What is the Policy for Designed Living Environment? 

The Policy for Designed Living Environment (prop. 2017/18:110) ↗ is Sweden’s national policy for architecture and design. It sets goals and ambitions for architecture and design’s role in building Swedish cities, towns and communities. The policy was published in 2017 and passed the parliament in 2018.

The policy focuses on how cities and places are shaped and how this influences our daily life. It includes architecture, design, art, and cultural heritage, with the goal1 to support the creation of sustainable and beautiful environments for living and working.

Designed living environment refers both to the physical environment and to an approach that should be integrated into everything that affects our built surroundings. It advocates building with respect for what already exists, aiming for long-term sustainability, and promoting higher quality in the built environment. It also involves using architecture, design, art, and cultural heritage as tools for sustainable societal development. This work is long-term, requires a holistic perspective, and the collaboration between many stakeholders.

ArkDes, along with the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, the National Heritage Board, and the Public Art Agency Sweden, is tasked by the government to promote the development of this policy area. ArkDes serves as a knowledge source and platform to explore, monitor, and disseminate knowledge about the policy, especially in the fields of architecture and design.

The proposition Policy for Designed Living Environment emphasises ArkDes’s role in supporting existing institutions and helping to develop regional and local meeting places for architecture and design. It also includes building a structure for interregional collaboration and dialogue to increase reach, create local engagement, and support implementation. ArkDes collaborates with all of Sweden’s 21 regions through a national network spanning from Skåne to Norrbotten. This network brings together experts from across fields—such as visual arts consultants, designers, architects, and urban planners—to support the exchange of information and knowledge.

ArkDes also has special funding for practice-based research and development efforts within the policy area. To help apply the policy in practice, ArkDes collaborates with partners across Sweden. Through research, installations, exhibitions, conferences, events, and education, ArkDes spreads knowledge about how architecture and design affect society—and raises awareness of how our shared living environments influence wellbeing, identity, and belonging.

At ArkDes’s meeting place, Torget, visitors can experience different aspects of Designed Living Environment through exhibitions, workshops, and debates. In the exhibition hall, practice-based research projects, current initiatives from across the country, and innovations that impact architecture and design. Visitors also have the opportunity to participate in debates and events in the field.

ArkDes is a member of the Council for Sustainable Cities, a governmental collaboration to promote vibrant and sustainable cities and communities.

ArkDes is also a member of the Council for Sustainable Cities – a government initiative that brings agencies together to promote vibrant and sustainable communities. The Council works within the framework of Ny strategi för levande och trygga städer ↗, Sweden’s national strategy for urban development.

Learn more about this at hållbarstad.se ↗.