Hagerstrand and an exercise in recontextualisation

Steve Little first visited Stockholm as an architecture student.
These images from 1971 were re-contextualised during the IIS Congress and Odyssey meeting

1971

2005

Stockholm city centre and waterfront

The set of 1960s slab office blocks stepping back from the church at the left of this view were an international icon for 1960s urban planners and developers.

The area around Sergels Torg is now a location for more recent arrivals in the city.

Variations on this form of development can be seen in many locations, London's Victoria street being one example.

The Sergels Torg traffic circle is in fact built in the shape of a superellipse - a super-circle derived by Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein

The plaza in front of the Kulturhuset was the site of a demonstration against the Iranian government by Iranian exiles and supporters.

The visibility and connection with the activities at plaza level for passing pedestrian traffic level was minimal.

The visibility and connection with the activities at plaza level for passing road traffic level was zero.

1971

2005

Gamla Stan and the Royal Palace

The historic core of Stockholm.

Gamla Stan has become an extensive tourist resource with dedicated retail and catering outlets

Drottninggatan delivers the tourist traffic to Gamla Stan

The Royal Palace faces the city centre.

The Place forms a backdrop to a much more visible demonstration by Iranian exiles than that at Sergels Torg - visible to locals and capturing the touristic gaze

The demonstration, in support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran is critical of the EU stance on Iran

The army band and Palace Guard provides a different form of demonstration of a militaristic past detailed at the Army Museum

The interaction with tourist traffic provides an unfamiliar form of congestion

1971

2005

Skarholmen: Recontextualised Symbol of Modernity

West of the city center, alongside the E4/E20 motorway and home of allegedly the world's biggest Ikea store.

The sculptural symbol which was created for the town thirty years ago has mutated into something which represents the very different cultural mix which exists in 2005.

A 1972 analysis of the planned expansion of Stockholm, including Skarholmen

Skarholmen is on the Red Line of the T-Bana, in zone 3

The work in front of the station marks the beginning of reconstruction of the main shopping centre which will greatly expand its capacity

Skarholmen Centrum, the existing enclosed shopping area, with a re-worked version of the town landmark sculpture.

Inside the existing centre, the symbol is visible above the glazed roof

The suburb provides a home to residents from a range of locations

The transformed version of the Skarholmen sculpture is carried throughout the centre

The central area services the different members of the community, providing connectivity with the points of origin

The composition of the community can be gauged from the destinations offered for money transfers

Surveillance of the remittance steam is provided by the cheap international calls offered in a variety of outlets

Again, destinations of the remittance flows and sources of the community can seen the windows of the shopping centre

The re-worked symbol is carried throughout the district centre on free-standing pylons

The original sculpture still makes an appearance, here seen from below the distributor roadway

Although on-line identity has been subject to cybersquatting, there is also an on-line tribute site

1971

2005

Guaranteed connectivity - integrated transport

Metro construction was synchronised with development

Bredang is on the route to Skarholmen and also the location of one of the city's camping sites which was used by Steve Little in 1971.

The street market outside the metro station indicates the arrival of residents from beyond Scandinavia.

The social housing remains in excellent condition, a level of design, detail and long term care very different form that prevailing in some other parts of Europe

The external satellite dishes shows a connectivity not available in 1971.

The camp site remains in place although twenty-first century camping resembles twentieth century mechanised warfare in many respects.

The camp site supports accessibility by providing a modal switch from private to public transport for visitors to the city

The superb setting of the site and of the suburb means that the flats and campsite are a few hundred metres from a lakeside beach.

In thirty years trees have obscured much of the views from the main camp site, however.

Cycling connectivity - the local cycle pate networks, a reflection of the success of the pioneering work at Vasteras

Stephen Little
Head, Centre for Innovation, Knowledge and Enterprise
Open University Business School
Milton Keynes, U.K.
s.e.little@open.ac.uk

&

Len Holmes, Director,
The Management Research Centre,
London Metropolitan University,
U.K.
l.holmes@londonmet.ac.uk