Årsta is a district in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, located in the east of the city, between Gränbystaden and Fyrislund, with Årstaparken as the approximate center. The area contains both apartment blocks, row homes and single family homes. The central square, Årsta Centrum, contains among other things a supermarket, and a health centre. The facilitys has been upgraded in recent years, but at the same time shops and community services have been reduced. The is currently slated to be redeveloped, with newly built housing and commercial spaces, as part of wider development of the nearby area known as Östra Sala Backe. Before 1970, the district was near-urban countryside with sparser settlements, horticulture and cornfields. Today, the area consists of several styles of development, including 6 story apartment blocks along Fyrislundsgatan, with the eastern half mainly consisting of two story condominium associations and the western half single family homes. Along Fyrislundsgatan, which forms the border to Sala Backe, there used to run a powerline which since has been removed, creating a large, empty grassy strip. The area, now known as Östra Sala Backe, is being developed as a high density

mixed-use Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions ...

area. Årsta was planned according to a model that was common in the 1970s, with the aim of completely separating car traffic from the built-up area. As there are no through streets, all transport by motor vehicle must take place on the periphery of the area. The district is built so that it frames a larger, centrally located park area (Årstaparken). There is a network of pedestrian and cycle paths that connect homes with the area's center and schools without crossing car streets. Two pedestrian and bicycle tunnels under Fyrislundsgatan have connected them in the direction of the city centre and Gränby. With housing starting to be built along the former power line since 2015, one tunnel has been rebuilt from scratch and the other will disappear. Årsta is named after the village "Aristu", mentioned as early as 1344. The prefix "Ari" is here a man's name, and the suffix "-sta" is

Old Swedish Old Swedish ( Modern Swedish: ) is the name for two distinct stages of the Swedish language that were spoken in the Middle Ages: Early Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1225 until about 1375, and Late Old Swedish (), spoken from about 1375 unti ...

, with the meaning stadher, "place or area". Immediately north of Årsta is the medieval Vaksala Church with its tall spire, clearly visible from many places in the district. Near Årsta Centrum there's also a local church, Årstakyrkan.

Transportation

Road

As there are only a few through roads, transportation within Årsta generally consists of

walking Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an " inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults o ...

and

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

, as there is an abundance of

foot The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up o ...

and

cycle paths Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to: Anthropology and social sciences * Cyclic history, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in ...

. For outside connections by car, the E4 highway passes to the east of the district, while Fyrislundsgatan and Fålhagsleden provide the main connections to the rest of

Public Transport

Årsta is served by five city

bus lines A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used in ...

, operated by UL. Bus lines 7 and 1 have stops in the west, around Årsta Centrum. Line 4 has its terminus in the northeast, which is the only stop located inside of the district, while all the other ones are on the roads surrounding it. Lines 6 and 30 stop in the south, on Fålhagsleden. Line 30 is a "mjuk", or soft line, which is adapted to

elderly Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

and

disabled people Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

. In Årsta, the Lennakatten museum railway has a station.

References

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