The New Urbanism movement : the case of Sweden

Abstract: The city is the core of our civilisation. The interest in city grew tremendous in the last two – three decades. The thesis is an introduction to the New Urbanism movement. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the relation between New Urbanism and the European Urbanism movement. The thesis also analyses the factors that are considered to lead to this growing interest in city. Car dependence, change in labour conditions, change of household structure are just some of the factors that influence the urban life. It also tries to answer to the question if the new urbanist city is a desirable living form. The new urbanism movement and the European urbanism have as main goals to rediscover the lost city and give it back to people. To analyse the way the principles of the neo-traditionalist movements are applied in practice I analyse the case of Sweden, focusing on four cases: Lomma Harbour, Välle Broar and Biskopshagen in Växjö and Jakriborg, as the main study case. I have made a field study in Jakriborg, where I have conducted interviews with local inhabitants. The aim of the study is to see if the main thesis of New Urbanism, that through design a sense of community can be created, is valid or not.