City of Västerås: the main street wasn't the busiest
Sweden's fifth-largest city has measured its centre for years. With the data, the city has grown visits year on year, strengthened the day and night economy, and overturned what everyone knew about the main street.
Key features
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The centre, measured for years
A continuous series across the city centre, measured with the same method throughout.
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Visits grown year on year
Footfall data steers investment and events, and the effect shows up in the same series.
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Assumptions overturned
The assumed main street wasn't the busiest, and displays, entrances, property values and rents changed as a result.
- 5th
- Largest city in Sweden
- Year on year
- City-centre visits grown
- Day & night
- Both economies strengthened
Every city knows its main street: shopkeepers know which it is, property owners price by it and planners plan around it. Västerås, Sweden’s fifth-largest city, measured it, and found that the assumed main street wasn’t the busiest. That single finding changed window displays, entrances, property values and rent levels across the centre, because all of them had been calibrated to an assumption that nobody had measured.
Years of continuous measurement
Västerås has used privacy-first footfall data for many years. A city centre is managed continuously, so it needs to be measured continuously. With a long series measured the same way throughout, the city can follow trends over time, grow city-centre visits year on year, and evaluate what actually moved the numbers, from events to redevelopments.
The day and night economy
The same measurement strengthened both the day and night economy. A centre that fills at lunch and empties at dusk has a different problem, and needs different solutions, from one that never fills at all. Continuous measurement shows which one you have, hour by hour and season by season. The same data improved security work and planning, because both start from where people actually are.
Measuring public space properly
A municipality measuring its own citizens carries a higher duty of care than any retailer. That is why the measurement is built to be anonymous and produces statistics about places, never about people. How that works in public space is covered on GDPR & traffic measurement in public space, and urban measurement more broadly on city centres & smart cities and for cities & municipalities.