City development in middle sized cities : A studie about urban densification in central Norrköping from a social and ecological perspective

Planners in Norrköping municipality today facing a challenge to meet Norrköping'sneeds in the housing market, while at the same time achieving demand for public places and areas such as parks, squares and nature areas. When existing areas within the city's borders are built, so-called densification takes place in the city, whichcan have both positive and negative consequences. The aim of this study is to investigatehow the densification has affected Norrköping's inner city from a social and ecologicalperspective with a focus on free space, and present proposals for measures forbetter management of the densification in central Norrköping. This study has mainly been carried out using a qualitative research method.A qualitative study is based on soft data such as interviews, document analysis and literature studies. The interviews have been conducted with respondents from Norrköpings municipality and the document analysis consists of steering documents obtained from Norrköpings municipality and Pontarius AB. Some data is obtained from documents and studies where results are presented in the form of tables, diagrams, figures and GIS analysis, which means that quantitative methods are also applied. To perform a safer densification, it is important that the municipality establishes safe guidelines and steering documents to relate to. These control documents should be used as a framework for efficient exploitation and ensure that the city's freeareas are developed from a sustainable perspective and that a good quality is includedin the development. It is advantageous that the development of the densification takes placeaccording to guidelines and documentation prepared by the municipality. To ensure maximum efficiency in exploitation, these guidelines should be followed at an early stage. It is also important that there is a balance of free space size and their quality. Too small a surface leads to a higher load and larger surfaces can be perceived as superfluousand a feeling of unsecure. It is recommended to study how the densification developsin connection with the infrastructure and how it will affect free and green areas in the long run. This study is limited to only the inner city of Norrköping. The study also delimits economic and political factors that can influence the planning of the densification and the development of the city’s infrastructure and public transport