This is a project that asks questions. Why are we behaving in certain ways? Why are we using objects for a certain purpose and not others? Why can’t we do it differently? Questions most of us never even consider because we have gotten so used to following the path that is predetermined for us. Throughout this work I will analyze how skateboarding poses a critique of spatial regulations and pre-defined purposes, as well as how skaters are suggesting a whole new perspective on our everyday life. I argue that skaters are in fact the post-industrial designers of their everyday life, and that the perspective of skaters carries potential for sustainable change as it favors the imagination and possibilities over restrictions and limitations. This is a perspective that I believe can help us make better use of the resources we have, both in terms of ecological sustainability, but also with regards to social aspects, as it allows for greater diversity and multitudes of behaviors within the same space. Through several design iterations I have explored how skateboarding offers tactics that can be applied by others to start a process of imagining and performing alternative ways of engaging with public spaces.

Density is more about an experienced nearness to functions and activities than buildingsbeing physically close to each other. Density is interaction, and the intensity of itdepends on accessibility to the functions and activities of the built environment. The current planning, continuing the thoughts of the modernist, are a threat to publichealth and the environment, as sprawling settlements demand more resources forinfrastructure and time spent commuting between home and work, taking up the timeto spend with family and friends. The suburban planning principles of the Swedish housing estate unit have graduallytransformed the suburban neighbourhoods into dispersed, disconnected islands, wheresocial life is inhibited in the mere configuration of space. Legibility of the urban environment is important regarding orientation and navigation,but also to understand the underlying meanings of spaces and places. The urbanstructure should be easily read to be understandable in the choices of everyday life. How we understand the boundaries and transitions of our surrounding affects howspaces are used. Unclear territorial interfaces, like the open space landscape ofmodernist planning feels too exposed to be appropriated. If activities should take placein the outdoor environment, there must be a certain quality to the spaces that areinviting and promote interaction between people. The suburban housing estate neighbourhoods can be developed to promote thisinteraction, providing spaces where the different layers of social life can take place, fromthe private home – through mediating interfaces of front yards, indoor collective spaceand collective gardens – to the public realm of the streets, pathways and parks. The thesis studies the suburban neighbourhood Årsta in eastern Uppsala, whichshows the signs of a disperse suburban housing estate in its configuration of buildings,withdrawn from the streets, turning inward away from the public spaces. By adding built volume within the existing structure of the open yards, the boundariesbetween the public and the private spaces can be clearly defined and new activatedspaces can be created. Many fronts towards the streets and paths make people meet inevery-day life and new types of spaces can be used to set a framework for interactionbetween residents as well as outsiders. Such spaces can also work as a buffer betweenpublic life and the private dwelling, e.g. a collective garden mediates the space inbetween a pedestrian path and an inner yard.