Hammar Park and Urban Games with Emma School 

The pilot project took great advantage of higher education students – future social workers, teachers and architects – at the Center for Urban Studies, using them as engines to drive the work forward. The architecture students’ primary goal was to learn to get citizens or residents involved in design processes and to base their design proposals on real dialogues with residents. One group made a design proposal for Hammar Park, a large public park in the city district center, adjacent to the square where the district’s only train stop for the 8,000 residents is located. This is, thus, an important place to focus on.

As a result of the students’ exciting project, the municipal housing company that owns buildings surrounding the park decided to invest in a fantastic ‘adventure playground’ there. This decision caused Emma School, a municipal elementary school in Hammarkullen, to use the park as a theme for the children to work on during the school semester. The pilot project, in collaboration with another pilot project within Mistra Urban Futures called Urban Games, supported this work and even expanded its mission to apply to other places in Hammarkullen. The proposal was greeted with open arms and resulted in an exciting collaboration that included both successes and defeats.