Gunnar Asplund’s response (1917) to the Stockholm emergency housing programme in a social perspective

Eva Eriksson

Planning Perspectives, 2025, vol. 40, issue 3, 527-560

Abstract: The paper focuses on a small emergency housing estate in Stockholm, designed by Erik Gunnar Asplund at a time when Swedish society began to place some importance on housing programmes. After detailing the acute crises experienced in WWI, the paper briefly summarizes the history of the interwar period. In 1917, the Stockholm municipality was forced to act by a programme for 2500 emergency dwellings. One of those projects, notably that of Stativet och Tumstocken area was assigned to Asplund. Despite the economic pressures, he built housing of high architectural quality. The emergency housing programme was a starting point for a growing concern about contemporary housing conditions. In 1917, the ‘Home Exhibition’ in Stockholm showcased reduced-size dwellings at actual scale in search of better alternatives. Asplund's widely acclaimed contribution remains a significant part of Swedish architectural history. Subsequently, the 1930 Stockholm exhibition became a symbolic start for a new housing policy that would be implemented after the WWII. Today Asplund is a world-famous architect known for his great public projects and the 1930 exhibition, but the almost unparalleled project of Stativet och Tumstocken illustrates the strength of his social engagement even in the smallest and most unpretentious buildings.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/02665433.2025.2450040

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