This post is written by Irena Toljan, who covers Stockholm’s public spaces on her newsletter The Third Place, where this piece was first published. She is sharing the series here on Bilfritt Stockholm too.

Introduction: A City Transformed

The summer streets initiative makes the city greener and easier to walk around by providing outdoor seating, plants and a vibrant atmosphere. You can sit in the sun on a coloured bench beside some unusual traffic barriers and, as a result, your worries disappear. Is that magic? No, it’s simply the result of good urban design.

This is gonna be a 9-10-parter (yup!) where I explain the point of these urban interventions, what the best summer streets are, and which are still slacking in some way, in my opinion.

What Are Summer Streets?

During the winter, these streets look like any other, car-infested and with minimal activity. In the summer, traffic is minimized. The streets are transformed with pop-up vegetation, activities, and funky seating. But there is more to it than just aesthetics.

Stockholm, like many other cities, is testing which streets could become pedestrian. Why is this important? The obvious reason is to make streets less for cars and more for people. But there’s also an economic incentive: research shows that pedestrians and cyclists spend as much as, or more than, car drivers.¹

The report Gatupotential claims that both temporary and permanent pedestrian streets contribute to sales growth, especially for restaurants. Inner city sales increased 30% on temporary and 40% or more on permanent street projects. The perfect example is Skånegatan.²

Why Test Before Committing

But why risk making a pedestrian street if you don’t know if it’s gonna be popular? Rather test it first with closed Sundays, summers, Christmas, or other events to see if there is a certain flow of people and if local businesses are thriving.

Lilla Nygatan in Gamla stan: a cobbled car-free street with people strolling between old town facades.

Lilla Nygatan on Gamla Stan

What Makes a Place Attractive?

The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) published a chart illustrating the qualities needed to make public spaces more attractive. The more qualities a space has, the better it performs.

The Place Diagram by Project for Public Spaces: a circular chart titled What Makes a Great Place, with the quadrants sociability, uses and activities, access and linkages, and comfort and image.

A well-designed space should also offer 10+ activities to keep people engaged for longer periods.³

General results

Turns out, pedestrian-friendly streets aren’t just prettier; they’re money-makers. Here’s the proof:

  • 80–90% of locals say transformed streets feel safer and more pleasant (and yes, they want more of them).
  • 70–80% of business owners admit their area improved post-makeover, though chains are sneaking in faster than locals (boo!).
  • Revenue jumps: Temporary projects see a 30% boost over time, while permanent ones soar by 40% or more since the streets were redesigned. City-center streets? 50–100% more sales after 3 years.
  • What do people really want? More greenery, seating, and activities, not parking (only 20% or fewer beg for car space).⁴

Moral of the story? Ditch the cars, plant some trees, and watch the cash roll in.

And as one might expect, not all summer streets are created equal. Some thrive as bustling hubs of activity, while others struggle to live up to their potential.

Around the world

The Design Guide for Fast Streets (2024) gives several examples from both national and international contexts showing the trend of converting car streets into pedestrian streets; these international examples are Times Square in New York, Paris Plages, the Superblocks in Barcelona, Strøget in Copenhagen, and Car-Free Urban Life in Oslo.

Collage of Strøget in Copenhagen: pedestrianized shopping streets, a square with a fountain, and people walking and cycling between old buildings.

Strøget in Copenhagen

Paris Plages at dusk: crowds gathered along the Seine quayside under trees and string lights, with cafés glowing in the background.

Paris Plages

The city of Zagreb is also getting its pedestrian zones fixed; I talked about a similar process in one of my posts about Masarykova street.

A street corner in central Zagreb where the whole roadway is covered in a colourful mural, with people walking under umbrellas.

Masarykova street in Zagreb

Stockholm’s summer streets offer more than car-free spaces. They serve as a testing ground for the city’s future. Some of these streets have become lively gathering spots, while others haven’t reached their full potential. In Part 2, we’ll look at the top summer streets of 2026, the ones that stand out.

Which streets are setting the standard, and what lessons can we take from them? Any idea which streets are gonna be in the top 10?

Bibliography

  1. Admin (2024) Cyclists and Pedestrians Contribute Significantly to City Centre Spending, DCE. Available at: https://dutchcycling.nl/knowledge/blogs-by-experts/cyclists-and-pedestrians-contribute-significantly-to-city-centre-spending/ (Accessed: 27 July 2026).
  2. Debattredaktionen (2026) Låt fakta och inte magkänsla styra stadsutvecklingen, Dagens industri. Available at: https://www.di.se/debatt/lat-fakta-och-inte-magkansla-styra-stadsutvecklingen/ (Accessed: 27 July 2026).
  3. The Power of 10+ (no date) Project for Public Spaces. Available at: https://www.pps.org/article/the-power-of-10 (Accessed: 27 July 2026).
  4. Gatupotential (2025–2026) Spacescape. Available at: https://www.spacescape.se/project/gatupotential/ (Accessed: 27 July 2026).
  5. Ny bryggpromenad och upprustad strandpark på Bergsunds strand (2026) Stockholms stad. Available at: https://vaxer.stockholm/projekt/sodermalm/bryggpromenad-och-upprustad-strandpark-pa-bergsunds-strand/ (Accessed: 28 July 2026).
  6. Munkbrohamnen, Visit Stockholm. Available at: https://www.visitstockholm.se/o/munkbrohamnen/ (Accessed: 28 July 2026).
  7. Miljöpartiet Stockholms Stad on Instagram: “Sommargågatan Rörstrandsgatan är ett av Stockholms livligaste stråk som 12 000 personer passerar varje dag.” (2025) Instagram. (Accessed: 28 July 2026).
  8. Rörstrandsgatan blir gågata året om (2026) Stockholms stad. Available at: https://vaxer.stockholm/projekt/vasastan/rorstrandsgatan-blir-gagata-aret-om/ (Accessed: 28 July 2026).
  9. Levande Stockholm 2018 - Resultatrapport. Available at: https://insynsverige.se/documentHandler.ashx?did=1957125 (Accessed: 28 July 2026).
  10. En del av Hornsgatan blir gågata året om (2026) Stockholms stad. Available at: https://vaxer.stockholm/projekt/sodermalm/en-del-av-hornsgatan-blir-gagata-aret-om/ (Accessed: 28 July 2026).
  11. Sommargågata (2026) Solna stad. Available at: https://www.solna.se/uppleva—gora/sommar-i-solna/sommargagata (Accessed: 28 July 2026).
  12. Trots utslaget Sverige – här fortsätter VM-festen (2026) Mitt i. Available at: https://www.mitti.se/nyheter/trots-utslaget-sverige—har-fortsatter-vmfesten-6.3.374110.4c14442557 (Accessed: 28 July 2026).