Four actions to shape urban spaces that stand the test of time

Meeting these challenges requires new ways of thinking and working. 
 
Drawing on Skanska’s experience across markets, together with research and expert perspectives, this article highlights four actions that are crucial to move the industry and civil society from a short-term performance focus to delivering places that stand the test of time. The findings come from a new Skanska report, Shaping Sustainable Places, which can be downloaded here. 

Action 1: Design for change to protect long-term performance 

A key challenge to the creation of sustainable places is that buildings are often optimized for handover rather than life-cycle performance, with decisions shaped by short-term milestones instead of how assets will function and adapt over decades. 
 
At the same time, climate exposure is increasingly becoming financial exposure. Extreme weather events already causing major economic losses, while investors, insurers and regulators are integrating physical climate risks into their assessments. Insurance premiums are rising, disclosure requirements are tightening and capital is becoming more sensitive to climate risk. 
 
In response, resilience and adaptability are emerging as key strategies for protecting long-term performance. Buildings designed to be reconfigured, expanded or repurposed can respond to changing needs, technologies and climate conditions. By extending asset life cycles, reducing retrofit costs and protecting income streams, designing for change is crucial for safeguarding long-term value. 
 
In practice: How we design for change: In the USA, we have incorporated resilience measures into critical community services and contributed to rebuilding a more climate-resilient New York in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. 

Action 2: Work together to unlock place performance 

Resilient buildings alone are not enough. Cities are complex systems shaped by many actors, and long-term place performance depends on how they work together. When municipalities, developers, investors and operators act in isolation, planning, development and long-term management become disconnected. This can lead to unnecessary duplication, inefficient use of resources, and places that are costly to deliver but struggle to perform over time. 
 
Early alignment can break this pattern. Over many years, we have seen how shared goals, clear responsibilities and continuous dialogue can turn collaboration into a driver of value, strengthening predictability, reducing risk and making delivery more efficient. 
 
In practice: How we work with customers and partners: In Oslo’s Hovinbyen district, we worked together with municipalities, developers and technology partners to support coordinated development in one of Europe’s largest urban renewal areas. 

Action 3: Design for and with people to strengthen relevance and demand 

Even when actors collaborate more closely, long-term value ultimately depends on how places function every day. Yet projects are often still shaped through top-down planning, based on assumptions rather than local context and lived experience. When communities are not involved early, projects are more likely to face resistance, delays and costly redesigns. Places may meet technical targets but struggle to remain attractive over time, increasing the risk of vacancies and unstable demand. 
 
When local perspectives are integrated from the start, the dynamic shifts. Projects become easier to implement, there is less need for redesigns and long-term relevance improves. For Skanska, integrating social, environmental and economic perspectives early is therefore not a soft value, but structured risk management. 
 
Designing with people also means rethinking the role of architecture and urban space. At architecture agency Snøhetta, buildings and public spaces are approached as social infrastructure, designed to support connection, interaction and everyday life. As Marius Hauland Næss, Director of Acquisition and Business Development at Snøhetta, explains, this also strengthens long term economic value: 
“When buildings and public spaces create conditions for connection, safety and belonging, social infrastructure becomes economic infrastructure. Attractive places become destinations people actively choose, and that choice drives demand and long-term value.” 
 
In practice: How we design for and with people: At Port7 in Prague, we have transformed a former brownfield into a vibrant riverside destination by prioritizing public space, everyday amenities and connections to the surrounding district from the outset. 
 

Action 4: Measure holistically to capture full-spectrum value 

If designing with people in mind strengthens place quality, the next step is to measure it. While social life, well-being and community outcomes increasingly shape long-term place performance, they are still measured far less systematically than environmental performance. This creates a blind spot where social value risks being undervalued despite its impact on attractiveness, demand and economic value. 
 
Progress across the sector remains uneven. As social value expert Sarah Fitton, who has studied the field for more than 15 years, notes, frameworks vary widely and long-term evidence is still limited. In highly scrutinized procurement environments, this can also create hesitation, as many actors feel they must develop perfect frameworks before acting, which discourages experimentation and transparency. 
 
Moving forward requires treating social value as a management tool rather than a reporting exercise. Integrating social considerations early, testing approaches in real projects and sharing lessons across organizations can gradually build the evidence needed to capture the long-term value that places create. 
 
In practice: How we measure holistically: Across markets, we use frameworks to measure holistic performance across our developments. In Sweden, we use SoVi (Social Value Index) on all residential projects to assess how projects contribute to well-being, inclusion and neighborhood quality. In Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Romania, the tool Destination Navigator is used on all commercial developments to evaluate how they support activity, amenities and long-term place value. 

 The way forward: Turning insight into practice 

Together, these actions point the way from short-term project delivery to long-term place performance. The next step is getting down to business: applying them more consistently and at greater scale, enabling the industry to create places that remain resilient, competitive and meaningful over time. 
 
The insights in this article are based on the Skanska report Shaping Sustainable Places. To read the report in full, download it here.