This thesis describes the historical development of the urban structure of three Swedish cities, which have each suffered from a large fire at some point during the 19th century. Using a collection of historical maps, as well as contemporary geographical data, this work aims to assess the impact these fires had on the built-up urban structure at the time immediately after they occurred, as well as their impact upon the urban structure of the contemporary city. The urban structure is composed of three primary elements, which are the streets, buildings, and land-use plots, which over time changes at differing rates. In order to determine whether the fire had an impact on the ordinary rate of change to the city, historical maps of the three Swedish cities are used, depicting them as they were before and shortly after the fire occurred. The pre- and post-fire maps are used to produce composite maps detailing the amount of change which occurred in the time period before and after the fire. The maps depicting the cities after the fire are then in turn overlaid with modern geodata of the contemporary cities, in order to determine whether the fire could be considered to have had a significant impact on the development of the present urban structures. The comparison of the maps of the case-cities shows that a significant amount of change occurred between their pre- and post-fire states, and that the post-fire structure closely aligns to the present urban structure. In each of the cities then, the urban fire could be considered an important component to the historical development of their urban structures.

Rörelse i staden är avgörande för hur staden fungerar. Platser och stråk med stora flöden har annorlunda förutsättningar än platser och stråk med små flöden. Flödena påverkas i sin tur av stadens struktur.  Det här examensarbetet handlar om hur förtätning kan vara en del i en medveten förändring av stadsstrukturen och hur man genom förändringar i stadsstrukturen kan skapa varierande rumsliga förutsättningar som kan utgöra ett ramverk för framtida utformning. Föremålet för den här studien är området runt Årstabergs pendeltågsstation i södra Stockholm. Området är en viktig kollektivtrafikknutpunkt och många människor passerar här dagligen för att byta mellan olika kollektivtrafikslag. Men det finns få rumsliga förutsättningar för att man ska röra sig här till fots av någon annan anledning. Genom att förbättra den rumsliga integrationen mellan Årstaberg och omkringliggande stadsdelar och genom förtätning i strategiska lägen skapas en diversitet av rumsliga förutsättningar i området. Baserat på dessa olika förutsättningar utvecklas principer fram för program, offentliga platser och byggnadernas möte med det offentliga rummet. / Movement in a city is crucial for how the city works. Streets and spaces with big flows of people have different potential than streets and spaces where few people moves. The flow of people is in turn influenced by the urban structure. This master thesis examines how densification can be a part of a transformation of the urban structure and how changes of the urban structure can create a variety of spatial conditions that forms a framework for future urban design. The case for this study is the area around Årstaberg commuter station in southern Stockholm. The area is an important transit hub and many people passes here every day to switch between transport modes. But there are few spatial conditions that promote walking here for any other reason. Through changes of the spatial integration and densification in strategic locations a diversity of spatial conditions are created. Based on these different conditions principles for the program, public spaces and building frontages are developed.