General context

This project takes place on Hisingen, north of Gothenburg city centre. The transformation area (red) includes parts of Kvillebäcken, Hildedal, Aröd and Frihamnen, involving known places such as Backaplan and Hjalmar Brantingsplatsen.

The vision for future Gothenburg development is “a sustainable city, open for the world”, achieved through three strategic goals: creating proximity, cohesiveness and resilience. (Hulting, Gustavsson & Olsson, 2021). Major transformations on Hisingen and along the Göta älv river bank are recently finished, under construction or upcoming.

Today, the area is planned for and dominated by car dependency, the related car-sequences and infrastructure. The land is used for industrial and commercial interests accommodated in low buildings. The built structures on the site have different characters, the unit footprint is smaller in the north and bigger in south. These typologies also differ in character from the connecting areas. This is illustrated in the map to the right where the physical elements (buildings) have been inverted and instead shows the corresponding pattern of spatial elements in black, e. i. “negative space”, similar to an example by Hillier (Hillier, 1996). In reality, the current ratio of white/black is experienced as undefined space.

The prime potentials for transformations in the area are 1. the central geographic location in line with a logic expansion pattern, 2. the amount of residents (158 000, 2020) moving in the area, 3. sewing Hisingen together internally as well as with the mainland 4. marking of the entry/departure of Hisingen.

Traffic-dominance Green background but no access Designed for the car

0 3 6 km

FIGURE 1. Aerial photo underlay, scale 1:70 000. Download, raster ©Lantmäteriet (2021) Topographically, the area is situated in a valley, defined by the assets of wooded mountains in the east and west, Hökällan nature reserve in the north and Göta älv in the south. A stream called Kvillebäcken crosses the site diagonally. These green-blue assets are restricted by man made infrastructure which all together creates barrier effects, generating isolated land use islands.

The highways are important for regional connectivity, which is reflected by the establishment of global economic clusters. These connections, however, generate local barrier effects.

The broader context

Project area Main roads Ongoing development Ferry

Proportion of spaces

”Negative space” Buildings