Stockholm - SLL Tillväxt, miljö och regionplanering (TMR ...

SUMMARY321for regional planning. A growing population demandsmore housing, public transportation, roads, educationalopportunities, health services etc. The StockholmRegion has by far the highest population growth inSweden. During the last 15 years, the county’s populationhas increased by an average of one percent, or around16,000 inhabitants, annually. During these 15 years,the population has increased by around 250,000 residents,or the equivalent of the total number of residentsof the City of Malmö. The population in the county iscurrently around 1.8 million.RUFS 2001 assumes that the population will increaseby between 400,000 and 600,000 residents over thenext 30 years, which means an annual growth of between12,000 and 20,000 residents.Housing ConstructionAlthough the Stockholm Region experienced rapid populationgrowth throughout the 1990s, housing constructionhas been at a very low level. There is currentlya housing shortage in all the municipalities of StockholmCounty. Ethnic and socioeconomic segregationhas increased.Between the years 1990 to 2000, the population ofStockholm County increased by 182,000 while around60,000 new residences were built during the same period.Each year around 1,000 summer cottages areconverted to all-year residences. A major portion of thisconversion, 40%, occurred in Norrtälje and Värmdö.According to RUFS 2001, an estimated 8,000 to 11,000additional residences will needed to be built each yearduring the entire 30-year period. During the next 15years, an additional 9,000 to 12,000 residences will beneeded annually.The housing shortage is a major social problem in theStockholm Region. It is also an obstacle to good economicgrowth. The relatively extensive housing construction,which is needed according to RUFS 2001 andfor which the municipalities are planning, is to a largeextent dependent upon the necessary traffic investmentsbeing made. Furthermore, the state can influencetaxation equalisation, investment incentives, competitionregulations, the rules of the Environmental Codeon environmental quality standards and other legislation,as well as on use of public land. It is the state whichplays a key role in boosting housing construction in theregion and in other growing metropolitan regions.From One Regional Centre to PolycentricityThe Stockholm Region has a dominant central core. Thedensity of settlement, which is greatest in central Stockholm,drops steadily as the distance from the centreincreases. Workplaces, higher education, various culturalactivities, restaurants and entertainment are concentratedin the region’s core.RUFS 2001 attempts to establish additional cores.The aim of this is to relieve the inner city, and to createliving sub-regional cores offering a wide selection ofworkplaces, services and cultural events to increase thediversity of sub-regions. If the region is to become trulyattractive, settlement should be developed so that anumber of areas acquire the character of a “real” city. InRUFS 2001, therefore, increasing the density of the urbanenvironment, and endowing it with the qualities oftraditional European cities, is a guiding principle: density,rich variety, public and green spaces.As preparation for work on RUFS, the theoreticalpoints of departure for work on the structure of the regionwere developed. Rapid growth in the StockholmRegion will require that a large quantity of residentialand commercial buildings be added primarily outside ofthe region’s central core. Part of the new constructionshould be concentrated on the sub-regional cores. If theouter cores are suitably located, a polycentric settlementstructure can provide greater welfare than a regionwhich remains monocentric.