Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T13:49:53.364Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

4 - Rethinking Swedish National Planning

Göran Cars
Affiliation:
Royal Institute of Technology
Bjorn Hårsman
Affiliation:
Royal Institute of Technology
Get access

Summary

The Kingdom of Sweden is the fourth largest country in Europe in terms of land area. Ten per cent of the land is cultivated and 50 per cent is covered by forest. The population is close to nine million, with a density of slightly more than 20 inhabitants per square kilometre. This low population density and the abundance of timber resources may lead one to expect sprawling settlements and spacious wooden single-family houses. This is, however, not the case. The population is largely concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Stockholm on the east coast, Gothenburg in the west and Malmö in the south, and is housed for the most part in compactly built multi-family houses. Among the factors contributing to this pattern of population distribution are transportation, strong government control over planning and building and a national goal of making social services easily accessible.

For decades Sweden has been regarded as the epitome of the welfare state— concrete proof that a sensibly governed, large public sector can make it possible to combine ambitious equity concerns with ever increasing levels of income. Some may still nurture this image of Sweden, but the facts tell a different story. As illustrated in Table 1, since 1970 Sweden has steadily regressed in the ‘income league’ of OECD countries. In the 1990s this trend accelerated and was accompanied by huge public deficits, rapidly increasing unemployment and widening income gaps.

The economic recession in Sweden has led to a rethinking of the role of national planning. As in other countries, the increased scarcity of resources has led to cutbacks in public undertakings and also to a questioning of the efficiency with which national planning has been carried out. In addition, the relevance of the traditional ‘Swedish model’, with its broad definition of social policy and planning, has been questioned and found wanting. Fundamental changes are clearly needed in the Swedish planning system.

The Emergence of National Planning

In Sweden, land-use decisions have traditionally been strongly related to land ownership. During the first decades of the twentieth century, rapid urbanisation together with industrialisation and the exploitation of natural resources demanded more efficient methods of planning and conservation. The prevailing social conditions also called for public intervention and planning.

Type
Chapter
Information
National-Level Spatial Planning in Democratic Countries
An International Comparison of City and Regional Policy-Making
, pp. 85 - 104
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Print publication year: 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×