Street Moves goes to San Jose, California

Since 2020, ArkDes’ innovation project Street Moves has been transforming streets in Swedish municipalities. Now, Street Moves’ inclusive design methods are being tested in a new context in San Jose, California, USA. 

Street Moves is led by ArkDes, which has the government mandate to work towards achieving the national architectural and design policy goals outlined in the Policy for Designed Living Environments. To create sustainable, equitable, and well-designed living environments, it is essential for diverse perspectives and competencies to come together, think, and act collectively. Therefore, ArkDes collaborates with decision-makers, businesses, public entities, academia, and the general public throughout Sweden in practice based research projects. One of them is Street Moves, which has previously experimented with innovative, inclusive design methods to shape the future of public spaces in collaboration with Swedish municipalities and design teams. Now, Street Moves is taking an international leap through a partnership with City of San Jose, California, USA, with funding from Sweden’s innovation agency, Vinnova. 

The goal of Street Moves in San Jose is to disseminate knowledge about inclusive design processes by testing them in a new location with different circumstances. San Jose is interested in learning from Street Moves’ prototyping approaches and strategies for inclusive urban planning. Simultaneously, Street Moves can gain insights from San Jose’s experiences with electrification, equity-based transportation policies, and strategic mobility hubs, thereby advancing the design methodology. 

The collaboration will take place in the fall of 2023 through a design sprint, resulting in design proposals and sketches for a prototype on San Fernando Street. ArkDes is leading the design process in collaboration with LundbergDesign, who were involved in the development of Street Moves’ initial prototypes that launched in Stockholm 2020. Within the project, there are also valuable contacts and opportunities for collaboration in the fields of architecture, design, and innovation. Vinnova is closely connected to Nordic Innovation House in Silicon Valley, a Nordic cooperation aimed at establishing connections and exchanges between Nordic and American innovation actors.  

Through this project, ideal conditions are provided for mutual learning, further development of Street Moves’ design methods, and the dissemination of knowledge about the power of inclusive design.