Visioner: i norr – Children's visions of the north
Above the Arctic Circle, a new generation’s dreams guide the design of tomorrow’s communities.
In Children’s Visions of the North, part of Visioner: i norr, we explore what sustainable living environments in Gällivare can look like when starting from children’s needs, dreams, and worldviews during this critical moment of transition.
Project Facts
Type COMPETITION
Location GÄLLIVARE
Year 2022
Team CAROLINA WIKSTRÖM, MAX GOLDSTEIN, CECILIA LINDÉN, JENS EVALDSSON, EVA ALERBY, GUSTAV RYGREN, ANNY HÄGGLÖF, ANNA TURDELL, LANDSKAPSLAGET
Can stepping into children’s worlds help us find new ideas and solutions? Can it help us see opportunities we might otherwise miss? By allowing children’s ways of thinking, playing, and learning to guide urban development, we can generate safer, more inclusive, sustainable, and beautiful communities.
The site
Gällivare faces the need to align growth with climate goals while providing healthy, attractive environments for residents. The municipality holds one of the world’s largest remaining carbon budgets, but emissions need to decrease by 35% each year to meet the 1.5°C target. This requires new ways of thinking about consumption, energy, and mobility. At the same time, there is a need for new housing, services, and social spaces to support a growing community and to ensure safe, inclusive environments for children.
The site between Gällivare’s center and Dundret is identified for development, but it also overlaps with lands essential for reindeer herding, creating a tension between expansion and cultural sustainability.
Project asks: How do we design Arctic communities that are beautiful, inclusive, and sustainable while respecting climate boundaries and cultural landscapes?
The approach
To capture children’s own perspectives, we conducted in-depth interviews with six children in Gällivare and their parents, gathering insights into their everyday lives and how the town’s structures relate to children’s experiences. The children, with diverse backgrounds, ages, and interests, described their visions for Gällivare through words and drawings.We complemented this with three sketch days in Gällivare and discussions with local stakeholders in culture, business, public health, and recreation.The Bullerby Model was used to evaluate environments based on freedom of movement and environmental offerings for children, illustrating how vibrant, safe, and independent mobility paired with rich activities can foster child-friendly urban design that benefits all generations.
The design concept
Dunder Area 2030
In the Dunder area, car-free routes allow children to move freely between a wide range of activities, encouraging walking, skiing, cycling, and rolling between Gällivare’s town center and Dundret. Perceived distances shrink, and natural meeting places emerge, making everyday movement safe and joyful.
New indoor environments complement snowy play with accessible meeting spaces. Food production is integrated between buildings and in shared activity spaces.
Key typologies include:
”Dunderhusen”: Residences with ground-floor community spaces, acting as wind barriers.
”Pulkahusen”: Homes with rooftop sledding hills, creating playful, wind-sheltered gathering spaces.
”Dunderhusgårdarna”: Dense housing forming microclimates with protected inner courtyards.
”Aktivitetshusen”: Community hubs for youth centers, workshops, and associations.
”Dunderdome”: Greenhouse domes hosting cultural and social activities.
”Ren-badet”: A lakeside pier with six saunas offering year-round recreation.
Spatial strategies
Creating a safe, accessible, and joyful Arctic environment while supporting every sustainability and vibrant community
01 – Natural corridors between wetlands, forests, and water remain open. Eco-ducts cross over roads to protect wildlife movement.
02 – Safe, car-free pathways stretch from north to south for children and adults to walk, cycle, ski, kick-sled, and roll. These routes connect Dundret, the proposed area, Repisvaara, and central Gällivare. Bridges cross over sunken roads for safe passage, so pedestrians no longer use underpasses. Additional crosswalks with traffic lights improve accessibility. Along the route, parks, skateparks, playgrounds, and sports fields guide movement.
03 – Between the natural corridors, three new areas are planned – ”Dunderbyn”, ”Pulkahusen” and ”Dunderstaden” (with ”Dunderdomes”). Car-free pathways run through these areas, and where vehicle access is necessary for drop-off, pedestrian bridges cross over the roads.
04 – From the top of Dundret, ski slopes run down to the square in Dunderstaden. From there, people move through the area car-free and return up by lift. The slope crosses roads via a ski bridge.
05 – Buildings are arranged with dense sides to shield from strong northwesterly winds.
06 – Towards the south, buildings capture the sun’s path with solar panels. ”Pulkahusen” have large courtyards opening towards the sun.
The design team
Carolina Wikström - Arkitekt (Team leader), Max Goldstein - Stadsplanerare/Illustratör, Cecilia Lindén - Hållbarhetsexpert, Jens Evaldsson - Konstnär, Eva Alerby - Professor i pedagogik, Gustav Rygren - Arkitektstudent, Anny Hägglöf - Byggnadskonstruktör and Anna Turdell - Designer. In collaboration with Landskapslaget.