Linköping: Exploring Campus Valla for a More Inclusive and Sustainable Future

ULALABS Distributed Learning 1 Pilot – May 27, 2026 By Karin Eliasson

On May 27, as part of the inauguration festival for Linköping University’s new centre for sustainability, LiU Sustainability Transformations (LiUST), a group of students, PhD candidates, researchers, and external partners gathered for a hands-on ULALABS workshop. Despite the strong winds sweeping across Campus Valla that day, the conditions only reinforced the relevance of the task ahead: to explore how the campus environment is experienced in practice and how it might be transformed to become more inclusive and sustainable for humans and non-humans.

The workshop formed part of the distributed learning pilot Emerging Technologies for Inclusive Urban Transformations within ULALABS, bringing together 12 participants from different backgrounds and perspectives. Rather than staying indoors, the group stepped out into the campus landscape, documenting their observations through photos, notes, and shared reflections. The workshop was structured around a futuring methodology in which participants moved through several steps, exploring critiques of the current campus and re-imagining it as a more inclusive and sustainable environment. In addition to the outdoor walk and group reflections, we used the ULALABS AI-ASSISTED URBAN DESIGN TOOL to collectively analyse and re-imagine the campus.

Seeing the Campus Through New Eyes

Campus Valla has dense pedestrian and bicycle flows connecting the campus as well as connecting the campus to the wider city. Yet, as participants shared during the workshop, lived experiences of the campus can diverge significantly from its intended design.

The first step in exploring the campus focused on identifying challenges and areas in need of improvement. At several high-traffic entry points, particularly around building entrances, participants noted congestion, unclear spatial organization, and competing flows between pedestrians, cyclists, and sometimes cars. The lack of clear markings and structured pathways made certain areas feel chaotic, “an accident waiting to happen,” as one participant put it.

Elsewhere, large expanses of hard surfaces and dense bicycle parking created environments that felt visually cluttered, exposed, and sometimes uninviting. Windy corridors between buildings amplified discomfort, while the dominance of concrete limited both biodiversity and opportunities for rest and social interaction.

These observations also aligned closely with the site analyses produced by the ULALABS AI-ASSISTED URBAN DESIGN TOOL. In one of the analysed campus sites, the AI-tool report showed how a space that is physically open and heavily used can still be experienced as stressful, crowded, and even unsafe when bottlenecks form around entrances, sightlines are reduced, and movement patterns remain unclear. The findings underline that the gap between spatial design and lived perception is a key issue for inclusivity in campus environments.

From Observation to Reflection

A central part of the workshop was not only identifying challenges but also reflecting on the gap between physical design and perceived experience. The AI-tool report reinforced this point by showing that even objectively open and accessible plazas may be felt as constrained or unsafe when architectural features such as low canopies, shadowed entrances, and dense bicycle parking visually compress the space or create a sense of disorder. In this way, the workshop reflections and the site analysis pointed to the same broader insight: designing for inclusion must take both measurable conditions and lived experience seriously.

Participants also considered inclusivity from multiple perspectives. While many areas support accessibility through flat surfaces and open layouts, there were clear gaps, such as the lack of tactile guidance for visually impaired users, unclear navigation cues, and environments that may feel less welcoming due to their scale or aesthetic.

Environmental aspects were equally central to the discussions. The group reflected on how increasing greenery, improving water management, and reducing hard surfaces could not only enhance ecological performance but also contribute to well-being, comfort, and a stronger sense of place.

Imagining Transformations

Building on their observations, participants began to re-imagine how Campus Valla could evolve:

• Clearer spatial organization, separating pedestrian and cycling flows to reduce conflict and improve safety

• Increased greenery and biodiversity, replacing hard surfaces with rain gardens, planting beds, and shaded areas

• Improved accessibility and wayfinding, using clear visual and tactile cues to support diverse users

• More inviting social spaces, with varied seating, shade, and opportunities for interaction

• Integration of nature-based solutions, including vegetation and water features to mitigate heat, manage rainwater, and enhance well-being

  
  

These kinds of interventions also mirror the transformations proposed in the AI-tool report: opening up visually compressed spaces, separating pedestrian and bicycle flows, strengthening accessibility and wayfinding, and introducing more greenery, permeable surfaces, seating, and water-sensitive features. Together, such changes can fundamentally shift how spaces are experienced, transforming areas currently perceived as stressful or chaotic into environments that feel safer, more legible, more biodiverse, and more restorative for a wider range of users.

Learning Through Walking, Seeing, and Sharing

The workshop demonstrated the value of combining on-site exploration with collaborative reflection. By physically moving through the campus and documenting their experiences, participants were able to surface insights that might not emerge in a traditional classroom or meeting setting. Importantly, the diversity of perspectives across disciplines, roles, and lived experiences enriched the discussion and highlighted the importance of co-creation in sustainability transitions. The ULALABS AI-ASSISTED URBAN DESIGN TOOL helped the group structure and visualise their reflections, perceptions, and ideas.