Stockholm Public Library, as a library from the 1920s, pioneered the use of architectural elements such as the Rotunda and open bookshelves, which softened the oppressive nature of traditional library architecture at that time. It embraced a humanistic approach, fostering a sense of active participation and community vitality among its visitors. However, after a century, the original library's space and knowledge dissemination methods are no longer sufficient to meet the diverse needs of society. This project, based on a failed competition held in 2006 for the expansion and renovation of the library and the advisory brief proposed in 2014 based on the 2006 competition, explores the new social functional positioning and service direction of the library in the face of a multicultural audience and is rooted in the unique political and cultural context of Stockholm. Considering the real conditions of the site and the developmental needs, the project aims to construct a new library to make a supplement of the existing library. It will encompass diverse functional spaces such as an Immersive E-media room, a multilingual reading room, and an urban activity lounge to cater to a variety of audiences. The design also involves the transformation and activation of the overground plaza and underground spaces, facilitating communication and connection between the new and old libraries. The goal is to create an interactive entity that radiates into the urban space.

Waterfront cultural heritage has unique historical, scientific, social and aesthetic values that can provide an excellent platform and starting point for urban design. The Cockatoo Island has significant differences in these values, which make it complex and contradictory in the subsequent tourism-oriented transformation, and even create a certain value mismatch. Combined with its rich history of colonialism, prisoner history, social class and other complex issues, as well as its recent financial crisis, it is a worthy case study. This paper analyzes the factors affecting the sustainability of the economic reproduction of the Cockatoo Island at the political stakeholder level and the related sociological level to explore the relationship between government involvement and the properties of cultural heritage itself.