Every design for Södertälje

Where Mälaren meets the Baltic lies Södertälje, tied together by a lock and a canal that have marked daily life since the first transport routes ran through the town. Nobody here gets by without having crossed the water at some point - the views along the canal belong to the townscape as much as the old grid plan in the central blocks, which survived the fire and still governs how you move about.

It is an industrial town at heart, with Scania and AstraZeneca as major workplaces, but also a place with curiosity. Families crowd into Tom Tits Experiment, the museum ship S/S Ejdern recalls the seafaring, and the Torekällberget open-air museum offers a slower afternoon.

Södertälje has drawn people from Norrland, Finland and the Assyrian/Syriac community, something you notice in the town's rhythm and at its tables. On the map you find the canal lock that ties it all together - the detail that makes anyone from Södertälje recognise it at once.