Living locally in the compact city: how neighbourhoods, life projects, and gender shape everyday life

Compactness and proximity are central principles in current urban policy and planning. However, supporting local living requires a deeper understanding of the neighbourhood’s role in people’s everyday lives. We examine how local areas are integrated into daily routines, highlighting people’s diverse goals for using the neighbourhood, paying particular attention to gender. Informed by time-geographic theory, we conceptualize these activity goals as ‘life projects’. The study comprises 20 in-depth interviews conducted in Gothenburg, Sweden. Results indicate that individuals pursue multiple goals simultaneously in daily life and that the local area contributes to achieving several of these goals. Neighbourhoods support four typical life projects by: 1) making everyday life run smoothly; 2) fostering a sense of home and belonging; 3) allowing environmentally friendly living; and 4) facilitating convenient recreation and exercise. Use of the local area is moderately gendered and intersected primarily by family situation and driving habits. Walking plays multiple roles and is central to life projects anchored in the local area. To ensure that neighbourhoods are actively used, urban densification must be conducted with great care, recognizing the importance of social and natural local environments as well as walking infrastructure.