Swedish Housing Research Articles

Natural amenities in urban space – A geographically weighted regression approach

Natural amenities play an important role in explaining intra-regional economic growth, because they increase the competition between places and the relative demand for housing. This paper shows that these relationships are strongly location-specific, such that the magnitude and the direction, of value assessments vary across the urban surface. The analysis in this study addresses spatial heterogeneity in the valuations of preserved open space amenities using Swedish house price data. The results show that marginal valuations of open space amenities are high in locations that are characterised by high population and housing densities and low or insignificant in areas where undeveloped lands are abundant, thus, supporting the hypothesis that a greater competition for those, locational attributes that are in high demand, yet locally scarce, results in higher marginal prices.

Environmental barriers, person-environment fit and mortality among community-dwelling very old people

BackgroundEnvironmental barriers are associated with disability-related outcomes in older people but little is known of the effect of environmental barriers on mortality. The aim of this study was to examine whether objectively measured barriers in the outdoor, entrance and indoor environments are associated with mortality among community-dwelling 80- to 89-year-old single-living people.MethodsThis longitudinal study is based on a sample of 397 people who were single-living in ordinary housing in Sweden. Participants were interviewed during 2002–2003, and 393 were followed up for mortality until May 15, 2012.Environmental barriers and functional limitations were assessed with the Housing Enabler instrument, which is intended for objective assessments of Person-Environment (P-E) fit problems in housing and the immediate outdoor environment. Mortality data were gathered from the public national register. Cox regression models were used for the analyses.ResultsA total of 264 (67%) participants died during follow-up. Functional limitations increased mortality risk. Among the specific environmental barriers that generate the most P-E fit problems, lack of handrails in stairs at entrances was associated with the highest mortality risk (adjusted RR 1.55, 95% CI 1.14-2.10), whereas the total number of environmental barriers at entrances and outdoors was not associated with mortality. A higher number of environmental barriers indoors showed a slight protective effect against mortality even after adjustment for functional limitations (RR 0.98, 95% CI 0.96-1.00).ConclusionSpecific environmental problems may increase mortality risk among very-old single-living people. However, the association may be confounded by individuals’ health status which is difficult to fully control for. Further studies are called for.

Indoor air quality in the Swedish housing stock and its dependence on building characteristics

Data from a recent Swedish survey on the status of the housing stock and indoor air quality were placed in the public domain by the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning in 2011. The available parameters included the year of construction, dwelling location, type of ventilation system, temperature, relative humidity, air exchange rate (AER), and concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), formaldehyde and Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) from 157 single-family houses and 148 apartments. The median AER was lower in the single-family houses than in apartments (0.33 h−1 vs. 0.47 h−1). The majority of houses (80%) did not comply with the building code that requires 0.5 air changes per hour. The median concentrations in single-family houses and apartments were 6.0 and 10 μg/m3, respectively, for NO2, 22 and 13 μg/m3 for formaldehyde, and 236 and 143 μg/m3 for TVOC. All of these differences between single-family houses and apartments were statistically significant. The median values for AER and the median values for the concentrations of NO2, formaldehyde and TVOC were similar to those found in other Scandinavian studies. Multivariate linear regression models revealed that air exchange rate was a significant predictor of the concentrations of all three indoor pollutants. While ventilation seemed to be a source of NO2, increased ventilation rate appeared to decrease the indoor concentrations of formaldehyde and TVOC.

Individual metering and charging of heat and hot water in Swedish housing cooperatives

On 14 November 2012 the new EU-directive 2012/27/EU was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. In the directive there is a requirement, among others, for individual consumption meters for heat and hot water to be installed by 31 December 2016 in multi-apartment buildings. Individual consumption meters had earlier been found to create a saving behavior due to the tenants being charged for their own use of heat and hot water. The purpose of this study is to investigate how widespread is the use of individual metering and charging (IMC) of heat and hot water among cooperatively owned multi-apartment buildings in Sweden. An additional purpose is to investigate the level of knowledge of and the attitude to IMC. This has been done through data collection and interviews of board members in randomly selected housing cooperatives, divided into different categories. The result indicates a very low spread and a strong resistance against IMC for heat and hot water. The perception of a low cost-efficiency is probably the most important reason, but also a low level of knowledge about IMC could contribute. The result can give some indication of the work needed to carry out the new EU-directive.

Relocation to ordinary or special housing in very old age: aspects of housing and health

Relocation in very old age is considered to be a major life event and a move could be triggered by many different economic, social, health-related, or environmental reasons. Based on the notion of person-environment (P-E) fit as expressed in the Ecological Theory of Ageing, the aim of this prospective study over 4years was to explore which aspects of housing and health predict relocation to ordinary or special housing among very old people. At baseline, the participants (80-89years old) lived alone in ordinary housing in Sweden (N=384). Data collection at home visits included assessments and observations on aspects of objective and perceived housing as well as on aspects of health. After 4years, 18% (n=70) of the participants had moved, either to ordinary housing (n=24) or to special housing (n=46). Cox regression models showed dependence in cleaning, perceived functional independence, and living in a one-family house to predict moves to ordinary housing. Dependence in cooking, cognitive deficits, and accessibility problems predicted moves to special housing. In conclusion, aspects of housing and health are related to relocation in very old age, but in different patterns for relocation to ordinary housing and special housing, respectively. This kind of knowledge has practical implications for relocation counselling and societal planning targeting very old people.

Are Swedish houses overpriced?

PurposeSwedish house prices have risen rapidly since the mid‐1990s. How can this be explained? Are houses overpriced? In this paper the author tries to answer these questions.Design/methodology/approachThe author estimates an error correction model (ECM), and sees if the model can explain the house price developments.FindingsThe model suggests that increasing household disposable income and falling mortgage rates are the most important factors behind the upswing in prices. There is no evidence of overpricing.Originality/valueCompared to earlier Swedish studies, this study is based on new data and new variables. Furthermore, the estimation period is restricted to the more recent period when Swedish credit markets have been unregulated.

Social engineering and participation in Anglo-Swedish housing 1945–1976: Ralph Erskine's vernacular plan

This article appraises the career of architect Ralph Erskine focusing on the context for his contribution to Swedish and British social housing and planning. Erskine's formative experience during the 1930s and his subsequent transnational career are utilized to explore the mutual influences of planning ideals across national boundaries. The Garden City ideal, Functionalism and the urban village concept are considered for their long-term contribution to his work. In addition, vernacular architecture and participatory planning are explored as influences on the evolution of his community architecture vision by the 1970s. Drawing on evidence from urban developments in Britain and Sweden, the discussion demonstrates that Erskine's cultural transfer of international planning ideals essentialized aspects of British and Swedish historical culture. The article concludes with a discussion of the 1970s and Erskine's role in the redevelopment of Byker in Newcastle upon Tyne. This process was hailed as a pioneer moment in the English community architecture movement. However, this study demonstrates that Erskine should be distinguished from the grassroots activism of the community architecture movement. Rather the discussion emphasizes that his participatory planning was underpinned by a structural tension between social engineering and democratic participation that was generated and reinforced by his transnational career.

A Monstrous Hybrid: The Political Economy of Housing in Early Twenty-first Century Sweden

In the leftist Western political imagination, Sweden continues, for many, to represent a vision of a ‘better’, more egalitarian political-economic model than the neoliberal capitalism that has come to dominate the Anglo-American world in particular; and its housing system is widely regarded as an integral component of this alternative, social-democratic model. The present paper argues that this envisioning of the political economy of Swedish housing is thoroughly outdated. Yet it insists, equally, that the competing envisioning of Swedish housing advanced by prominent scholars within Sweden – of a radically (neo)liberalised domestic housing system – is not accurate either. Rather, Swedish housing in the early twenty-first century constitutes a complex hybrid of legacy regulated elements on the one hand and neoliberalised elements on the other. Recognising this hybridity is essential, the paper submits, to understanding the nature and source of the most pressing issues facing the Swedish housing sector today. The system's hybridity, moreover, is ‘monstrous’ – following Jane Jacobs's coining of the term – in the sense that those issues reveal the pivotal role currently played by the Swedish housing system in the creation, reproduction and intensification of socio-economic inequality.

Influence of residents on energy use in 57 Swedish houses measured during four winter days

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge about energy use in residential buildings. Field measurements were carried out in 57 electrically heated Swedish single-family houses, where the total energy use (i.e. electricity use for space heating, household electricity and electricity use for hot water production), indoor temperatures and water use were recorded during four winter days. Some of the findings were that differences for households’ total energy use of similar houses were large. The characteristics of load curves clearly differ between weekdays and weekend days. The water use differs greatly for the households. This paper is part of a larger project where time use diaries were used in order to further link the energy use to residents’ every day energy related behaviours. To get a better understanding of the energy use in our homes is a prerequisite to be able to both recognise the problems as well as the potentials of reaching energy goals of our society, leading to a decreased impact on the environment from the building sector.

Pinomäen ajat

This article examines a group of Swedish houses in Pinomäki district in Pori built during the reconstruction period which followed the Winter War (1939 – 1940) and the Continuation War (1941 – 1944; Second World War). The purpose of the article is to explore the research work on built cultural environment from the point of view of resident interviews, and it is aimed at discussing the importance of folkloristics and intangible cultural heritage in the fieldwork concerned with built environment. The folkloristic approach has not traditionally been combined with cultural heritage research. However, in this article the starting point is that especially in building inventories, which are compiled for the purpose of acting as background reports for zoning, the folkloristic perspectives are related to space through the narrative elements therein. As part of the building inventories, resident interviews are conducted, in which the residents inform the researcher about modifications and repairs made in the building. When buildings are described, they do not appear as a separate physical phenomenon, but various life events are integrated into the stories. Based on these stories, the researchers focus on picking out information that is related to living and building use. Through this information, concrete connections can be found to the area and to the historical events which have shaped it. The stories told by residents are especially essential in cases where no other information is available on the area. When it comes to the reconstruction period, the importance of intangible cultural heritage as well as the stories told by the residents are significant, because the residential areas are rather similar to each other in appearance and their interpretation methods have become stereotypical. The present and former residents of Pinomäki district in Pori provided a significant amount of new information about the construction and the occupation of the area, which has not been written down before. Thus it is important to increasingly evaluate the significance of building inventories and to aim at developing a method to comprehend more widely the crucial role that the intangible cultural heritage has in cultural environmental processes.

Lifecycle primary energy analysis of conventional and passive houses

In this study we analyse the primary energy implications of thermal envelope designs and construction systems, for a 4-storey apartment building, including the full lifecycle phases and the entire energy chains. We maintain the architectural design of the reference building, and alter the thermal properties of the envelope components and include heat recovery of ventilation air to achieve buildings with thermal properties similar to three existing passive houses in Sweden. We also vary the building frame material from the reference wood case to reinforced concrete, and vary the heat supply system between district heating and electric resistance heating. We follow the lifecycle of the buildings and analyse and compare their lifecycle primary energy use, considering the production, operation and end-of-life energy uses. The results show that the lifecycle primary energy use of a passive house building is substantially lower when it is heated with district heating instead of electricity. A passive house with...

The adoption of ICT in project‐based and traditional organizations

Purpose – This research aims to investigate the adoption of electronic communication tools and seeks to shed more light on their diffusion process, a challenging task for project‐based (PBO) and traditional business organizations (TBO).Design/methodology/approach – The data for the study were collected through three surveys, one total population survey in the Finnish and Swedish house building industries representing traditional business organizations, together with a focused and a total population survey in project‐based organizations.Findings – The main findings from the survey indicate a difference in attitude between the employees of TBOs and PBOs. Moreover, electronic document management and scheduling were more prominent among PBOs, because these firms exhibit more inter‐organizational communication.Research limitations/implications – The findings are limited to project‐based and traditional business organizations. The research emphasises the fact that PBOs make more inter‐firm collaboration efforts...

Home and Where the Heart Is: Marriage Timing and Joint Home Purchase

This article evaluates the relationship between the timing of marriage and the purchase of a jointly owned home among Swedish cohabiting couples. Data for this analysis come from the Swedish Housing and Life Course Cohort Study (N = 1,596 couples; 2,006 cohabiting spells). The author develops models to proxy for simultaneity and intentions and test hypotheses about positive and negative and long- and short-run relationships between the two life-course events. The author uses a novel modeling approach, allowing for differences in the risk before, concurrently and after the conditioning event. Results indicate a positive relationship between marriage and joint home purchase and suggest the possibility of an ordering of events: For some couples, formalizing their union through marriage may be a prerequisite for a joint home purchase.

Mieszkalnictwo w Szwecji

The article presents a condition of the housing in Sweden in 2007 as well as in retrospection. Considerations of the housing development, conditions in the housing construction, reserves and housing conditions as well as expenditures for dwellings are discussed in the article. The author presents also a comparison of measures characterizing housings in Poland and Sweden.

Malnutrition and cognitive impairment among people 60 years of age and above living in regular housing and in special housing in Sweden: A population-based cohort study

Background Malnutrition is a common problem among older people and associated with reduced functional and cognitive ability. Furthermore, malnutrition among people living in special housing, i.e. in nursing homes or sheltered accommodation, appears to be more common than among those living in regular housing, i.e. in their own homes. However, it is still unclear if the relationship between malnutrition and impaired cognitive ability is connected to living arrangement, i.e. if the relationship is stronger among those who live alone compared to those who cohabit in regular housing. Objectives The purpose with the present study was to describe the relationship between nutritional status and cognitive ability among people 60 years of age and above in Sweden, with a focus on housing and living arrangement. Design Population-based cohort study. Setting and participants The study focused on people living in regular or in special housing and comprised 1402 randomly selected individuals (60–96 years of age) who lived in one municipality in south-eastern Sweden and participated in SNAC-B (the Swedish study on Aging and Care – Blekinge), 2001–2003. Methods Data regarding demography, nutrition and functional and cognitive ability were collected through questionnaires, medical examinations and structured interviews. Results The relationship was the strongest between cognitive ability and nutritional status among those living in special housing. Regardless of housing and living arrangement, older people with a moderate or severe cognitive impairment risked (OR 2.59–16.00) being malnourished, irrespective of functional ability. Conclusion This study highlights that those with a moderate and severe cognitive impairment suffer a risk of developing malnutrition, irrespective of living and housing arrangement. The findings suggest that nurses in the social service and health care system need to consider changes in weight and nutritional intake as well as the individual needs of older people with cognitive impairment to avoid malnutrition.

Neoliberalization of Housing in Sweden: Gentrification, Filtering, and Social Polarization

During the last twenty-five years, housing policy in Sweden has radically changed. Once forming a pillar of the comprehensive welfare system, abbreviated the “Swedish model,” neoliberal housing politics have established market-governed housing provision with a minimum of state engagement. This shift has had consequences on the social geography of housing conditions. The research reported here analyzes social geographic change in Sweden's three largest cities—Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö—between 1986 and 2001, relating observed patterns of gentrification and filtering to cycles of accumulation and to neoliberalization of housing policies. First, we outline the neoliberalization of Swedish housing policies. We then present an empirical analysis of gentrification and filtering in the three cities, spanning two boom periods (1986–1991, 1996–2001) and a bust period (1991–1996). The data reveal social geographic polarization manifested in the growth of supergentrification and low-income filtering. The analysis also introduces the concept of ordinary gentrification, supporting the move in gentrification research toward a broad generic conception of the process. Political reforms after 2001 are summarized and we argue that these underlie the continued increase in inequality and that the social geographic polarization mapped between 1986 and 2001 has probably intensified during this decade.

Seniors' Experiences of Congregate Housing in Sweden.

A study of older people's experiences of living in congregate housing units in Sweden found three categories of adaptation to this mode of living: good adaptation (found a new home), intermediate adaptation (having no choice), and poor adaptation (remaining grief ). Support in daily care must be individual depending on the degree of adaptation.

Involving Tenants in Open Space Management: Experiences from Swedish Rental Housing Areas

In Sweden, tenant involvement in open space management has been acknowledged as having great potential to promote amenities and social cohesion in urban neighborhoods. However, no attempts have been made to investigate how common these initiatives are, where they occur, and which forms they take. Therefore, a survey was carried out, encompassing telephone interviews with housing company staff and tenants active in involvement processes in the city of Göteborg, Sweden, covering three-fourths of the city's rental housing stock. Involvement processes were categorized into six different types, based on their level of control and their ranges of management responsibilities. Twenty-eight formalized involvement processes were identified, all occurring in larger public housing companies. A comparative analysis reveals a great variety in physical, demographic, and organizational preconditions, suggesting that the housing company's local area staff have a crucial role to play in the initiation and operation of involvement processes.

Housing and First Births in Sweden, 1972–2005

The aim of this study is to explore to what extent housing (type, tenure and number of rooms) is a constraint for first births in Sweden 1972–2005. The Swedish Housing and Life Course Cohort Study (HOLK) (n = 2242) is used. The occurrence of childbearing is measured as the event of the birth itself and the time 16 months prior to the birth, i.e. initiation of conception. The main finding is that the size of the dwelling seems to be the housing factor with the strongest association with first-birth intensities. Furthermore, an association between being established on the housing market and the propensity to have a first child is found particularly for the cohort born in 1974. The effect of housing on childbearing seems to be stronger if measured to capture time of any first birth than if measured so as to coincide with the situation 16 months prior to the birth.

Building a new supply chain position: an exploratory study of companies in the timber housing industry

Innovation is an important source of growth for many companies. It is also challenging, as it may require that the companies build a new position in the supply chain. The literature is devoid of analysis of different ways to build such positions in the construction industry. The purpose here is to explore the challenges involved in implementing innovations that require companies to establish new positions in a construction supply chain. Three in‐depth case studies in the Swedish timber housing industry illustrate different challenges that arise with the different modes of repositioning of organic growth, collaboration and acquisition, and with moving either backward or forward in the supply chain. Organic growth is a slow process that prevents companies from taking a first‐mover advantage. Acquisitions can involve difficulties with exploiting acquired competences. Collaboration brings the risks of diversity of interests and transient solutions. Furthermore, and as shown in the cases studied, challenges are associated with pre‐existing competencies and relationships, with technology‐oriented companies facing customer‐related difficulties and market‐oriented companies mainly facing ones involving technological solutions. The construction industry’s idiosyncrasies amplify these challenges, as its fragmentation makes it difficult to connect with external companies at new positions. Stronger ties with business partners are likely to enable construction companies to exploit more easily innovations that require repositioning in the supply chain.