Towards Just Cities: An architectural approach to mapping unequal living conditions

Abstract

Unequal living conditions is a core challenge in contemporary societies and addressed in the Sustainability Development Goals. It is argued that unequal living conditions create and reproduce urban segregation. Having good access to different resources is especially critical for disadvantaged groups. One way of increasing the understanding of urban segregation and the role of architecture, urban design and planning that reach beyond housing segregation is to define living conditions created by the distribution of, and the accessibility to, various resources and opportunities in an urban environment. We argue that analysis of living conditions needs to acknowledge urban form since such descriptions highlight accessibility through public space and are closer to what people may perceive and experience in their everyday life. This paper presents a comprehensive approach that uncover urban inequalities, using the city of Uppsala in Sweden as a case study. Configurative analysis identifies spatial segregation and foregrounds the spaces that have a high network centrality. Accessibility to local resources and amenities is measured with a high spatial resolution based on both metric distance and topological distance. Analyses that measure the socioeconomic diversity within the catchment areas of schools reveal the potential diversity among pupils. Further, the study explores methods for comparison between neighbourhoods. Superimposing socio-economic layers of the population illustrates how analyses may inform decisions of future urban design strategies with the aim to counteract segregation and realize the just city. The results reveal an urban landscape characterised by unequal living conditions. However, the situation in many of the neighbourhoods may be improved through urban design interventions and investments.