Houses and gardens in Glasberga Sjöstad : A study on aesthetic ideals, visions and matter of taste

The focus of this study is to examine the aesthetics due to a new residential area, Glasberga Sjöstad, located in the outskirts of Södertälje. During the first construction process in the housing estate, some of the buildings appeared not familiar to the Swedish norm, and they did not fit into the concept Garden City, “trädgårdsstaden”. The main research question is to investigate the aesthetics and planning ideals according to the forming of Glasberga Sjöstad and the study focus on the lack of consistency between the vision and the everyday-reality. Another important starting-point is questions about ethnic segregation and aspects of power relations between a majority and a minority in the society. Former research points at causal factors as socioeconomic imbalances and class-aspects as important to understand the ethnic- and race segregated Swedish society, and the main research question in this study, is to add a focus on the aesthetics as an important aspect and more, to pay attention to the middleclass-citizens. The study is built upon in-depth interviews with residents in Glasberga Sjöstad and analyses of planning documents and aesthetic guidelines due to the construction process. The material shows that the aesthetic guidelines are built upon former ideals and it also shows that the inhabitant of Glasberga pay less attentions to the aesthetics of the houses, than to the social relations with their neighbours. The outcome of this study proposes the aesthetics as an important matter in planning and power practices, and proposes for a more open-minded way to embrace and include cultural diversity.