City planning for physical literacy

city planning

for Physical Literacy

by Tomas Strömberg | tomas.stromberg@umea.se

Umeå has Europe’s most environmentally engaged citizens! We are 125,000 inhabitants – aiming to be 200,000 by the year of 2050. Last year 700 companies started, and 1,100 new jobs were created. 1,300 new homes were built, and we welcomed 6 300 new residents to Umeå. O ne of the largest projects is the northern part of Island, Ön, were we plan for 7,000 inhabitants.

Umeå has entered a partnership with the Government Offices of Sweden. The aim is to facilitate planning processes to achieve increased and sustainable housing construction. The municipality has six growth strategies. The Government has supported the city in starting up the project with actors in the field of innovative planning and social sustainability and will follow our work.

Focus on sustainability

What do we mean when we say that we plan for physical literacy? When designing the grid, we are not only planning sites for specific purpose, but we work also on how to connect these sites. We want to help more people to find them and make connections that encourages movement. The possibility to improve physical literacy should be evident throughout the whole island. Where we place target points, for example the preschools, the grocery store and the mo bility hub should all be decided in favour of movement. When we started, we saw an opportunity to develop a dis trict where it is easier, faster and more convenient to choose sustainable transportation instead of choosing the car. We will start to plan for bicycle paths and walkways as accessible, short and straight as possible, thereafter for cars.

Even though we are in the beginning of this project; we can see that it will result in new ways of thinking just by having this perspective in mind. Umeå is developing a sustainable city and contributes to an equal and socially sustainable city as access to the city increases for everyone. Urban planning and land development for physical literacy is a major challenge, but we are convinced that we are on the right track.

Umeå´s six strategies for sustainable growth