kroksbäck in Malmö, Sweden, built in two different periods of time(1970’s and 2000’s).

Jane Jacobs, for her time (1960’s), had progressive and contrasting ideas about urban life and urban design. Operating in a utopian modernist paradigm focused on functionality and order, Jacobs found her light in a more human approach and focus on urban life and liveliness, vibrancy and mixing of uses and functions.

What can we learn about Hyllie and Kroksbäck by studying them from the viewpoint of Jane Jacobs’ vision of great cities?

A morphological approach will hand us the tools to analyze and compare both neighbourhoods in their urban design. We will be looking at land use, mixed functions, form and layout, and population. As a tool, we will utilize different kinds of mapping to explore and interpret these aspects of the urban morphology.

To complement we will observe the daily urban life in between the buildings to investigate the vibrancy and liveliness. Jacobs’ idea of liveliness entails many people at all times of all ages interacting with the space in multiple uses. Do Hyllie and Kroksbäck fulfill these ideas?

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KROKSBÄCK Kroksbäck is an area with its roots in the Swedish building boom of the late 1960s- 1970s. Before the 1960s the land area of Kroksbäck was a part of the farmland surrounding the historical centre of Malmö.

During the 1960s the municipality acquired this land and other parts in the outskirts of Malmö to build modern and functional apartments to compensate for the housing shortage and overcrowding that was common in the city centre. This was a part of the bigger national project the Million Program, where the goal was to build one million housing units for inhabitants all over Sweden.2 These areas were often located on the outskirts of cities and the architecture was defined by modernist ideals of uniformity and functionality.1 Over the years, million program areas have been a topic for debate and some of these areas, including Kroksbäck, have been seen as a transition zone for newcomers in the city.1 Through the years little changes have been made to the design of Kroksbäck apart from the many playgrounds that occupy the courtyards. Today the area has also been divided by a fence that surrounds approximately one-third of the area that consists of shareholder housing (bostadsrättsförening).3

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As one of the researched districts, we decided to choose Hyllie, located at the southern edge of Malmö. It is an entirely new built district, which is still partly under construction. The project was created in connection to the Öresund Bridge which is a fixed link between Copenhagen and Malmö.4 The bridge was opened in 2000, and the construction works of Hyllie started in 2007.1 The facilities surrounding the station are the main square, an enormous shopping centre, a sport and event arena as well as offices and hotels. The rest of the neighbourhood is filled with residential buildings planned for 8.000 dwellings.5 Hyllie was built on formally cityowned land, which was bought from farmers for the Million Program preparation. The City of Malmö was selling parts of the land to finance the infrastructure costs and initiate commercial and housing projects owned by private investors.

Furthermore, the target group of the future residents was desired to be mostly entrepreneurial and high income, partly demonstrated by putting 70% of the apartments up for sale and not for rent.1

HYLLIE

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JANE JACOBS’ VISION OF GREAT CITIES

To investigate vibrancy/urbanism in our two neighbourhoods we are using Jane Jacobs’ vision of great cities developed in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961).6 In this book, Jacobs criticized many of the, at the time, contemporary ideas on planning a city. She disregarded functionalism and physical barriers as a way of planning and instead promoted liveliness and mixed-use as some of the most important aspects of planning. Having a lively and diverse city with a presence of residents and city inhabitants in public space was, in her opinion, one of the most important aspects of creating safe and prosperous cities. For our work, we will be focusing on four conditions presented in her book.6 Using her ideas in our project today is a balanced act of translating her work to our context whilst staying true to her initial vision. When analyzing the urban design of our neighborhoods, we tried to stay as close as possible to the original description of Jacobs’ ideas of the need for mixed primary use and the need for small blocks.

The need for aged buildings is a more complex condition in which Jacobs has the underlying theory that old buildings, or even rundown buildings, facilitate different services and tenants since they often have lower rents. In Sweden, 5

housing rents are regulated and therefore this theory is applicable to some extent. However, both Kroksbäck and Hyllie are examples of large scale building projects that lack prior buildings and therefore our comparison will mostly be focused on comparing the building ages between the areas. The last point, the need for concentration translates well into our context and the interpretation of this point will be based on a mix of population density, the concentration of activities and concentration of residents in public spaces.

vibrancy means a buzz of people interacting and transacting in winwin exchanges - both economic and social. Vibrancy was very visible in Jane’s world: people on the street and sidewalks, jostling and bumping as they went about their daily businesses, often in street-level retail establishments just off the sidewalk.

need for primary mixed uses “The district, and indeed as many of its internal parts as possible, must serve more than one primary function; preferably more than two. These must ensure the presence of people who go outdoors on different schedules and are in the place for different purposes, but who are able to use many facilities in common.”6

need for aged buildings “Most blocks must be short; that is, streets and opportunities to turn corners must be frequent.”6

need for concentration “The district must mingle buildings that vary in age and condition, including a good proportion of old ones.”6

need for small blox

“The district must have a sufficiently dense concentration of people, for whatever purpose there may be there. This includes people there because of residence.” 6

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HISTORICAL MAPS

THE NEED FOR AGED BUILDINGS How does it apply to Kroksbäck and Hyllie?

MAPPING & MORPHOLOGY Urban Morphology is the study of the physical form of spaces and places. It looks at the lay-out and form, and at elements like streets, pathways, intersections, hidden physical features, blocks, plots and many more elements.7 The study of this is important as people not only interact with each other, but even more so with the space they inhibit.

“How can the physical space explain and affect behavior and usage of the space?”

As a stand alone study morphology is limiting as there are way more factors involved in urban research, but combing morphology with for 7

example cultural studies, social science, history or behavioral sciences can lead to interesting findings and results.8 Furthermore, as we do in our research, combining it with other research methods such as observations lead to surprising combined findings unable to come out with either one on their own.

How can the tool of mapping be used to explore and analyze urban morphology? Maps are often seen as the result and the aim of morphological research.

Even though the maps are the end result, it is the findings of using the maps as a tool of research which make maps so powerful. It not only conveys, but also explores and finds. In the light of our research and exploring Jane Jacobs vision, the following types of maps have been produced and elaborated on further:

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One of the main points of Jane Jacobs is the need for mixed uses and mixed functions. Combining residential, commercial, offices and restaurants and cafes would create a more used and vibrant space.

Therefore we mapped the land use of both Hyllie and Kroksbäck. On first glimpse is it obvious that Hyllie has more different land uses, and also more mixed. In Kroksbäck there is a residential part and a big green space. There are no spaces designated for restaurants, cafés, shops or offices. In Hyllie you see more mixed use, and even residential mixed with first floor retail and office space. Although there are mixed uses, one can still observe a spatial division between uses in Hyllie.

LAND USE MAP 9

ACTIVITIES MAP

An important part in Jacobs idea of vibrancy is services that allow and create activity in a neighbourhood.

These activities should preferably be widespread in terms of the user groups they relate to and at what different times they generate activity in an area. Kroksbäck has few commercial activities but many public facilities and services for residents such as schools and playgrounds. Hyllie on the other hand has a focus on activities that pull people from places outside of Hyllie. This is most apparent in the area surrounding the train station compared to the areas towards the edge of the neighborhoods where small-scale services aimed towards residents take place..

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INTERSECTIONS & ENCOUNTERS Important to Jane Jacobs is the need for small blocks, which in turn create more spots for encounters.

More intersections means more flows of people encountering each other, thus leading to more liveliness. Therefore this map explores the intersections (where streets/pathways cross/meet each other) and spots where flows of people encounter each other.

Our initial hypothesis was that Kroksbäck has bigger blocks and less spots of encounters and intersections. This map, however, shows that Kroksbäck has more chances of interactions due to the many inter-building pathways. Hyllie has more of the supposed small blocks that Jacobs is talking about, although as seen in the case of Kroksbäck can be deceiving and can not be seen black-and-white as a prerequisite of creating vibrancy.

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NOLLI MAP The Nolli mapping method is a tool for measuring the amount of urban public spaces.9 The mapping is highlighting the accessible public space, which is shown as a white part of the map. The method is done by marking out black - buildings, inaccessible areas and private spaces as well as differentiating streets and green areas.

The public space is one of the ingredients of the mixed-used space that Jacobs is celebrating.

It is a space in between different services as well as it can be used in various ways (as a space for outdoor interaction, trading, exercise, recreation, events etc.), where the city life happens.

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Besides the farmland surrounding the district, the landscape misses green areas.

The farmland is also not considered to be a public space

Kroksbäck

Accessible public spaces can be found inside the courtyards of residential buildings but considering their placement, they are more semi-private spaces that are not inviting to visitors.

NOLLI MAP KROKSBÄCK

Kroksbäck is an area highly accessible to people. It is filled with green spaces, space in between buildings as well as main car roads placed at the border of the district. Although there is no central square in the neighbourhood, the residents and visitors can enjoy their time uninterrupted by cars or freely walking around the area. The area is characterized by low building density and mainly unfenced plots.

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NOLLI MAP HYLLIE

Hyllie is dominated by inaccessible areas such as building sites, highways or railways. There are not many private spaces but there are a lot which are uninviting or confusing for everyday users, such as empty areas on the outskirts of the neighbourhood (which on the map look like accessible public spaces, but by closer examination, they cannot be classified by this term) and parking lots.

“Emporia”, which is a 75.000 m2 shopping mall in Hyllie, could be considered a public space because it does not require tickets to enter or has a rooftop park. However, it is problematic to categorize it in this way due to the restricting opening hours.

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Kroksbäck’s playful design

OBSERVATIONS When looking at Jane Jacobs’ ideas on vibrancy and human presence in space, it is needed to investigate some of the everyday life in Hyllie and Kroksbäcks. To put her theory into practice we observed two central locations that based on our mapping and theory itself should be active and lively.This hypothesis was based on the mixed uses and services in the spots as well as the access to open public spaces. In

contrast to this we also conducted observations in two small but central neighborhood parks surrounded by residential buildings in each location to find a different but still central part of the neighborhood with fewer services in its immediate surroundings. Knowing that the number of people and flow of space varies depending on different times of the day, we visited all the spots three times - during lunch break (between 12:00 -13:00), during rush hour (16:00 - 18:00) and on a Saturday (14:00 -16:00), to have an overview of the busyness of places.

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AGE DIVISION Age division of our observations throughout different times and days corresponds with the age division of the inhabitants of Kroksbäck, suggesting that the space is used by all ages of the local population.

Total number of residents: Kroksbäck: 6722; Hyllie: 4786

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Example of observation guide

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Public space Kroksbäck

OBSERVATIONS PER TIME PERIOD In Kroksbäck, during lunch break, after work hour and during a weekend afternoon approximately the same amount of people were interacting with the space. As Jane Jacobs suggests, usage of space should be during all times and days, and not limited to just rush-hour or the weekend.

In Hyllie, the space was used at all times that it was observed, but it was clear that most people moved around in the area in the two times we visited during a weekday.

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INTERACTIONS WITH SPACE In the space, certain areas were planned for sitting and relaxing such as stairs and benches.

During observations we saw an unplanned use of space. People were sitting and hanging out on the stairs meant for walking up to the flats, and people were talking with each other in the middle of the square. We saw a clear difference between planned and unplanned use.

Hyllie observation spots.

In Hyllie we could not notice any use that was different than planned. The interactions that stood out the most were the workers who were dominant in the square during lunchtime.

Despite being a mixed-use space, this was a square that struck us as mostly aimed toward residents of the neighbourhood based on its appearance and its location in the more residential part of Hyllie. But when keeping the lack of noncommercial public space in mind, this tendency can easily be understood.

Kroksbäck observation spots.

People flow and movement patterns

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INTERACTIONS WITH PEOPLE When looking at the layout of kroksbäck, we initially expected fewer human interactions. .

People live in big flats and isolated from multi-use functions like retail, restaurants and cafes, and this lack of multiuse and housing built in a ‘copy & paste’ style contrasts Jacobs idea of what creates vibrancy and liveliness.

Nevertheless, we observed quite a lot of encounters and human interactions. This appeared to be grounded in the fact that there was a local

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supermarket (the only one in Kroksbäck) and a community center. The lack of services made the singular services a pull factor in Kroksbäck, leading to a unexpected vibrancy in that space. Another reason could be that compared to Hyllie, Kroksbäck is an older neighbourhood where people have been living longer and grew up and know their neighbors and the space better. This creates a more unplanned vibrancy.

Kroksbäck is a more static place than the ever-changing Hyllie.

Pla

ayground in the park in Hyllie

EXPECTED VS OBSERVED Our initial expectations concluded from the morphology mapping and Jane Jacobs’ theory suggested that the mono-functionality of Kroksbäck (see Land Use map), the monodesign of the residential flats and lack of mixed land use and services (on first glance) would result in less human and spatial interactions, and an overall lack of vibrancy. However, the observations showed a different picture. What characterised this place was a feeling of community and interactions between residents. (Suprisingly) multifunctional space was used by all the generations.

For Hyllie our theory and mapping led us to expect that the areas we chose would be vibrant. The big variety of services in combination with the open space and relative lack of non-commercial public space within other parts of Hyllie led us to believe that the activity level would be constant. In some ways, this proved correct since there was a continuous flow of people using the spaces.

However, people working in the neighbourhood (such as office employees) showed a bigger presence in the space than expected and it was clear that they contributed to making the area busier on weekdays than on weekends.

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CONCLUSIONS

Hyllie and Kroksbäck are two different neighbourhoods built with different ideas, visions and problem solving in mind. But has thought been given to the urban life and life inbetween the buildings? Jane Jacobs, a visionary of her time, developed a vision of great cities focusing on vibrancy and created conditions thereafter. This magazine showcases the process and findings of analysing said conditions in two different neighborhoods. Let us move on to some reflections on the research tools: Using mapping as a tool turned out to be beneficial in multiple ways: first of all, it gives a new perspective of an area compared to fieldwork and ethnographic research. Seeing a lay-out from above, and isolating aspects of the physical form brings insights and unexpected findings.

For example, looking at Kroksbäck, the seeming lack of small blocks would make you assume that there are not a lot of interactions and encounters between the residents.

Isolating just the street and pathway layer, however, leads to seeing that there are actually more opportunities of encountering each other in between the buildings.

Another example is the Nolli map; Hyllie on maps and from the ground looks very grand, open and freely accessible. But by using the Nolli map to explore the actual walkable and freely accessible public spaces 25

one notices that large parts of Hyllie are actually not public and freely accessible.

The mapping of Kroksbäck and certain interpretations of Jane Jacobs deem Kroksbäck a place that should not facilitate a lot of vibrancy. Despite these factors our observations showed that the center was clearly used by residents of all ages and during different times which made it appear as a small community. To determine the factors behind this there would be more research needed but if connected to Jacobs theory we can at least reflect on potential explanations.

Despite not reaching all of Jacobs conditions in terms of vibrancy it is clear that Kroksbäck is a neighborhood where people live and have lived for some time.

Planning a neighborhood in a short amount of time is possible but when creating a sense of community more than commercial activities are needed.

Hyllie is a neighborhood with an abundance of commercial activities but also a neighborhood with a shortage of non-commercial public spaces. Based on Jacobs theory a lot of the conditions are great for creating a vibrant neighborhood.

But questions arise: do these conditions automatically create vibrancy or are there more factors that play a role? How can the built environment have a positive effect on liveliness? How human-focused is our approach to urban planning in the present time, and have the critiques created by Jacobs been listened to?

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References 1 Baeten, G. (2012). Normalising Neoliberal Planning: The Case of Malmö, Sweden. In: TasanKok, T., Baeten, G. (eds) Contradictions of Neoliberal Planning. GeoJournal Library, vol 102.

Springer, Dordrecht.

2 Boverket. (2020). Under miljonprogrammet byggdes en miljon bostäder. Retrieved from: https://www.boverket.se/sv/samhallsplanering/stadsutveckling/miljonprogrammet 3 Mark & Miljö (2022). Skilda världar på Kroksbäck. Retrieved from: http://mark-miljo.se/skildavarldar-pa-kroksback/ 4 Hansen, S. (2021), New fixed links across the Öresund – what is the point?, Trafikdage at Aalborg University, Aalborg University 5 Hyllie centrum, (2022), Hyllie - a new city district between Malmö and Copenhagen. [website]. Available at: http://www.hyllie.com/in-english.aspx [30/04/2022] 6 Jacobs, J. (1961). The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House.

7 Kropf, K.. (2018) The handbook of urban morphology. John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey 8 Oliveira, V. (2016) Urban morphology: an introduction to the study of the physical form of cities. Springer, New York.

9 Huimin Ji, Wowo Ding. (2021), Mapping urban public spaces based on the Nolli map method, Frontiers of Architectural Research, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 540-554

Editors:

Agata Ostrowska Sofia Linderoth Matthijs Tromp

Editorial supervisor: Lina Olsson Publisher:

Malmö University

Department:

Urban Studies

Subject:

Making Urban Studies

Year of publication:

Q2 2022