After World War II, central Stockholm was completely renewed; a new, modernist 'city' was designed, and a sunken plaza, Sergels torg, was laid out. Used by thousands daily, the square also became a centre for drug trafficking. Sergels torg fell into disrepute, which its periodic use for demonstrations and celebrations could not counteract. With a new local government in Stockholm in 1998, Sergels torg was unexpectedly set at the top of the agenda for a complete renewal in a most uncompromising way. Why this square, and in this way? An answer is sought in several steps, looking first at the square, its complex place history, the proposal's discursive construction and some of the forces behind it. Yet, a full explanation of this exceptional politics of place requires that attention also be given to the national scale.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adorno, T. (1967) Funktionalismus heute, in: T. ADORNO Ohne Leitbild, pp. 104-127. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp.
2.
Agnew, J. (1993) Representing space: space, scale and culture in social science, in: J. Duncan and D. Ley (Eds) Place/Culture/ Representation , pp. 251-271. London: Routledge .
3.
Anderzon, K. (1997) Plattanaktionen: Slutrapport. FoU-enheten, Report 1997:8, Resursforvaltningen for skola och socialtjanst, Stockholm
Bauman, Z. (1987) Legislators and Interpreters. Oxford: Blackwell.
7.
Benko, G. (1997) Introduction: modernity, post-modernity and the social science, in: G. Benko and U. Strohmayer (Eds) Space and Social Theory: Interpreting Modernity and Post-modernity, pp. 1-44. Oxford : Blackwell.
8.
Bergengren, K. (1976) När skönheten kom till city. Stockholm: Aldus.
9.
Bergman, B. (2001) Klara 1950: Gator och näringar i en citystadsdel . Stockholm: Stockholmia forlag .
10.
Bergman, B. and Leijonhufvud, S. (1985) Längs drakens rygg: Med Malmskillnadsgatan genom maktens city. Stockholm: Carlssons.
11.
De Certaux, M. (1980) The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
12.
Clark, E. and Gullberg, A. (1991) Long swings, rent gaps and structures of building provision: the postwar transformation of Stockholm's inner city, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 15, pp. 492-504.
13.
Clark, E. and Gullberg, A. (1997) Power struggles in the making and taking of rent gaps: the transformation of Stockholm City, in: O. Kalltorp, I. Elander, O. Ericsson and M. Franzen (Eds) Cities in Transformation: Transformation in Cities. Social and Symbolic Change of Urban Space, pp. 248-265. Alder-shot: Avebury.
14.
Douglas, M. (1984) Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Ark Paperbacks.
15.
Entrikin, J.N. (1991) The Betweenness of Place: Towards a Geography of Modernity. London: Macmillan.
16.
Feldtkeller, A. (1995) Die zweckentfremdeteStadt. Frankfurt: Campus.
17.
Franzen, M. (1987) Den roda hastskon. Stockholms sociala koordinater 1935, Arkiv för studier i arbetarrörelsens historia, 36/37, pp. 3-38.
18.
Franzen, M. (1997) City narratives: The peculiarities of the Stockholm South Side, in: O. Kalltorp, I. Elander, O. Ericsson and M. Franzen (Eds) Cities in Transformation: Transformation in Cities. Social and Symbolic Change of Urban Space, pp. 184-204. Alder-shot: Avebury .
19.
Green Party (1999) Press release on Sergels torg. Stockholm Town Hall 10 March.
20.
Gregory, D. (1994) Geographical Imaginations. Cambridge, MA.: Blackwell.
21.
Gullberg, A. (1998) Spelet om Nedre Norrmalm, in: A. Gullberg , G. Sidenbladh and L. HolmStockholm blir stor stad, pp. 9-51. Stockholm: Kulturhuvudstadsåret / Byggförlaget.
22.
Habermas, J. (1994) Faktizität und Geltung: Beiträge zur Diskurstheorie des Rechts und des demokratischen Rechtsstaats, 2nd edn. Frankfurt/M. : Suhrkamp .
23.
Habermas, J. (1998) Konzeptionen der Moderne: Ruckblick auf zwei Traditionen , in: J. HABERMAS Die postnationale Konstellation: Politische Essays, pp. 195-231. Frankfurt/M. : Suhrkamp.
24.
Hall, T. (1999) Huvudstad i omvandling: Stockholms planering och utbyggnad under 700 dr. Stockholm: Sveriges Radios forlag.
25.
Hall, T. and Hubbard, P. (1996) The entrepreneurial city: new urban politics, new urban geographies?, Progress in Human Geograhy, 20, pp. 153-174.
26.
Harvey, D. (1989) The Condition of Post-modernity. An Inquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Oxford: Blackwell.
27.
Häußermann, H. and Siebel, W. (1993) Die Politik der Festivalisierung und der Festivalisierung der Politik: GroBe Ereignisse in der Stadtpolitik, in: H. HÄUßERMANN and W. Siebel (Eds) Festivalisierung der Stadtpolitik. Stadtentwicklung durch große Projekte , pp. 7-31. Leviathan Sonderheft 13/1993. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.
28.
Hirschman, A.O. (1991) The Rhetoric of Reaction. Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press.
29.
Horkheimer, M. and Adorno, T. (1971) Dialektik der Aufklärung. Frankfurt/M. : Fischer Verlag.
30.
Howitt, R. (1998) Scale as relation: musical metaphors of geographical scale, Area30, pp. 49-58.
31.
Hultin, O. (1994) Stockholm city-igen!, Arkitektur , 1994(6), p. 36.
32.
Hultin, O. (1999) Sticket, Arkitektur, 1999(2), p. 2.
33.
Jandel, N. (1994) Sergels torg: en plats i tiden. Working Paper No. 62, Department of Human Geography, Uppsala University.
34.
Jensen, A. (1996) Polisens insats 1996 mot narkotikahandeln på Sergels torg. Part II
35.
Polisintervjuer . Institute for Criminology, University of Stockholm .
36.
Karlsmo, E. (1999) Liv i city: Bostäder eller hockeyhjältar. Paper presented at The Urban and Housing Seminar, Institute for Housing Research, Uppsala University, April.
37.
Kassman, A. (1998) Polisen och narkotikaproblemet. Från nationella aktioner mot narkotikaprofitörer till lokala insatser för att störa missbruket . Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.
38.
Kindgren, M. (1999) City i samverkan, Situation Sthlm , 25, pp. 36-38.
39.
Larsson, J. (1994) Hemmet vi arvde: Om folkhemmet, identiteten och den gemensamma framtiden. Stockholm: Arena.
40.
Lefebvre, H. (1972) Die Revolution der Stadte. Munich: List.
41.
Lefebvre, H. (1991) The Production of Space. Oxford : Blackwell.
42.
Left Party (1999) Press release on Sergels torg. Stockholm Town Hall, 12 March.
43.
Ley, D. ( 1996) The New Middle Class and the Remaking of the Central City . Oxford: Oxford University Press .
44.
Lindgren, S-A. (1993) Den hotfulla njutningen: Att etablera drogbruk som samhällsproblem 1890-1970. Stockholm/ Stehag: Symposion.
45.
Lyotard, J-F. (1984) The Condition of Post-modernity: A Report on Knowledge . Manchester: Manchester University Press.
46.
Massey, D. (1994) Double articulation: a place in the world, in: A. Bamner (Ed.) Displacements. Cultural Identities in Question, pp. 110-121. Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press.
47.
Oakes, T. (1997) Place and the paradox of modernity, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 87, pp. 509-531.
48.
Ronneberger, K., Lanz, S. and Jahn, W. (1999) Die Stadt als Beute. Bonn: Dietz Nachfolger.
49.
Sanden, C. (1997) Polisens insats 1996 mot narkotikahandeln på Sergels torg— narkotikabrottslighetens utveckling. Institute for Criminology, University of Stockholm.
50.
Shields, R. (1991) Places on the Margin: Alternative Geographies of Modernity. London: Routledge.
51.
Sidenbladh, G. (1981) Planering för Stockholm 1923-1958. Monografier utg. av Stockholms kommunalforvaltning22: V3, Stockholm .
52.
Sidenbladh, G. (1985) Norrmalm förnyat 1951-1981. Stockholm: Arkitektur forlag/ Liber.
53.
Sjostedt, G. (1998) Polisens insats 1996 mot narkotikahandeln på Sergels torg: en registerstudie av den narkotikarelaterade brottsligheten. Institute for Criminology, University of Stockholm.
54.
Social Democratic Party (1999) Press release on Sergels torg. Stockholm Town Hall, 8 February.
55.
Stockholm Town Hall (1998) Budget proposal for the year1999. 11 November.
56.
Stockholm Town Hall (1999) Finanspolitisk inriktning för 2000-2002 för Stockholms stads och de kommunala bolagen. Finansborgarrådet/ Borgarrådsberedningen, 26 May.
57.
Stahre, N-G., Fogelstrom, P.-A. ET AL. ( 1983) Stockholms gatunamn. Stockholm: Stockholms-monografier utgivna av Stockholms kommun.
58.
Svensson, P. (1996) Storstugan eller När förorten kom till byn. Stockholm: Bonnier Alba.
59.
Usk (Stockholm Statistical Bureau) (1998) Statistik om Stockholm. 1998:19.
60.
Webb, M. (1990) The City Square. London: Thames and Hudson.
61.
William-Olsson, W. (1960) Stockholm: Structure and development. Uppsala: The Swedish Research Council/The City of Stockholm/The Stockholm School of Economics.
62.
Zukin, S. (1995) The Cultures of Cities. Cambridge, MA.: Blackwell.
