Malmo urban design slideshow

Fred Sztabinski, Spacing’s Amsterdam-based correspondent (that has a nice ring to it, eh?), had a great post about Malmo, Sweden’s waterfront development the other day. We were both in the city within a few weeks of each other and we seemed to have seen similar things and had very similar observations.

In order to complement Fred’s post and respond to some of the comments that arose from our readers, I’ve added this slideshow of my own photos from Malmo that highlight the city’s urban design elements. Travelling to Malmo’s western waterfront and Toronto’s Port Lands are similar distances from the core of the city. The city’s waterfront is vast, and includes canals, rivers, parks and beaches. Another commenter also suggested that Malmo’s waterfront is aimed at the wealthy; while this may be true from a property ownership perspective, the variety of people using Malmo’s waterfront didn’t have to spend a cent to lay out in the sun, and the area seemed to be programmed to provide entertainment and amenities that were certainly not cost-prohibitive.

Also in the slideshow, you’ll see photos of Malmo’s street furniture, pedestrian malls, and bike infrastructure. The city seems to want to keep up with it’s big neighbour Copenhagen, and rightly so. If you don’t want to views the images in a slideshow you can see them static on Spacing’s Flickr set.