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When building new residential areas, accessibility is important to consider, environments must be created that all people can use regardless of who they are. Whether a person has a disability or not, environments must be designed for both physical and social accessibility. This means that people must have the physical opportunity to visit an area on foot, by bicycle, bus and car or other means of communication. Individuals must also feel welcome to visit the place, so-called social accessibility, by designing the environment in an inviting and adapted way. This applies to the construction of new residential areas, densification of existing and other types of urban spaces. 

This essay has aimed to investigate how and to what extent accessibility from a social sustainability context is treated in today's detailed planning in the municipality of Umea. The essay laid its foundation in a time-geographical perspective, with a focus on the built environment and densification’s impact on accessibility. Five detailed plans were selected from the municipality's website, these are spread over the city and have gained legal force between the years 2012 and 2020. By using content analysis together with coding, the plan-descriptions for each detailed plan were compiled in order to highlight the plans consideration of accessibility. The result that the essay arrived at shows that accessibility from a social sustainability context varies to a large extent in the planning descriptions depending on its scope. In general, it is possible to see a great focus on accessibility through the spatial design of the planning areas as well as the adaptation and development of pedestrian and cycle paths, public transport, and roads.