GÄVLE - A HARBOUR AND A CITY
Networks - Structures - Systems II Studio Textures
Urban PLanning and Design
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
2022
The harbor was once a vital part of the city's life and identity - a central marketplace, a bustling social hub, a place of work, and a gateway to the wider world.
Ports today have become stark reflections of our escalating consumption habits, expanding beyond the limits of what urban life can comfortably integrate. Their scale—immense vessels, towering stacks of containers, and sprawling industrial facilities—has grown so vast that they are no longer viable within our living spaces. As these harbors shift farther from the heart of cities, they become distant entities, increasingly removed from our everyday awareness. Long absent, they risk becoming forgotten—a collective denial of the environmental and social impacts tied to our way of life, with far-reaching consequences.
As Gävle's harbor expanded to become Sweden's third-largest and the largest on the Baltic east coast, it grew increasingly remote, detached from daily life. Once integral to the community, it has transformed into a vast industrial logistics center, existing apart from the city and its people, and has become alienated from the community it once helped sustain.
This detachment raises a profound question:
How can we truly grasp the impact of our consumption-driven lifestyles on the planet if we are shielded from experiencing it directly?
When we cannot confront the scale of our own demands with our own senses, we risk living in a nostalgic vision of a 200-year-old fishing village, clinging to an idealized past, while denying the reality in our lifestyles. The urgent challenges of the present remain unaddressed, growing ever more pressing.
My contribution as an urban planner in Gävle is making todays harbour experiencebal with our own senses to provoke a critical reflection on the dimension of the impact of our lifestyle.
Harbourbanity embodies a transformative vision for Gävle, where an old container vessel is repurposed into a vibrant social hub that bridges the gap between the harbor and urban life. This innovative space will make the vast scale of globalization tangible, inviting critical discussions about our consumption habits and their consequences for the planet.
The newly transformed vessel will host a diverse range of amenities designed to foster community engagement and creativity. Encompassing sports fields, communal gardens, repair shops, stages for concerts and theater, a skate park, running tracks, workshops, communal living rooms, children's playgrounds, art studios, and galleries, this social hub will serve as a dynamic environment for collaboration and connection.
In addition to providing recreational opportunities, Harbourbanity will inspire residents to reimagine their lifestyles. By encouraging creativity, invention, and innovation, the space will promote new values that prioritize social togetherness over consumption-driven behaviors. As a result, it will empower the community to establish a more sustainable and harmonious way of living, nurturing both individual expression and collective well-being.
Through this initiative, Gävle can reclaim its harbor as a vital part of urban life, fostering a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between our consumption choices and their impact on the world around us.
