City life - a new norm

Purpose and goal:

We have explored the ground floors of the future where a new type of urban living has replaced today´s shop-dominated content. The goal was to test a new content mix where a stronger neighbourhood and smarter use of space creates synergy effects and both societal and business values for both landlords and tenants. We examined obstacles and possible ways forward.

Among the insights were that community benefits can be factored into the property valuation, urban life financing such as green and social loans can accelerate development and that sharing statutes can reduce the risk for tenants. Expected results and effects:

The prototype that the project tested at the Gather festival was a WORK SHOP. A retail space where local entrepreneurs in sustainable fashion could market their products and services (training, repair, rental of sewing machines) to visitors. The premises were also used as a co-working space and in the evening, it was used by a local language club.

As a quick fix while waiting for new models for property valuation, green and social loans were identified as a possible way to lower financing costs. Statutes can become a tool to regulate risk in a complex context where several partys share space. Approach and implementation: Involvement of different parties and perspectives was important to the project.

Workshops were held pre prototyping with property owners, entrepreneurs, and HUI to understand issues and post with property owners and FOG to share learnings and gain insights into new business model tools. Meetings were held with prop valuation and bank representatives regarding valuation, and föreningsliv.

Prototyping itself was important, what exists physically is easy to ensure that everyone perceives the same. The value of an Anchor Tenant a sharing curator became apparent in the process.