September 20, 1968
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN — People everywhere are looking for something they call “a good place to live.” American planners refer to it as “a suitable environment. The Swedes term it “miljö.”
With the good life becoming harder to find in modern cities, manes recent attempts to foster it have often resembled the efforts of the medieval alchemists who tried to change lead into gold.
Using bulldozers to dispense an exotic potion named urban renewal, the urban alchemists have seen the old leaden cities transformed, indeed — into new leaden cities. Dismayed city dwellers have witnessed the experiments, shrugged their shoulders, and gone to the suburbs in search of the golden life.
If ever the Swedes had faith in urban alchemy, they seem to have abandoned it, at least here in the capital. Their quest for miljö (mil-yoo) has turned toward the realism of people, money, work, and time, with the emphasis on people. In Södermalm, Stockholm’s newest -urban laboratory, no miracles are planned.
‘Look Upon a Balance’
Södermalm, known as “Stockholm’s Brooklyn” for its strong sense of identity, is an island of 1750 acres where 110,000 people live and 50,000 work. Though it is the largest part of the inner city and lies immediately south of the medieval center, Södermalm’s development came later than much of the city. High granite cliffs and the surrounding water hampered communications with the island. Even today, with eleven bridges linking it with the rest of Stockholm, Södermalm is only seen by nonresidents as a way of reaching the southern suburbs from the central business district.
The first major development of the island came in the 17th Century when streets were laid out in a grid pattern. The main building effort came in the years after 1850. By 1940, Södermalm was fully developed — or overdeveloped. It should be stressed that Södermalm is not a slum; not only does the island provide a large number of jobs but also it has many modern buildings, historical sites and parks. But its problems are somewhat typical of older city sections — narrow streets congested with cars, small and overcrowded apartments, too little open space and the like.
Stockholm’s City Fathers have decided that Södermalm needs to be made more livable. “The plan for Södermalm has two main purposes,” said Hans Wohlin, the young architect who has directed the planning team. “One main purpose is to raise the housing standards there and provide a residential environment. The attraction of living in the area has to be raised.
“The other main goal is to have a traffic program which takes into account both the interests of private cars and pedestrians using mass transportation. We must look upon a balance. Otherwise, we will have congestion.”
A Swedish journalist who has been a leading critic of planning efforts here says, “We’re pleased with the plan for Södermalm because it seems to do all the things the city has failed to do in the past. The plan seems to reflect what people want.”
The Technique
The Södermalm plan is called “South 67.” It is neither a collection of idle wishes for the island nor an ironclad mold for future development. Instead, it sets forth “guiding principles” to be followed from now until 1985.
To find these guiding principles, Stockholm’s city planners changed their approach. Södermalm was analyzed by sectors. One planning team looked at housing conditions. Another analyzed working places. Other teams studied public buildings, parks, historical sites, automobile traffic, pedestrians and public transit. Then, a sector plan was drawn for each subject to show how it could be improved. Conflicts between plans were worked out to produce a coordinated land use plan containing all the elements.
The land use plan then will be used to draw neighborhood plans outlining the actual work needed in each neighborhood area. Later, a site plan, based on the neighborhood plan, will be drawn for each piece of property to be redeveloped. The work to be done by the city and that which private property owners will do is being coordinated by using the Critical Path Method, commonly used by contractors to see that new buildings are constructed on schedule.
The methods deserve mention because they determine the results — or, at least, the goals being pursued for Södermalm.
The Facts
Södermalm’s planners went to work armed with an unusual amount of information on their subject. In 1963, the Stockholm Real Estate Department began to compile a building register as an aid to planners. Today, the register contains 120 pertinent facts on each of the 8500 buildings in Central Stockholm.
The facts on each building include technical information about construction, the amount of space and how it’s used, the numbers and kinds of dwellings, and, surprisingly, a large amount of economic information such as rentals, tax value, the most recent sales price, maintenance costs and market value. (Economic facts for the register are obtained from Swedish income tax records, which are open to the public.)
The city’s concern with its heritage prompted the establishment of another valuable list — an inventory of historical buildings. From 1962 to 1967, the city spent nearly $70,000 to employ three architects and two architectural historians to prepare the inventory. Through on-site inspections and archive research, the team classified Stockholm’s buildings into those, which have high historic value (and must be saved), those with historic value (which should be saved, if possible) and those with little historic interest. Not only individual buildings but also groups of buildings from the same period were judged for their architectural merit.
Traffic data for Södermalm was drawn from the Stockholm regional traffic forecast for 1990 so that traffic patterns on the island will fit into the regional traffic plan.
Information like this helped the planners to consider Södermalm both as a community with specific needs of its own and as an important part of a big city.
In the Streets…
Starting with its traffic plan, South 67 offers some surprises. The street system on Södermalm is to be radically altered, but NOT to increase traffic capacity. “Our first concern is traffic safety,” emphasized traffic engineer Ake Broberg. “Emphasizing safety, rather than capacity, is a new approach in planning here. But we have been more and more concerned about the dangers which people face from cars.”
Underlining this concern is the fact that one of the key maps used in the traffic plan is a map of the most dangerous intersections on the island. “We knew we had to do something to separate people and cars. We thought this was a good place to start,” Broberg said. “We found in our studies that we could buy a lot of safety with the sacrifice of only a little efficiency by prohibiting cars on certain streets. Closing streets will increase travel time a little but not as much as we expected.”
An example of the new street pattern planned for S6dermalm is seen on this map. The dotted lines are landscaped pedestrian streets with underpasses or bridges at vehicular streets. Some streets for cars end in cul-de-sacs to eliminate through traffic. At left is a major highway to be underground. The circled T’s designate subway stations.
Driving into downtown Stockholm from the south requires you to pass through Södermalm. You enter the island on a high bridge, which carries you into the district’s main shopping street, Götgatan. Midway across the island, you snake through two sharp curves and find yourself on a high-speed roadway cut between the rock. From here, the driving is a breeze.
South 67 will eliminate the drive through the shopping area and the dangerous curves. It calls for a new bridge from the south connecting to an underground highway, which will carry you directly into the existing highway. And putting the new highway in a tunnel will leave established neighborhoods above it in one piece.
The traffic plan classifies other streets on the island as main streets, feeder streets and local streets. Traffic from a local street is directed as rapidly as possible to feeders and the feeders flow quickly into main streets. The aim is to make it unnecessary for a motorist to drive through several housing or working areas. Many local streets are to be disconnected at one end and given cul-de-sacs to remove through traffic.
…and Off Them
“By closing certain streets to all motor car traffic and connecting them with the foot-paths in the parks, an unbroken pedestrian street system has been obtained,” the plan asserts. The pedestrian paths will go under or over the streets via 30 underpasses and bridges. So people won’t have to climb too many steps, the people streets will have gradual slopes in line with the terrain.
“Housing areas and working areas are connected as simply as possible with subway stations, shops, schools and open spaces,” the plan explains. “A segregated system of pedestrian streets and motor traffic streets of this kind increases traffic safety and the comfort of both pedestrians and drivers.”
South 67 provides for inner courtyards of buildings to be planted and made accessible through portals at corners so people can walk diagonally through blocks. In some cases, such as on streets used by busses, wider sidewalks will be installed.
Most new parking facilities in Södermalm will be underground. All new buildings will be required to provide underground parking on the site. Parking on the streets will be limited, for the most part, to streets ending in cul-de-sacs. Where several people own private property on the same block, the city will encourage them to build joint parking facilities. Other major parking facilities will be located near main streets so as not to overload the local street system.
South 67 is very uncharitable to cars. It limits parking space to less than one car per dwelling unit. “The traffic capacity of Södermalm can never be sufficient for the potential number of car-owning commuters who would prefer to use their own cars, if they had a free choice between individual and public means of transport,” the plan says bluntly. “It is therefore necessary to restrict individual traffic, whilst, at the same time, improving public transport.”
Södermalm is now served by a fast commuter train line, two subway lines, city busses, and a bus line to the suburbs. South 67 would add another subway line and revise existing bus routes.
“We have suggested,” says plan chief Wohlin, “that mass transportation must be the main transportation to offices and shops. About 60 per cent of all the journeys on Södermalm must be made by mass transportation.” The plan itself adds, “This means that public transport must handle about 75 per cent of the passenger traffic at peak hours.”
The idea that three out of four people would use public transit in the rush hours may sound impossible to Americans but it isn’t high for Stockholm. Just that percentage of Södermalm‘s commuters use public transit now. So if the public can be convinced to continue their riding habits, the Foal is assured.
Fewer People and Elbow Room
Smack in the middle of Södermalm is S6dra Station, a railroad yard which occupies 37 acres of prime land, The City of Stockholm is currently negotiating with the state-owned Swedish Railroad to acquire the land in trade for city-owned land elsewhere where a new station may be constructed. Failing a trade, the city will buy the land. The old station’s site will be the keystone for a new, T-shaped commercial and office center and pedestrian mall.
By constructing some 350,000 square yards of new office space, the plan expects to bring from 5000 to 15,000 new jobs to the island. With its emphasis on large commercial enterprises, the result may be an end to the small industries, workshops, shops, and offices now scattered in housing areas. If South 67 has a major weakness, this may be it.
Roughly a third of the land on the island is already owned by the city. Of the land, which is privately owned, less than 20 per cent will be expropriated, largely in the center. “There the city must take an active part in the implementation and, according to a time schedule drawn up in advance, buy properties affected by new construction, evacuate and demolish existing buildings, and carry through the necessary construction of streets and common-use facilities,” the plan explains. “New building sites are then, as a rule, leased to different investors who have to follow the town plan and the time schedule prepared by the city.”
The view from the south — and the traffic system — will change dramatically under the plan. The sketch above shows a new bridge (left) to connect to a tunnel highway under the middle of Södermalm. The existing bridge (right) will carry only local traffic into the main shopping area. Pedestrian walks link the recreational areas to housing areas.
South 67 seeks to make a major change in the living standards of Södermalm residents, many of whom now live in very small apartments. The city itself plans to build 3000 new dwelling units on the island and private renovation and new housing construction is expected to be stimulated by the public investments.
What the city is attempting is best explained by a few figures: An increase in living area from the current 40 square yards per person to 65 yards per person or, stated differently, a reaction in the number of people per habitable room from .70 at present to .45.
The emphasis is on more living space for each resident of Södermalm, not on increasing the island’s population. So, despite a considerable increase in residential housing area, the population is expected to decline a bit. Södermalm, says the plan, must have fewer people with more elbow room.
Swedish law requires that people who are forced to move from their homes due to renewal must be given an opportunity to remain in the area, if possible. In one part of Södermalm, the city is using “checkerboard” rehabilitation of apartment buildings — that is, repairing one building at a time and moving displaced residents back into the neighborhood as each building is completed.
New city-built housing on the island will have rents as close as possible to those of previous buildings, asserts engineer Erland Svensson who helped draft the housing plans. Half of the new dwellings will have three rooms and a kitchen, one fourth will have one or two rooms and kitchen, and the other fourth will have a kitchen and four rooms or more,
When the owners of private apartment buildings wish to rehabilitate or replace their buildings, the city will help them relocate their tenants if it later has the right to place displaced tenants in the finished buildings. But many residents, Svensson admits, still leave the renewal areas, preferring the somewhat cheaper rents in the suburbs. (The city will find then suburban housing if they desire it.)
South 67 expects private initiative to provide a large measure of the new housing needed on Södermalm. Although rent control, which freezes the maximum rentals in older buildings, has discouraged many building owners from undertaking major repairs, efforts are now underway to allow rent increases following major rehabilitation. And the law itself seems likely to be repealed soon.
Green, Green
Certainly one of the most impressive aspects of South 67 is its attempt to give the inner city more breathing space.
“The sector plan for parks, sports fields and playgrounds shows that new open space will be created in the central part of the district,” explains the outline. “Every housing enclave will be provided with spaces for games and recreation close at hand. Certain streets and market squares can be laid out as parks. A large central park can be created when the present (railroad) goods station has been removed.”
“I think this is the best plan for the central city that we have ever tried in Stockholm,” enthuses park architect Kjell-Ove Eskilsson. “It works with all the problems.”
Södermalm now has about 250 acres of green space. This is to be increased by half to 375 acres. Where do you find new parkland in the inner city? It will be taken from part of the old railroad station site, from streets that are closed, from streets made to dead-end, and from former building sites acquired by the city. Several major cultural reservations containing historic buildings will be tied into the park system, as will large churchyards.
The new web of green will permit a stroll from the waterside on the southwest corner of the island to the high cliffs overlooking Old Town on the northeast corner, all without leaving park land or dodging a car.
The new park network planned for Södermalm is shown here by the shaded areas. The thin connections between the larger parks are landscaped pedestrian walks built on closed streets. The new system will bring each housing area within easy reach of a major park-recreation area.
“We haven’t aimed the parks at any certain category of people but we hope they will be easier for older people to use. They will be more accessible for everyone since there will be broad strips of parks running through the living districts,” Eskillson says.
The park complex will include new athletic fields, an outdoor theater for 1500 persons (36dermalffalready has a 4000-seat summer theater), and even a toboggan run. Perhaps the most interesting innovation is a new park planned especially, but not exclusively, for blind persons.
The special park will be located near the headquarters of the local society for the blind and will be built to appeal to senses other than sight. The park will feature flowers with strong fragrances planted in elevated pots to permit easier smelling and touching and other plants whose leaves have an interesting texture. The park will have a fountain with a good water voice and sculpture designed to be touched as well as seen. A simple, flat walk will help acquaint the blind with the park and when it becomes familiar they can try more intricate, and interesting, interior walks.
Estimated cost of the park program is $11,500,000
The Net
Investments by the City of Stockholm in Södermalm, concentrated mainly in the central area, will be divided between the Real Estate Department and the Street and Traffic Department.
Property purchases, evacuation, demolition and planning is expected to cost the Real Estate Department more than $77,000,000, or an average of $3.8 to $4.8 million per year. The Street and Traffic Department will spend an estimated $48,325,000 for streets and parks, about $2.9 million a year — with the Swedish government refunding $38,660,000 of that amount in grants from car taxes.
Thus, the public investment in Södermalm from now until 1985 should be at least $135,000,000, at a rate of more than $7,700,000 a year. But the plan envisions private investors spending two or three times that amount.
Putting the city in the position of a catalyst for private action, the plan asserts, “In order to obtain effective housing and traffic environments, it is desirable that these renewal schemes also be carried out in as big units as possible. It will become necessary to intensify the cooperation between the different property owners within the blocks in order to find common solutions for garages, exits, layouts of courtyards, and premises for service facilities.”
The planners are quick to point out that they have no guarantee that the private sector will make such major investments in Södermalm. But they express confidence it will occur here as it has in other renewal areas in Stockholm.
New housing (with flat roofs) is mixed with old in the Södermalm plan.
So, the search for miljö has led the planners to make an unconventional renewal plan for Södermalm:
- It relies in large measure on private investment.
- It will take nearly 20 years to implement- riot long when you consider that the island was built up over 500 years.
- It stresses fixing buildings up over tearing them down.
- It saves, rather than destroys, historic buildings.
- It increases, not diminishes, the importance of public transportation.
- It takes away, rather than adds to, the land devoted to the car.
- And, instead of emphasizing new tax revenues or new industry or new cultural centers, it emphasizes people.
Not a bad way to make a “good place to live.”
Cover Pictures Old and new contrast as you enter Södermalm from the south
(Maps and drawings courtesy of the City of Stockholm)
Received in New York September 23, 1868.
Mr. Meeker is an Alicia Patterson Fund award winner, on leave from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This article may be published with credit to David A. Meeker, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Alicia Patterson Fund.
