Place and space; whose place and whose space

Abstract

The master’s thesis aims to create an understanding of how enhance people’s sense of familiarity and belonging to new developments and/or large transformations of a site. It is explored through people’s relationships to public space and its usage, the incorporation of local heritage, relationships between private and public zones, and what the key functions of a space are. By synthesizing the theories and concepts from urban sociology, humane design, ecology, and historical site analysis, terminology is established towards a set of design principles that are used towards communicating and guiding the design process. The design principles are used as a general approach that is applied towards a site specific design library. The design principles and design library guide what design interventions are made, and illustrate different potential outcomes based on the design library. The project is located on the island of Öckerö in Gothenburg’s northern archipelago, and focuses on a site located by the marina. There are plans for large developments to take place on the site that have the vision to make it the new town center for the island with commercial and office spaces, a preschool, public spaces and residential functions. The project explores how key local elements can be extracted, analyzed, and applied towards the design process and proposal in order to enhance and maintain people’s sense of belonging and familiarity within the new development and transformation of the site. The proposal aims to define a central space for the island with interventions and design that promotes increased social integration, design for the human scale, improved ecological functions, and incorporating local cultural and historical references to enhance the sense of familiarity with the design and area. When these aspects are combined, the goal is that the design has a holistic approach that will work well together with the current local situation, its character, history and functions; while allowing for new possibilities and ideas to continuously adapt and change the spaces depending on the needs that arise