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Journal ArticleDOI

The Million Homes Programme: a review of the great Swedish planning project

01 Jan 2005-Planning Perspectives (Taylor & Francis Group)-Vol. 20, Iss: 3, pp 301-328
TL;DR: In Sweden, the Million Homes Programme (MHP) as discussed by the authors was proposed to solve the housing shortage in the first decades of the post-war era by building a million new dwellings.
Abstract: The first decades of the post‐war era saw a large and quickly growing need for new housing. In Sweden, rapid urbanization, growing prosperity and demands for higher housing standards led to years‐long housing queues. The housing shortage became a political liability for the ruling Social Democratic party. To end the housing shortage once and for all, the Swedish parliament decided that a million new dwellings should be built in the period 1965 to 1974 and this was achieved. When the Million Homes Programme, as it came to be called, had reached barely half‐way, the housing shortage was replaced by a housing surplus, partly caused by the rapid expansion of the housing stock and by the fact that economic growth gave way to stagnation. At the same time, criticism began to be heard about what some people perceived as uniform and poor architecture and, since then, the Million Homes Programme has never ceased to engage people and provoke debate. Most of the buildings and areas of this era have survived quite wel...
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Space syntax is a set of theories and techniques about buildings and cities and how they function, rooted in a theory of society and space that originated at the UCL Bartlett School of Graduate Studies in the 1970s as discussed by the authors.

236 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Abstract: Purpose – Recent calls were launched worldwide for the “revival” of offsite production (OSP) (under numerous nomenclatures) in order to improve the construction industry, meet market demand; and furthermore, overcome the dependence on skilled labour. Despite the well‐documented benefits of OSP, the construction industry seems to be somewhat hesitant in effectively responding to those calls. Forming part of a triangulated research, this paper aims to explore the European Union (EU) construction industry main patterns of concern with regard to OSP. The findings from this paper are set to guide the development of an OSP training and education model (not reported in this paper).Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach using the content analysis technique was employed to analyse secondary data (transcripts) from 54 open‐ended questionnaires carried out under the ManuBuild EU research project, to deeply explore the EU construction industry main perceptions/concerns which may represent a barrier to t...

144 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe and explain the fuel transition in the context of main events that have characterized the development of the Swedish district heating (DH) sector, focusing on the transformation of Swedish DH systems with regard to energy supply in 1960-2011.
Abstract: District heating (DH) systems may contribute to reducing the use of fossil fuels for heating purposes since they enable the use of waste heat and facilitate the use of renewable energy sources. This paper focuses on the transformation of the Swedish DH systems with regard to energy supply in 1960–2011. Swedish DH production was completely dependent on oil until the late 1970s, while today it is dominated by biomass and other renewable energy sources. The objectives of this paper are to describe and explain the fuel transition in the context of the main events that have characterized the development of the Swedish DH sector. For this purpose, we employ theories and approaches grounded in the literature on systems of innovations, especially the Multi-Level Perspective. The study shows that the transition involved a series of steps. Initiated by the oil crises in the 1970s the oil-based regime collapsed rapidly, while the growth of the biomass-based regime was a steered process governed by actors and supported only by external events. The lessons learned from the transition towards low-carbon and more sustainable DH systems in Sweden could be useful in the challenging task of steering future energy transitions in other countries and sectors.

112 citations


Cites background from "The Million Homes Programme: a revi..."

  • ...The Million Homes Programme was launched in order to address a severe shortage of housing in Sweden, and the goal was to build 1 million dwellings between 1965 and 1974 (Hall and Vidén, 2005)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the Swedish experiences of introducing and expanding the use of biomass in the district heating systems and identify the main drivers behind this development, and the future challenge of competing uses of biomass.
Abstract: District heating satisfies about 60% of the heat demand in Swedish buildings. Today, more than two thirds of the heat supply to the district heating systems is based on biomass and waste, and biomass alone accounts for about half of the heat supply. The purpose of this paper is to present the Swedish experiences of introducing and expanding the use of biomass in the district heating systems and to identify the main drivers behind this development. Our five research questions and the corresponding conclusions consider the driving forces from energy policy tools and local initiatives, the biomass prices, the established infrastructures in forestry and district heating, the technology paths for biomass conversion, and finally the future challenge of competing uses of biomass.

105 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors established how to classify properties in terms of their physical characteristics for the purpose of forecasting water demand and found that the most certain information available on new households during planning are the physical characteristics of the properties themselves.

99 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1997
TL;DR: Estates on the Edge as mentioned in this paper describes the decline and rescue of low income government-sponsored housing estates across Northern Europe giving a vivid account of the intense physical, social and organisational problems facing social landlords in five countries.
Abstract: Estates on the Edge recounts the decline and rescue of low income government-sponsored housing estates across Northern Europe giving a vivid account of the intense physical, social and organisational problems facing social landlords in five countries. These countries have 5,500,000 social housing units in around 5,000 large, dense, modern flatted estates, about one in three of their social rented stock. These estates house increasingly poor people in declining, mainly outer areas, cut off from urban centres. Many have experienced chaotic decline and sometimes serious disorder. Some have also undergone dramatic transformation and upgrading. The book traces this process of decline and rescue.

185 citations