A city for youths : An urban strategy to encourage and enhance existing activities and activate social space to strengthen youths leisure time in Lycksele

• Main Author: Abbevik, Julia
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Umeå universitet, Arkitekthögskolan vid Umeå universitet 2020
• Subjects: Architecture; Arkitektur
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-171748

On a national scale, statistics relating to moving patterns shows that youths and young adults are the ones who tend to move the most. The case in Västerbotten is similar as in the rest of Sweden and many municipalities are experiencing a population decline. This thesis aims to look into the motives behind moving from the perspective of youths and young adults and through that propose a strategy to strengthen the place attachment youths and young adults feel to their home municipality. The research is centered around Lycksele in Västerbotten. The research questions that the thesis aims to seek answers for are; What could an architectural strategy that aims to support youths in their leisure time and also strengthen their connection to the area look like? and What programmatic aspects are important to consider in such a strategy? The thesis investigates spatial needs from the perspective of youths and young adults which have been investigated through literature studies and action based research focused on interviews and a workshop. Four themes were common in both interviews and the workshop, these were; closeness to nature, possibility of work, valuable leisure time and a sense of home. To understand how an urban strategy can respond to the themes, strategies applied in other municipalities have been analysed. A finding was that in order for strategies to attract more inhabitants, they need to have a holistic approach and offer a complete lifestyle. Creativity is a theme which came up during interviews and literature studies as a possible platform around which an area can become considered as more attractive. The proposal is an urban strategy which aims to respond to the common themes from interviews and the workshop by enhancing and encouraging activities taking place and activating social space. This proposal suggests a strategy which aims to strengthen the notion of sense of place to enhance place attachment and through that possibly invite more young adults to move back in the future.