Breaking the fourth wall

Abstract: Stockholm is facing a great expansion. The city is among the fastest growing population centers in the world. But where are the citizens seen in this development? How can we make this expansion process more democratic?   This thesis is an investigation in new ways to involve the citizens in the building process. A quest for answers to how politicians, developers, planners and architects can work together with the people when forming their city.   This thesis tries to create a center for this discussion, an operation that unifies all initiatives and projects about how Stockholm handles the existing environment and the future expansion. I call this project “Open City”. It refers to the aim to open up the discussion and processes and let the citizens in. Open City also means a city without boundaries, with a narrow net of infrastructure where all districts have their own strong identity. Open City would take place as hubs in different areas around the city in order to decrease the centralization. This thesis also zooms in on one of these hubs, on Järvafältet.