Vallastaden
National exhibitions have a long history in Sweden that includes the 1898 Stockholm exhibition, Gothenburg 1923 and more recently Malmo in 2001 was part of a European Housing Expo. However due to a reduction in government initiative and financial difficulty surrounding the development of Malmo, there has not been one since. In 2012 the Linkoping city government decided that they wanted to host a housing expo for their city and set an ambitious five year target.
The objective for Vallastaden 2017 was to showcase social sustainability, with the city using its planning and delivery powers to design and build a large neighbourhood that supports social integration and neighbourliness. Pre-fabrication, high sustainability standards and fast planning and construction are also principles embedded into the development of Vallastaden
The city created a delivery agency and ran a masterplanning competition to guide the development. Gothenburg based Okidoki Arkitekter wotn the competition with social sustiainability at the heart of their proposal. Their approach included a new linear park in the centre of the development and a mix of housing types on each plot. This meant that each development plot would deliver a mix of student housing, elderly housing, family housing and single person households in a mix of building types ranging from dense apartment blocks to detached houses. Okidoki created a masterplan that informed a detailed plan, creating building parameters for the delivery of the neighbourhood.
The result is a vibrant and eclectic mix of building heights, tones, materials and styles that come together through some clever masterplan moves. This includes kinking the streets and building up to the pavement line to create a tight knit urban fabric as well as placing all utilities underground in accessible tubes to free up all the public realm for landscaping.
The development was undertaken on state owned land, with the development agency running competitions for each building, governed by strict procurement rules with the aim of achieving many developers each delivering small plots. The procurement rules focussed on 19 criteria that were based on their overarching vision such as: low energy, research, quality etc. Price wasn’t one of the criteria. The city wanted to create competition among the developers and encourage innovation in design and sustainability.
These rules enabled the development to be delivered by some of Sweden’s larger developers alongside first time developers, architect builders, community builders and self-builders. This created a genuine diversity capable of delivering a mixed community. It also enabled and supported more experimental builders. Simon, my guide for the day, informed me that having the small and large builders working together is what made the project so successful. The large builders benefit from having the smaller builders who provide more bespoke and experimental housing, while the small builders benefit from the security and scale of investment that the larger builders provide.
Smaller and more experimental builders were also supported by the masterplan approach that fixed building mass and quantums. This allowed them to price land on what they knew would be permitted, rather than being outbid by developers who think they can get more volume, as is often the case in the UK.
An interesting experiment with Vallastaden is that the city government let go of all control over the detailed design and left it to the architects and developers. This was enabled by a strict detailed plan by okidoki that fixed key parameters of the masterplan. Tight control at the strategic level enabled smaller and more experimental builders and gave all a platform to deliver a design they wanted. Consequently you have some very interesting and exciting designs sitting right next to more conventional designs. It is this mix of styles, types and delivery of housing that makes Vallastaden such an interesting experiment and a truly mixed neighbourhood.
I visited the neighbourhood on a cold January day and although I was lucky to have the sun out, the temperature meant that not many people were outside. I have however dug out the image below showing the public realm in its full summer glory and the central street filled with people.
