Stora Södergatan : communicating a street´s potential through site reading

Abstract: In urban planning and design today interventions tend to take place in already existing areas and inevitably effect also surrounding areas. The many parties involved in any change leads to a demand for a shared language around these areas. This thesis aim to, through understanding and communicating a site, Stora Södergatan in Lund Sweden, inspire to a novel way of looking at an urban site preceding design- or planning interventions. Based on a theoretical framework where site is considered as a relational construct, material as well as immaterial, a framework for site thinking is constructed. Further, with theory of representation, the communication of the site is emphasized and accounted for as part of the framework. The framework, based on Andrea Kahn´s five site concepts in Defining Urban Sites (2005) is created with the purpose to be tested on a specific site. Hence, about 40 site readings are performed on the street Stora Södergatan. The site readings aim to portray an urban site from different points of departure and, through acknowledging this multifaceted view, bring the theory closer to practice. The method is searching and the purpose is to reveal possible site knowledge that otherwise might be overlooked in a design- or planning process. The site readings are represented in various ways, all with the goal to communicate different sides of the street. Based on these findings, three scenarios are constructed that uses the gained knowledge from the site readings to understand if the method is proven successful. The scenarios, different in scale, serve as a reassurance that the site readings are useful in a potential future development. Finally, a discussion bring forth some of the most interesting aspects of the choice of method, the performance of that method, as well as its outcomes.