Sweden's 'One-Minute City' Reimagines the Street at a Hyper-Local Level

Rather than trying to meet all of a community's needs within a one-minute radius, Sweden's Street Moves pilot program gives residents the power to decide how street space gets used.

1 minute read

January 8, 2021, 8:00 AM PST

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Stockholm Complete Street

EURIST e.V. / Flickr

Move over, "15-minute city," writes Feargus O'Sullivan for Bloomberg. Sweden is pioneering the "one-minute city," a hyper-local vision inspired by the push for decentralizing urban services and creating dense, walkable communities where residents can find almost everything they need within minutes.

Locally-focused schemes such as the 15-minute city and Barcelona's famous superblocks gained steam in 2020 as shelter-in-place orders made people hyper-aware of their immediate neighborhoods and emphasized the need for locally available services and local infrastructure that improves quality of life. Sweden's approach focuses even more closely on "the space outside your front door — and that of your neighbors adjacent and opposite," according to Dan Hill, director of strategic design for Vinnova, Sweden's national innovation agency.

The project, dubbed Street Moves, is being piloted in four sites around Stockholm, where residents can decide how street space is used and allocated through community workshops and consultations. The goal isn't to make everything available within one minute, but rather to reimagine the patches of street immediately outside the home as "critical connecting spaces for communities" and not just "places to move and store cars." If successful, Sweden plans to implement the program on every street in the country by 2030.

Tuesday, January 5, 2021 in Bloomberg CityLab

Black and white Rideshare Pick-Up Zone sign

The Slow Death of Ride Sharing

From the beginning, TNCs like Lyft and Uber touted shared rides as their key product. Now, Lyft is ending the practice.

June 1, 2023 - Human Transit

Red on white 'Room for Rent, Inquire Inside' sign

In Most U.S. Cities, Archaic Laws Limit Roommate Living

Critics argue laws preventing unrelated adults from living in the same home fail to understand the modern American household.

May 24, 2023 - The Atlantic

Vancouver Chuck Wolfe

Ten Signs of a Resurgent Downtown

In GeekWire, Chuck Wolfe continues his exploration of a holistic and practical approach to post-pandemic urban center recovery, anchored in local context and community-driven initiatives that promote livability, safety, and sustainability.

May 24, 2023 - GeekWire

Self-driving Mercedes semi truck on highway with white semi truck behind it

California Moves to Limit Autonomous Trucks

A bill passed by the State Assembly and moving on to the Senate would require autonomous semi trucks to have a trained human operator in the vehicle.

June 2 - The Sacramento Bee

Minnesota state capitol building with red flowers on green front lawn

Minnesota Budget Includes Significant Transit Investments

After a contentious debate, the state legislature passed a budget that changes how transportation projects are funded and supports increased transit service in the state.

June 2 - Governing

A vacant lot between two one-story brick buildings with graffiti in Detroit, Michigan

Proposed Land Value Tax Plan in Detroit

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan proposes hiking property taxes for vacant land and buildings while lowering the rate for occupied homes and businesses in a split tax plan he contends will resolve many of Detroit's blight and high property tax woes.

June 2 - The Detroit News

Project Manager III

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency

UDO Transportation Planner

City of Charlotte - Charlotte Area Transit

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.