Architecture and Welfare: Scandinavian Perspectives

Book Open Access

Architecture and Welfare

Scandinavian Perspectives

Edited by: Thordis Arrhenius , Ellen Braae and Guttorm Ruud

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2025

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Explore this Subject How to publish with us

About this book

Architecture was fundamental to the realization of welfare state policy in the Nordic countries, translating democratic ideals into concrete spatial materializations. An inclusive notion of “welfare for all” was embraced by a generation of architects, landscape architects, and planners, who labored to give physical form to ideas of equality, collectivity, and
democracy, producing a vast architectural output in Scandinavia during the postwar years. Today, however, the architectural legacy of this era is contested. Welfare for all no longer enjoys the social or political consensus it once did.
This publication critically engages with this contested architectural legacy and provides a nuanced portrait of postwar welfare architecture coming to terms with a contentious past and facing an uncertain future

With newly commissioned photographic work by contemporary Nordic artists

Based on an interdisciplinary research project by KTH Stockholm, Oslo School of Architecture, University of Copenhagen

Internationally renown contributors shed light on aspects of the relationship between architecture and welfare

Author / Editor information

Prof. Thordis Arrhenius, School of Architecture, KTH Stockholm

Prof. Ellen Braae, Landscape Architecture and Planning, University of Copenhagen

Dr. Guttorm Ruud, Oslo School of Architecture and Design

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	1
CONTENT Open Access Download PDF	20
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	22
PART 1: FORMATIONS AND MATERIALIZATIONS
Monumentality and Mass Housing in Sweden —The Transformation of a Model Thordis Arrhenius Open Access Download PDF	31
Danish Playgrounds and the Formation of the Welfare Citizen Martin Søberg Open Access Download PDF	61
Cabin Controversies —Balancing Individual and Collective Welfare in Norwegian Cabin Politics Beata Labuhn Open Access Download PDF	75
Fragments, Whispers, and Materials in Spring Aysha Amin Open Access Download PDF	97
PART 2: NETWORKS AND ACTORS
Local Agency and Transnational Collaborations —Stockholm During the Second World War Espen Johnsen Open Access Download PDF	115
Catherine Bauer —International Exchanges and Swedish Housing Policy Frida Rosenberg Open Access Download PDF	137
A Welfare State on the Drawing Board —Socialist Architects in the Norwegian Labor Movement Anne-Kristine Kronborg Open Access Download PDF	157
Material Networks —Art in Concrete and the Swedish Building Industry Matthew Ashton and Erik Stenberg Open Access Download PDF	175
Concrete Suburb John Håkansson Open Access Download PDF	193
PART 3: DISCOURSES AND CRITIQUES
Children in Crisis —Community, Activism, and the Norwegian Satellite Town Stigma Guttorm Ruud Open Access Download PDF	211
Dangerous Youth—Spatial Determinism and the Rejection of Modernist Mass Housing in 1970s Denmark Mikkel Høghøj Open Access Download PDF	227
“Daddy is a Computer” —The Stubborn Story of the Swedish Million Program Jennifer Mack Open Access Download PDF	239
The Great Betrayal —A Swedish Critique of Welfare State Architecture Christina Pech Open Access Download PDF	257
Architects Caught in the Net of Social Democracy —Norwegian Marxist-Leninism and Postwar Architecture Martin Braathen Open Access Download PDF	271
Living in a Satellite Town Ane Hjort Guttu Open Access Download PDF	289
PART 4: RECONCEPTUALIZATIONS AND NEW FORMATIONS
From Commons to Public Space —Relational Green Open Spaces in Danish Housing Estates Ellen Braae Open Access Download PDF	307
The Worth of Welfare in Sweden —Who Benefits from Market Models in the Public Sector? Erik Sigge Open Access Download PDF	325
The Danish Welfare City Tom Nielsen Open Access Download PDF	339
Quality Criteria and the Neoliberalization of City Life in Helsinki Leonard Ma Open Access Download PDF	357
Toward an Architecture of Planetary Welfare Deane Simpson and Helena Mattsson Open Access Download PDF	373
Index Open Access Download PDF	383
Illustration Credits Open Access Download PDF	388
Contributors Open Access Download PDF	390
Acknowledgments Open Access Download PDF	392

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

January 27, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9783035627992

Hardcover published on:

January 27, 2025

Hardcover ISBN:

9783035627961

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

392

Illustrations:

85

Coloured Illustrations:

99

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783035627992

eBook ISBN: 9783035627992

Hardcover ISBN: 9783035627961

Keywords for this book

Sweden; Norway; Denmark; Finland; public space; social housing; Norwegian cabins; playgrounds; junkyard playgrounds; theory of welfare; Catherine Bauer; Tom Avermaete

Creative Commons

BY-NC-ND 4.0

Safety & product resources

Manufacturer information:
Im Westfeld 8
CH-4055 Basel
Switzerland
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com

EU responsible person:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin

Architecture and Welfare

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data