The post-war destruction of Swedish cities

The post-war redevelopment of Swedish inner cities entailed a radical destruction and rebuilding programme to reshape the centre of Swedish cities. The scale of this programme was significant and led to a major loss of building stock. The extent and underlying drivers of the regime precipitating mass demolition are explored as a confluence of many different vested interests. These included planning and architectural theories, the disregard for heritage, the cult of modernity, strong pressure groups formed by big business, including national retail chains, banking and insurance, and the oil-automotive complex. Technical obsolescence, spatial quality or diversity of property (real estate) were strong arguments for demolition. As a result of the extensive demolition and rebuilding, new national retail businesses flourished for a short period, while existing small businesses and workshops were destroyed and local people displaced. Preservation of buildings was limited to a few exemplary ones (partly due to weak preservation laws) with the loss of much of the historic fabric as well as the diversity of spaces and rental markets. The particular case of post-war Sweden suggests that the wholesale demolition was unnecessary in practical terms but undertaken to fulfil vested interests and ideological beliefs.