In 2011, Irene Molina and Sara Westin at Uppsala University wrote a report about the renovation of The Million Program housing stock in Sweden – (during a ten-year period (1964-74) 940 000 housing units were built in Sweden as part of a state financed project launched by the Social Democrats) – and the challenges that comes with it. The report is named Men vart ska ni då ta vägen? (eng: But, where will you go then?) based on case studies on Swedish neighborhoods where the renovation already started. One case study was carried out in Husby. Husby has a population of 11500 and is a perfect example of a neighborhood that was built during the Million Program. 78 percent of the housing stock is rental units, which is 30 percent higher than the Stockholm average.
In 2007 the City of Stockholm launched a comprehensive revitalization plan for the “Järva district”. This project was initiated, and is on going, in Husby. It also includes the adjacent neighborhoods’ Kista, Akalla, Rinkeby, Tensta and Hjulsta, was first initiated in Husby in 2007. All of these five residential areas are perfectly located in Stockholm, accessible through the metro system, built during the Million Program and are more or less considered to be stigmatized with the lowest income and employment levels in society.
Järvalyftet is a comprehensive project that encompasses various amounts of measures in the built environment, including the renovation of the housing stock, with the aim to boost the economy and attractiveness of the region. The City of Stockholm describes Järvalyftet as a long-sighted investment to improve living conditions in the neighborhoods. Translated into real words this means that rents will be increased due to renovation and middle-class will replace the poor when they can afford to stay any longer. This” market-forces-rationality-rhetoric justifies any actions as long as it boosts the economic flow within the neighborhood. Who gives a fuck about housing for everyone when I can shop my café latte and play Angry birds on my iPhone while chatting about the stock market with my new neighbors who are academics?!
Järvalyftet is undoubtedly the first state-led gentrification that, inevitable, will displace people that are less privileged and cant afford to stay when the rents are increased.
There has been protests and mobilization of an opposition against Järvalyftet carried out from people living in Husby since the beginning in 2007. Their main causes for resistance have been the fear of increased rents that will force people to move, and the lack of a democratic process where residents are involved in decisions affecting their living conditions. However, these critical voices in community have been systematically silenced through the bureaucratic apparatus. Sara Westin and Irene Molina notes that: “…tenants whose dwellings are facing a renovation have relatively little power to influence the outcome, and thus their ability to stay…”
I believe it is disaster that projects like Järvalyftet can be executed without any bigger reactions from politicians or others with power or the means needed to stop this development. Where are the critical voices when they are needed? How many peoples living should be sacrificed before the rest of society reacts, involves and actively works to stop this?
You will find their report on the link below, it is unfortunately only available in Swedish.
Link: http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:458977
urbanillustrated 