Sadly, my blogging has taken a back seat on my priority list this last year and a half as I was working like crazy on a separate research project with a colleague…but now I’m back!
Planning in the mid to late 19th century in Stockholm was highly contentious. As my posts about the plans for the areas of Östermalm, Norrmalm, and Kungsholmen show, plans could literally take decades to get approved. And by the time the plans were approved, they were often quite watered-down versions of the original vision. While the visionary Lindhagen unfailingly fought back against the value-engineering cuts made by the more practical, cost-conscious city council and city engineers and won some important concessions, many of his more elegant ideas were lost.
In contrast, the planning process for the Island of Södermalm went remarkably smoothly. One theory is that perhaps the parties involved were tired and just wanted to finally finish the decades-long project of creating formal plans for all the various neighborhoods of Stockholm. That is probably true at least in part, but my theory is that there wasn’t actually much in the plan to argue about. In contrast to Lindhagen’s proposals for other city neighborhoods, his initial plan for Södermalm doesn’t call for a lot of change, for fancy Baroque-inspired squares or circulation places, for many wide boulevards or avenues, or for diagonal boulevards cutting through the urban fabric. Aside from the swooping Ringvägen, a curving boulevard swinging through the almost entirely undeveloped area of southern Södermalm, the plan called for very few extravagances to argue about.
Geography
Even more so than Kungsholmen, Södermalm’s geography is a challenge for planners. Especially the north and east shores facing toward the city consist of tall, vertical cliffs of granite. These height differences have always been difficult to manage, both on foot and for horses, and for this reason, Södermalm was always Stockholm’s poorest neighborhood. Most people with means chose to live in other neighborhoods with easier access.
Once up on Södermalm’s high plateau, the geography isn’t as dramatic. There are of course some higher areas (such as the Hornsgatspuckeln, or Horn Street Hump) and some lower areas (such as the Fatburen bog where the Southern railroad station was built), but most of the middle of the island is compatible with a consistent, rectilinear street grid.
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| The Hornsgatspuckeln or Horn Street Hump and Fatburen which used to be a bog |
Södermalm nearly touches the Old Town island of Gamla Stan at Slussen which consists of a shipping lock between Lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. Different versions of the lock have been in place since the 1600’s, and bridges over the lock have historically been the only physical connection between Södermalm and the rest of the city. Boat traffic connecting Söder to other parts of the city has always been another key link. Just to the southeast of Slussen is Stadsgården, a historic shipping harbor. The island’s southeast shore was once dominated by various industries along the Hammarby Sjö Lake.
While Södermalm hadn’t been “wilderness” for centuries, only a portion of the island nearest the city center was a developed urban environment when the island was first planned in the mid-1800’s. Farms and small industries dominated most of the rest of the island’s landscape, and the city’s poorest residents lived in squatters’ shacks along the island’s highest ridges and points.
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| Some of the worker's housing from the 1700's remains today |
These geographic realities strongly influenced the Plan for Södermalm.
The Lindhagen Plan of 1866
Lindhagen’s Plan from 1866 was the basis for Södermalm’s city plan, though several key ideas such as the swooping Ringvägen boulevard had actually been “borrowed” from earlier proposals including Wallström and Rudberg’s 1864 General Plan for Stockholm.
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| Lindhagen's 1866 Plan for Södermalm (*) |
Lindhagen’s plans for Stockholm had two key features which were unique in Europe: boulevards connecting the city’s bodies of water and green spaces as well as parks on the city’s highest, unbuildable granite bulbs. These features are also prominent in his plan for Södermalm.
The most recognizable feature of Lindhagen’s 1866 plan was the boulevard Ringvägen which was to swoop from the freshwater quay at Skinnarviksberget to the saltwater quay at Tegelviken. This boulevard was to have allées and green terraces.
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| Lindhagen's proposal for the Ringvägen boulevard. Red was built, orange was not. (*) |
Another main street was to connect the saltwater and freshwater sides of the island from Tegelviken to Årstaviken, passing by the Southern railroad station in the middle of the island. This corresponds to today’s Folkungagatan, though the western half of this avenue was never built.
Götgatan and Hornsgatan have historically been Södermalm’s main north-south and east-west thoroughfares. Lindhagen proposed that these thoroughfares should be widened, meaning that all buildings on one side of the streets would have to be demolished.
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| Lindhagen's proposal for Folkungagatan, Hornsgatan, and Götgatan. Red was built, orange was not. (*) |
Mariatorget (Maria Square) was to also receive a direct link to the water at Årstaviken. This new street cut through existing dense development and corresponds to today’s Swedenborgsgatan, though it stops at Ringvägen and does not reach the water. In fact, many of the streets in Lindhagen’s plan do not reach the water today. Like Kungsholmen, geographic realities meant that streets couldn’t easily navigate the height differences which are so easy to ignore on flat paper.
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| Lindhagen's proposal for Swedenborgsgatan. Red was built, orange was not. (*) |
It is interesting that aside from the arcing Ringvägen, the wide, diagonal boulevards cutting across the urban fabric that dominate Lindhagen’s plans for Östermalm, Norrmalm, and Kungsholmen are non-existent in his plan for Södermalm. The proposed new thoroughfares conform to the street grid and are not even noticeably wide. Why did Lindhagen leave this dominating feature out of his plan for Södermalm? Did the traditionally poor area not merit extravagant planning? The absence of diagonal boulevards is extra interesting because Lindhagen himself lived on Södermalm—wouldn’t he have wanted one of his beloved boulevards in his own neighborhood? Or did he think that the unusual Ringvägen was enough to enliven the otherwise regular street grid?
Södermalm features a number of high, hard to build upon granite bulbs. These bulbs roughly ring the island along its shoreline. Lindhagen’s plan designated all of these high points as parks including Mosebacken, Erstaberget, Åsöberget, Fåfängen, Vitaberget, Stadens Bergplats (Södra Sjukhuset Hospital today), Tanto, Högalid, Skinnarviksberget, and Mariaberget. (Knowing that berg = mountain and that hög = high gives a good feeling for what these place names mean!)
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| Lindhagen's proposed parks. Red became parks, orange did not. (*) |
In between boulevards and high parks, the island’s existing rectilinear street grid was to continue marching across the island, developing the majority of the island into city blocks.
Lindhagen specified that a food market should be built at the Southern railroad station and that a new parish church should be built on the Helgalunden granite bulb. Other institutions such as schools, museums, or government buildings were completely unaddressed in the plan.
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| Lindhagen's proposal for civic functions which were limited to one new church and one new market. These were built as planned. The blue churches already existed when Lindhagen did his planning work.Lindhagen's proposed parks. (*) |
Unlike the other plans, Lindhagen made several specific concessions to encourage and concentrate industrial activity on Södermalm’s shores. The plan called for long, smoothed out, and blasted/filled in quaysides with long, sweeping waterside streets almost completely ringing the island. For example, the existing Stadsgården harbor was to be made larger by blasting into the granite cliffs and filling out the shoreline. The historically industrial shoreline along Hammarby Sjö Lake was specifically designated as an industrial area. This is the first hint of formal use zoning in Stockholm’s planning history that I am aware of.
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| Lindhagen's proposal for stone quaysides. The red ones were built, the orange ones were not. (*) |
The City Council’s Plan from 1878
As with the other areas of Stockholm, it took a decade for the city to move from Lindhagen’s plan to action, and it wasn’t until 1878 that the city council dusted off the plan and revised it. Unlike the previous areas, Lindhagen did not provide the city with a revised plan, and the city had very few revisions of its own to propose. Most everything from Lindhagen’s plan remained: the swooping Ringvägen, the new saltwater to freshwater thoroughfares, the widened quays, the shoreline streets, the high parks, the continuation of the rectilinear street grid, and the concentration of industry to Hammarby Sjö Lake all remained in the city council’s plan with a few changes.
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| The city council's counter-proposal of 1878 (*) |
The most significant change to the Plan for Södermalm was the addition of two tunnels starting at the water’s edge, boring through the granite cliffs, and topping out on Söder’s plateau. These tunnels would create an even, gentle grade between the water and the plateau, making transportation of people and goods to the interior of the island much easier. One tunnel was to go directly from the harbor at Stadsgården to the Southern railroad station at Södra Bantorget. The other tunnel was to start from the Söder Mälarstrand boulevard along the island’s northern shore and connect to the existing Timmermansgatan street. This second tunnel had already been proposed in 1864 by Wallström and Rudberg.
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| The city council's proposal for tunnels to navigate difficult terrain. These were not built. (*) |
A third new access road up from the water to the plateau was proposed, this as time a winding street instead of a tunnel. This street was to start at the lock and bridge at Slussen and wind up the cliff to connect to existing streets up on the plateau. This new street would break through existing densely developed neighborhoods. The exact placement has changed, but this proposed street roughly equates to today’s Katarinavägen.
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| The city council's proposal for Katarinavägen with access from the water's edge up onto the plateau. (*) |
Several of the streets that according to Lindhagen’s plan would connect to the water on the island’s southern shore were to instead stop short of the water. A park, Eriksdal, would occupy the cliff face where streets would have difficulty navigating the terrain.
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| The city council's proposal for a park at Eriksdal where the topography is too steep for streets to connect down to the water. (*) |
In the city council’s plan, the widening of the Götgatan and Hornsgatan thoroughfares would be limited to unbuilt portions of the streets. Already developed portions would retain their narrow, medieval atmosphere.
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| The city council's proposal for the widening of Götgatan and Hornsgatan. (*) |
Instead of tree-lined alleés, the council proposed green setbacks along Ringvägen’s length. The council’s plan also included a slightly different, less perfectly round arc better suited to the terrain.
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| The city council's proposal for the Ringvägen boulevard. The red section was built, the orange section was not. |
As had been the case for the other areas of the city, the city council’s plan for Södermalm retained Lindhagen’s parks, but they were to be much smaller. However, the council proposed that the existing square at Nytorget be widened to triple its size, a rare instance of the council wishing to expand a non-buildable urban amenity.
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| The city council's proposal for parks and the expanded square at Nytoret. The blue square already existed, the orange expansion did not get built. |
In addition to widening quays to benefit shipping and industrial activity, the city council also proposed that a railroad spur be built from the Southern Station to Hammarby Sjö Lake. At the lake’s edge, the railroad would split with one branch following the industrial shore west to Skanstull and the other branch following the industrial shore to the east around Barnängen to Tegelviken and the Stadsgården harbor.
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| The city council's proposal for stone quays. The red were built, the orange were not. The yellow area is the designated industrial zone. (*) |
I find this railroad spur interesting and ironic. The city council and city engineers were generally against diagonal boulevards because they were considered expensive and extravagant. But when a diagonal railroad spur would benefit shipping, industry, and commerce, they were the first to propose it!
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| The city council's proposal for railroad spurs connecting to the southern train station. The tracks along the water were built, but they connected to the train line at Stadsgården instead. The diagonal street was built as planned, but it was never used for the railroad as planned. (*) |
The council’s plan features several traffic circles that weren’t in Lindhagen’s plan. In the 1800's and before the advent of the car, roundabouts were more of a grand urban gesture than a traffic calming device. This addition is interesting because in plans for Östermalm, Norrmalm, and Kungsholmen, the city council usually tried to value engineer out such “extravagances,” while on Södermalm the city was adding them in. The council even broke up the park at Vitabergsparken into several sections divided by roads and with a roundabout in the middle of the park.
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| The city council's propsals for traffic circles including one in the middle of the park at Vitabergsparken. The roundabouts were never built. |
1879 Plan and Vote
There really wasn’t a lot of debate surrounding this plan. There was discussion about possibly widening the tunnels. The new winding street up from Slussen to the plateau was deemed “probably useful” but too complicated to include in the plan. The need to widen the square at Nytorget was debated. But basically, everyone, including Lindhagen, was in agreement.
A slightly revised plan without the winding street up from Slussen and without the widening of Nytorget was drawn up and voted upon in 1879. This plan was approved with very little dissent or debate.
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| The approved plan of 1879 (*) |
Royal Seal of Approval 1880
The King gave the plan his royal seal of approval in 1880, but he did veto the expensive tunnels, deciding that they could be added back in in the future if needed. Work for one of the tunnels had already been started and can be seen at Bjorns trädgård. The tunnels were never built as envisioned, but today’s subway line follows the proposed tunnel route up from Slussen.
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| This restaurant at Björns Trädgård is built into a the tunnel. |
Södermalm Today
Södermalm was developed much as the 1879 plan stipulated, though there have been a number of new ideas adding layers of history to the island’s landscape.
As with Kungsholmen, the realities of topography have been one of the main drivers of change. Most importantly, while Ringvägen does swoop starting at the freshwater shore of Söder Mälarstrand, it does not connect to the saltwater at Tegelviken. Instead, it ends at the high, green Vitabergsparken before turning onto another thoroughfare (Renstiernas gata). In the end, Ringvägen was built as a tree-lined boulevard instead of with green setbacks, though it does follow the slightly less rounded shape according to the council’s proposal.
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| The Ringvägen boulevard |
Many other streets which were to connect to the water, especially at the island’s southern shore, were stopped at Ringvägen instead of continuing down the cliff face to the water’s edge. Folkungagatan does not shoot across the entire island and only the eastern half of the thoroughfare was built. Swedenborgsgatan cutting south from Mariatorget was built (and is one of my favorite streets in Stockholm!), but it stops at Ringvägen and does not reach the water.
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| Swedenborgsgatan |
Götgatan was widened, but only the southern undeveloped half of the street. Today, the wider, southern half has quite a lot of car traffic, but the narrow, northern half is a pedestrian-only shopping street.
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| The older and the newer sections of Götgatan have entirely different scales. |
Hornsgatan was also widened, resulting in the strange Hornsgatspuckeln or Horn Street Hump where the original, narrow street is on one level and the new, widened street has been dynamited into the granite to create more reasonable street slopes.
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| Hornsgatspuckeln or Horn Street Hump |
It turns out that the tunnels were never needed (except much later for the subway system), but the winding access road from the water at Slussen up to the plateau ended up getting added to the plan in 1890. Today, Katarinavägen is one of the few drivable routes up to the interior of the island from the cliff side of the island and is especially appreciated today as one of Stockholm’s best scenic overlooks.
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| Katarinavägen from the water, and the view from Katarinavägen. |
Most, but not all of Lindhagen’s planned parks were realized. Mosebacken is a green square but not a park per se.
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| Mosebacketorg or Mosebacke Square |
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| Stadens Bergplats has become the Södersjukhuset hospital instead of a park |
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| Worker's housing from the 1700's at Åsöberget |
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| Fåfängen from the island and from the water. |
Both Vitaberget and Högalid are parks, but they received new parish churches at their high points.
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| Churches in the parks at Vitaberg and Högalid. |
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| The church at Helgalunden in the neighborhood's leafy central square. |
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| Tantolunden |
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| Skinarviksberget |
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| Monteliusvägen |
Just like Lindhagen planned, Södermalm is mostly covered by a consistent rectilinear grid in between the high parks and the arcing Ringvägen. There are a number of smaller exceptions where the grid has been broken in more modern areas of development, but these exceptions are less dominant than in Vasastan or on Kungsholmen and tend to blend into the overall urban fabric.
True to Lindhagen’s original intention, there is still a food market at the former Södra Bantorget, though today’s market hall is a much more modern version.
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| The modern Söderhallarna food market. |
As planned, much, though not all, of Södermalm’s shorelines has been smoothed out, blasted out, and filled in to create gently curving, wide quays and waterside roads.
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| Roads on filled-in and blasted quaysides at Stadsgården and Söder Mälarstrand. |
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| Park along the water at Årstaviken. |
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| 80's and 90's development along the shore of Hammarby Sjö Lake. |
Even though the railroad has long disappeared from the surface of Södermalm and is now buried in tunnels, traces of the railroad spurs are still visible. Railroad tracks were incorporated into the paving at Norra Hammarbyhamnen (North Hammarby Harbor) when the area was revitalized from industrial sheds to modern apartments in the 1980’s and 90’s.
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| Railroad tracks as an urban memory of an industrial past at Norra Hammarbyhamnen. |
But the most poetic remnant of the railroad spurs is Katarina Bangata (Katarina Track Street), a diagonal street with central greenspace that cuts through the otherwise orthogonal urban fabric. Originally, the spur to the harbor at Hammarbyhamnen was supposed to cut across the island from Södra Station (the Southern Railroad Station) to the water. Land was reserved for this spur and a street was built along this diagonal, but railroad tracks were never laid here. Instead, the Hammarbyhamnen harbor was reached by rail from Stadsgården with a tunnel under Fåfängen. The quasi-industrial remnant of Katarina Bangata is one of Stockholm’s prettiest streets and most popular addresses today.
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| Katarina Bangata was created to have a railroad spur in the middle, but the leafy linear park is much nicer! |
Conclusion
Södermalm is a large island with multiple visible layers of urbanity dating back to the 1600’s, and parts of the island are still being redeveloped today. Several neighborhoods date from before the plans of the mid-1800’s and have an almost medieval character, but the majority of the island is a product of the 1879 Plan for Södermalm. However, several pockets were developed considerably later, and each of these pockets has its own character reflecting the then in-vogue planning ideals.
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| "Regular" streets on Södermalm. |
Because it was historically the poorest area of town, not all areas of Södermalm were developed according to the plans. Instead, some areas of historic workers’ housing were never rebuilt, and these areas are some of the city’s most atmospheric and unique neighborhoods today. Its poverty has also historically flavored Söder as Stockholm’s bohemian and proletariat district, though that designation has been more recently replaced by the hipster vibe. It is slightly, slightly cheaper to buy an apartment on Södermalm than in Östermalm or Vasastan, but you still need to be quite financially secure in order to afford an apartment here. It has been a few decades now since Södermalm was a “working-class” area.
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| Old meets newer where worker's housing from the 1700's meets areas built according the plan of 1879. |
Södermalm’s dramatic heights make for some of Stockholm’s best arial viewpoints. Lindhagen’s idea to give these heights to the people in the form of green parks was genius, and these parks are still Söder-residents’ backyards and summer living rooms. These parks are one of the most successful aspects of Lindhagen’s plan.
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| Vitabergsparken, a summer livingroom. |
Like many of Lindhagen’s other boulevards, Ringvägen is too heavily trafficked to be a lovely place to hang out. Even so, the boulevard’s trees and green strips make the traffic artery into a beautiful urban space.
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| Ringvägen, a tree-lined but heavily trafficed boulevard. |
As I have previously noted with the other plans for Kungsholmen, Vasastan, and Östermalm, the mostly-orthogonal Lindhagen plan for Södermalm provides a very pleasant urban backdrop without a lot of surprises or monumentality. Much of the island obeys the rules and doesn’t stick out, so when later developments break the orthogonal pattern, they are dramatic interruptions that catch the eye and attention. Like most of central Stockholm, Södermalm has a lovely balance of background tones contrasting with distinctive melody.
Sources
Gösta Selling, Esplanadsystemet och Albert Lindhagen: Stadsplanering i Stockholm åren 1857-1887 (1970)
Images
All images are my own except for
* Gösta Selling, Esplanadsystemet och Albert Lindhagen: Stadsplanering i Stockholm åren 1857-1887 (1970)
