Stockholm's focus on walkability

citylab.com

48 points·anonymfus··4 comments

Even in the winter when it's quite cold and dark, Stockholm is quite walkable. It helps that its archipelago nature means it doesn't get as much snow as inland. But the ferries and public transport work really well.

Note the operation of Stockholm’s subway is contracted to a private, for-profit corporation. Nothing like waiting in the freezing cold for the public metro here in DC to be late.

The article is a bit weird because as far as I know Stockholm hasn't become much more walkable, or bikeable, in the last 15 years. (They have spent billions on car infrastructure however). Copenhagen is much superior in this regard.

There seems to be a growing trend of talking up Stockholm (maybe because of the insane housing market), while not much have happened really. Most of the "ideal" development of Stockholm seems to be from pre-'90s, including all but one subway station.

In the last 30 years the main developments have been malls and "soulless" residential areas in the spirit of "Hammarby Sjöstad". [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammarby_Sj%C3%B6stad].

I think one thing that works in Stockholm's favor in this regard is that the island and coastal perimeters form matural neighborhood boundaries, while in Copenhagen, like in most cities, the boundary of, say, Nørrebro is not sharply delineated.

But indeed I assume the Stockholm Tourism authority appears to be doing its job well at the moment.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com