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Insights from Barkarbystaden – Planning for both work and social life

In Järfälla, a municipality northwest of Stockholm, Sweden, a new urban district called Barkarbystaden is being developed. It is the largest expansion project in the region, with plans for 18,000 new homes and 10,000 workplaces. The first homes were completed in spring 2014. Barkarbystaden's development features significant investments in public transport, including self-driving buses and an extension of Stockholm’s Blue Line metro.


Anna Strohmayer has studied the everyday travel habits of residents in Barkarbystaden and presents her findings in her licentiate thesis, Vardagslivsrummet och meningsskapandet – vardagsresande och social hållbarhet i den regionala planeringen i Barkarbystaden.

“The people I interviewed commute to work using public transport or bicycles. However, most of them also have access to a car, which they describe as essential for having a meaningful leisure time. Their daily lives are dominated by work and family, while time for leisure and friends is more limited,” explains Anna.

Anna highlights how critical reviews of modern urban environments reveal that they are often designed to support only one or a few ways of living. New urban developments are typically planned to make commuting straightforward, enabling full-time work. Childcare and schools are often located near residential areas, making it easier to combine family life with professional careers.

“In big cities, many people live far from friends and extended family. I believe we need a more integrated approach to urban design and transport planning. We must consider people’s social needs beyond just work and reproduction,” says Anna.

Anna completed her licentiate thesis at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and has since returned to Region Stockholm (Trafikförvaltningen) where she works as a strategic planner. Currently, she is involved in a case on leisure travel and how public transport can better meet people’s needs outside of commuting.

“Leisure travel is more diverse, both in timing and destination. To improve access for people in sprawling cities like Stockholm, we need to facilitate mixed-mode travel. This means being open to public transport journeys that may include part of the trip by car,” Anna suggests.

“It’s crucial to understand why people travel—and why they don’t. We can’t rely solely on measuring traffic volume. To advance transport planning, we need qualitative data to inform decisions,” concludes Anna Strohmayer.

*The quotes in this article are translated from Swedish to English.