Experimental Logics of Street Transformations

Martin Emanuel, Nima Karimzadeh, William Hilliard, Andrew Karvonen and Daniel Normark
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Martin Emanuel: Department of Urban Planning and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden / Department of Urban and Rural Development, SLU Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Nima Karimzadeh: Sweco Sverige AB, Sweco Architects, Sweden
William Hilliard: Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Andrew Karvonen: Department of Architecture and the Built Environment, Lund University, Sweden
Daniel Normark: Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden / School of Culture & Society, Dalarna University, Sweden

Urban Planning, 2026, vol. 11

Abstract: Street experiments are proliferating in cities worldwide and have emerged as an approach to transform urban mobility and public space. Previous research attests to the broad spectrum of street experimentation and its variety of stakeholders, aims, methods, and impacts. In this article, we probe this multi‐faceted nature through a study of the landscape of street experimentation as it evolved in one city—Stockholm, Sweden—over a 10‐year period (2014–2023). Through document analysis and 19 semi‐structured interviews, we analysed stakeholder involvement, motives, and interactions related to four different platforms of street experimentation. Our temporal, evolutionary perspective moves beyond isolated case studies to show how experimental logics emerged over time in Stockholm via shifting ambitions, foci, and stakeholder constellations. The city‐specific perspective allowed us to analyse how experimentation develops and transforms as actors change, thus revealing dynamics of complementarity and competition, the addition or subtraction of layers, and successful as well as missed opportunities for between‐experiment learning. The article highlights the crucial role of municipal actors for implementation and scaling, but also their limited capacity to effect transformative change.

Keywords: governance; institutionalisation; participation; street experiment; tactical urbanism; urban mobility; urban transformation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:urbpla:v11:y:2026:a:11313

DOI: 10.17645/up.11313

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