Designing Safety, Building Belonging in Stockholm
CHANGE & Publica conducted research in Louisville, Bogotá and Stockholm to understand how these cities integrate gender inclusion principles into their policies and strategies to develop safe public spaces. This report documents the third of these site visits, exploring the relationship between women’s safety and urban development processes in two areas of Stockholm, Sweden: Slussen in the city center, and a suburban neighborhood called Rinkeby.
Above, L to R: “find the connections” workshop in city hall; collaging with teens in Rinkeby; discussions in Sleussen. Below: City Hall.
Stockholms stad, the City of Stockholm, is leading an ambitious program of public realm improvements, transport upgrades and housing developments in neighbourhoods across the city. This research highlights and celebrates innovative examples of gender-inclusive public space initiatives across Stockholm. It recommends scaling up these successful interventions and integrating them into broader urban projects.
A key recommendation is the consistent development and funding of public space management plans that are considered through a gender lens. The report also addresses a major challenge within the built environment sector—the perception that projects are delivered by technical experts for people rather than with them. This approach risks overlooking lived experiences, especially in a context where gender equity is often assumed to be achieved, despite clear evidence that safety experiences differ significantly for women, girls, and non-binary people in the city.
To counter this, the research recommends that the principles of gender-inclusive public spaces be more systematically integrated into all built environment projects. This could be achieved through the appointment of dedicated gender inclusion project leads or by involving community safety teams in design review meetings. Additionally, there are opportunities to collaborate more closely with businesses and the teams responsible for managing new public spaces, ensuring the delivery of programs that actively support women, girls, and non-binary people.
Above: A maquette of the Slussen masterplan (L) & the Landskapslaget pavilion in Rinkeby, co-designed with women and girls.
Themes
Three themes framed the context for the fieldwork and subsequent recommendations:
Neighborhood Segregation
Stockholm, like many large Swedish cities, is marked by socio-economic and ethnic segregation. High-density, modernist suburban centers often accommodate a large proportion of lower-income and foreign-born residents, while the inner city is wealthier and more ethnically homogeneous. Most of these suburbs were built under the Miljonprogrammet (Million Program) between 1965 and 1974, with 180,000 homes constructed in Stockholm, largely as prefabricated, standardised apartment blocks to provide affordable housing. The northern district of Järva comprises five Miljonprogrammet neighbourhoods, including Rinkeby. It demonstrates the intersection of housing tenure, ethnicity, income, and migration status, with 76% of residents born abroad compared to 34.9% across the city.
Rising Rates of Violent Crime
Since 2013, gun violence in Sweden has doubled, with the country now ranking among the top in Europe for shootings and gun fatalities. In 2022, there were 391 shootings and 62 deaths nationwide. Perpetrators are disproportionately young, with 45% of suspects aged 15–20, while men constitute the majority of victims. Alongside rising gun violence, bombings have also increased dramatically; January 2025 alone saw 30 explosions in Stockholm. Much of this violence is linked to gang activity, reflecting broader challenges in youth crime, organized crime, and public safety, and highlighting the urgent need for targeted prevention and law enforcement strategies.
Gender Mainstreaming
Sweden is widely regarded as a global leader in gender equality. In 2014, the Social Democrat–Green coalition declared itself the world’s first feminist government, and the OECD recognizes Sweden’s public sector as the most gender-equal globally. The country has a long history of feminist policymaking, pioneering initiatives such as shared parental leave in 1974 and a national gender mainstreaming policy in 1994. More recently, the Gender Equality Agency was established in 2018. Despite this legacy of government action, gender inequalities persist, and the current government no longer identifies itself as a feminist administration.
What We Did
CHANGE and Publica organized a three-day visit to Stockholm to facilitate workshops, host roundtable discussions and lead training sessions with built environment professionals. The workshops tested participatory methods with women, girls and non-binary people to understand perceptions of safety in public spaces and identify potential public realm interventions in Slussen and Rinkeby.
Slussen, one of Stockholm’s oldest neighborhoods, serves as the main connection between the south of the city, the Old Town, and northern districts. It is a major regional transport hub currently being redesigned under a comprehensive masterplan. The project has transformed the road layout, adding cycling, bus, and pedestrian infrastructure, creating new public spaces and commercial premises, and improving access to the Old Town. The aim is to provide spaces where people can spend time and socialize without spending money, making it the most significant urban transformation in central Stockholm.
Rinkeby’s center is organized around a pedestrian square with a metro station and ground-floor commercial units. Residential apartment blocks surround the square, and the neighborhood is contained by road and traffic infrastructure. The majority of residents in Rinkeby have an immigrant background with 76% of residents in the municipal district of Järva either born abroad or born to two parents who were born abroad compared to a figure of 20% for Södermalm, Slussen’s district.
Through workshops with older women, teenagers, and local residents, Publica explored experiences of safety and belonging in public spaces in the two neighbourhoods. Publica also conducted public realm audits and additional workshops.
The audits employed a simple street-tagging method, inviting participants to mark features of the public realm with colored stickers to indicate whether they enhanced or undermined their sense of safety and belonging. One audit in Slussen was held at night, and Publica additionally ran a youth collage-making workshop in Rinkeby.
Findings were shared with Slussen project stakeholders and municipal planning and community safety officers through reflection sessions. The visit concluded with a half-day workshop and training for planners and real estate developers across municipal departments and city-owned companies, highlighting international best practices.
Learning from Gäris
Stockholms stad is investing in public spaces citywide, from the major Slussen redevelopment to smaller suburban squares.
In Rinkeby, planners, community safety officers, and landscape architects, Landskapslaget, worked closely with women and girls from the area to design a pavilion and shelter for Norra Stadsparken following extensive engagement. The women and girls expressed a desire for a space that could be theirs, with mothers and older children wanting somewhere to sit and socialize while their children or younger siblings played nearby, directly shaping the pavilion’s design.
This project demonstrates successful co-design with women and girls, though gender-inclusive approaches could be applied more consistently citywide.
Opportunities and Ways Forward
Daniel Blyth
Senior Researcher, Publica
Daniel joined Publica in 2019, working on research, public realm surveys, and placemaking strategies. He contributed to the Greater London Authority’s Night Time Strategies Guidance and continues to support boroughs through the 24-hour team. He has researched social value in regeneration projects and worked with councils on cultural strategies, facility mapping, and night time initiatives in Newham, Wandsworth, and Bromley. Daniel holds a Master’s in Sustainable Urban Planning from KTH and a Geography degree from the University of Edinburgh.
Ellie Cosgrave
Director of the Community Interest Company (CIC) and Research, Publica
Dr Ellie Cosgrave is an engineer, interdisciplinary researcher, dancer, and systems thinker, exploring how science, art, and policy can create a healthier, fairer society, focusing on gender and just climate transitions. She is Associate Professor in Urban Innovation and Policy at UCL and co-director of UCL’s Urban Lab. She is also a broadcaster and presented the BBC podcast ‘Tomorrow’s World’, and currently presents the BBC World Service series ‘My Perfect City’. Ellie holds an MEng in Civil Engineering from the University of Bristol.
Gaia Crocella
Senior Design Researcher, Publica
Since joining Publica in September 2018, Gaia has contributed to major public realm vision and strategy projects in central London, including the Oxford Street District, and helped develop policy guidance documents and calls for action. She is an Associate Lecturer at Central Saint Martins, running a BA Spatial Practices design studio, and a Guest Lecturer at Umeå School of Architecture. Gaia holds a Master’s in Architecture from Umeå School of Architecture.
James Lee
Director of CIC: Access and Inclusion, Publica
James is a disability campaigner and advocate for accessible cities through the Campaign for Inclusive Cities. He leads Publica’s professional services on access and inclusion, providing specialist advice across projects. Previously at City Bridge Foundation, he held several roles, leaving as Head of the Bridge Programme and Total Assets. Recognised in the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 and Diversity Power List, James brings extensive experience working with communities and adds his lived experience of race and disability.
Greer Lockyear
Graphic Designer, Publica
Greer joined Publica as Graphic Designer in 2024, supporting the company’s visual communications across media, including visual strategy, data visualisation, production, and editorial design. She graduated from the Glasgow School of Art with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design and holds a Master’s in History of Design from the V&A and Royal College of Art.
Lucy Musgrave
Founding Director, Publica
Lucy Musgrave OBE is the Founding Director of Publica, with a 30-year career advising on policy, strategic planning, and design quality. She is a Mayor’s Design Advocate, a member of the Homes England Cross Cutting Committee for Design and Sustainability, and a trustee for Grand Plan. Lucy co-founded General Public Agency before Publica and was previously Director of the Architecture Foundation. She has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the National Infrastructure Commission’s Design Group and the Barbican Arts Centre Board.
City: Stockholm
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