Karin Grundström

From Folkhem to lifestyle housing in Sweden : segregation and urban form, 1930s-2010s

This article analyses the political and ideological transformations underlying the gradual privatisation and deregulation of the mid-twentieth-century Keynesian model of housing provision in Sweden. We identify a series of three political and ideological shifts in housing policy and urban form since the 1930s: regulating Folkhem housing, deregulating Folkhem housing, and back to business in housing. We argue that even though the Folkhem parole of ‘housing for all’ differs extensively from the current situation where the market is ‘housing the privileged’, segregation trends have, from the Folkhem to the post-welfare period, been shaped by both state interventions and market forces. Second, we argue that there is a continuing trend through which newly constructed housing has metamorphosed from a basic human right for the working class into an expression of individual distinction and ‘style’ for the upper middle and middle classes. While privileged classes, more than ever before in modern Swedish housing history, have the possibility to choose new forms of housing, the most impoverished groups live in residual and often stigmatised peripheral housing areas. One main conclusion is that recent forms of housing for privileged groups signal a cultural and ideological shift towards new, more elitist conceptions of housing and privilege.

Gender and Space

In the field of housing research, gender and space have historically been overlooked, both empirically and theoretically. The theoretical base of research on housing, gender, and space is to be found in a cross-disciplinary field of spatial theory, gender studies, feminist and critical studies in geography, sociology and architecture. In this article, it is primarily the spatial-theoretical grounding that we want to emphasise. The article first introduces theoretical approaches to the research area and then gives examples of research within two themes related to the spatial-theoretical point of departure.

Mobility as a stratifying factor in housing : dwelling-in-place contra dwelling-on-the-move

Abstract Housing is almost entirely overlooked in mobility studies. Yet mobility is intrinsically linked to housing, not only for the cybernetic elite or global nomads, but also for the middle class. Through a comparative case study of two extreme cases of housing, the Markeliushus from 1935 and Victoria Park from 2009, this study found that mobility has been continuously linked to discourses and practices of housing the modern Swede. Furthermore the findings suggest that two contrasting housing forms have evolved: dwelling-in-place and dwelling-on-the-move. I argue that these two housing forms are part of an evolving stratification of housing based on mobility. The article concludes that mobility has become an entry point for disaffiliation by privileged groups, accessible through housing.

Grindsamhälle : the rise of urban gating and gated housing in Sweden

Abstract Sweden does not have gated communities, but this paper argues that processes of gating and the associated consequences are apparent in Sweden, particularly in metropolitan regions. Based on interviews, observations and analysis of previous research, the article identifies the rise of urban gating and gated housing. Urban gating restricts access to previously public land through material gating and results in a loss of the right to use-value of urban land. The rise of a new and exclusive form of gated housing associated with the lifestyles of the mobile middle class, referred to here, as the residential hotel, is spotlighted, prompting questions about the concentration of affluence in already privileged areas and the reinforcing effect of gating on existing patterns of socio-spatial polarization.