The design derives from the contemporary needs of a functional yet attractive pedestrian street in the city center. We aimed to create an inviting street on a human scale with a unique and clear identity. Design concepts focused on richness in experience, timelessness and small scale.

The city’s main shopping street targets a unique identity as a contrast to external shopping centers. The timeless design speaks to the surrounding buildings. Along the street are plenty of spots for resting and occasional meetings. To contribute to a lively and attractive street, the shop owners are encouraged to expand out on the street. Everyone should feel welcome here, the street aims to be inclusive and safe.
The functions of the pedestrian street should be flexible over day and night to accommodate the needs of the shop owners. Flowering trees and flowerpots are placed where possible to create variation throughout the seasons and to create shade.

The architectonic expression of the street should remain over time. Hence, the paving consists of granite which ages with dignity and clearly gives the impression of the most important shopping street. The paving is unique to this street with a pattern deriving from the right angles of the city grid. It consists of natural stone in various rectangular shapes, placed in a seemingly random pattern without a main direction. The paving varies in size and colour, but the variation is subtle. The colours vary between warm tones without sharp contrasts and the shapes are similar in size, leading to a delicate impression. The paving ends where car or bike traffic is allowed and thereby makes a distinction to the streetscape. The paving design led the project to win the award Stenpriset 2022.

Benches have been chosen for their simple design and high quality. Their placement is tailored to enable movements between shops and to facilitate people’s interactions. Furniture and trees are placed on either side of the street. A zone close to the façade is open for shops to furnish, which is subtly marked in the paving. The middle of the street is kept clear.

There is a variety of furniture, comfortable and accessible benches with armrests and backrests, and benches for many people. Seat puffs of polished concrete give a soft and kind expression, suitable for teenagers and children to hang out or play.

In recent years this street has struggled with an uneven surface and an important goal with the new design has been to make shops and businesses accessible to people with reduced sight or mobility. To solve accessibility in the southern part of the street, the different levels have been incorporated into retaining walls, ramps and stairs made of granite. The retaining walls are designed as seating walls in order to be incorporated in the design and to use every part of the street as a point of meeting. The seating wall offers an electricity outlet, Wi-Fi and space for many people to sit.

Lighting is an important part of the design and has a great impact of the experience of the pedestrian street as a whole. It should be safe, delightful and inviting. Lighting suspended on taut lines reduces the number of light poles that could impede mobility and accessibility. Fittings consist of a glass cylinder, the simple design creates a contemporary lantern.

The pedestrian street is designed to become the inner city´s new meeting point. With a continuous floor of high-quality, flowering trees and unique furnishing, it will mirror its’ place as Uppsala’s most important shopping street.

Project Data

Landscape Architecture: Karavan

Light design by Bjerking
Client: Uppsala municipality
Project location: 
Kungsängsgatan, Uppsala
Design year: 2018-2019
Year Built: 2021
Photographer: Jann Lipka and Karavan