Emma Holmqvist

Counteracting Segregation: Swedish Policies and Experiences

The issue of residential segregation has been on the Swedish political agenda since the early 1970s. This paper analyses the background for this interest, presents some basic features of socio-economic and ethnic residential segregation, and discusses some fundamental contextual properties regarding the Swedish welfare state, its institutional set-up and changes in housing and other policies that have affected the conditions for segregation processes. Three more specific anti-segregation policies are also identified and analysed: housing and social mix policy (first initiated in the 1970s); the refugee dispersal policy (initiated in the 1980s); and the area-based urban policy (initiated in the 1990s). Of these three, the last two have a clear ethnic focus while mix policies primarily aim for socio-economic and demographic mix. The analysis shows that none of the policies have managed to affect levels of segregation more than marginally, the reasons being ineffective implementation (the mix policy), failures in the design (the refugee dispersal policy) or conflicting aims inherent in the policy (area-based interventions).

Possibilities of building a mixed city – evidence from Swedish cities

During the late twentieth century, the notion of residential mix became an important public policy in Sweden as well as in many other European countries, Australia and North America. The aim of these policies has primarily been to counteract residential segregation through regeneration of neighbourhoods. The Swedish policy provides an interesting case, as it differs in important respects from policies in other countries. The aim of the Swedish policy has been not only to change the social and physical structure of disadvantaged neighbourhoods, but also to create cities that are socially mixed in their entirety. However, the question is whether this universal aim of achieving mixed cities has been translated into urban planning and the actual construction of mixed neighbourhoods. Is the Swedish social mix policy a policy for the entire city or only a rhetorical goal? The present article shows that there is in fact a trend towards residential mix, as the number of tenure-mixed neighbourhoods has increased. However, contrary to the policy aim, new construction and tenure conversions have not always contributed to a greater mix, as there are also counteracting processes at work. The article furthermore shows that there are significant geographical variations in the implementation of the social mix policy.