Hammarbyhöjden is a

city district A City district is a designated administrative division that is generally managed by a local government. It is used to divide a city into several administrative units. City districts are used in Russia (raion), Pakistan and Croatia ( hr, gradsk ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The district is split across two boroughs: Most of it is located in

Skarpnäck borough Skarpnäck may refer to: * Skarpnäck borough in Stockholm, Sweden *Skarpnäck metro station, a Stockholm metro station * Skarpnäck parish, a Church of Sweden parish in Stockholm, Sweden * Skarpnäcksfältet, a subdistrict in Skarpnäcks Gård dist ...

, the subdistrict Blåsut is located in the

Enskede-Årsta-Vantör borough Enskede-Årsta-Vantör (listen ) is a borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in Söderort, the southern part of Stockholm, Sweden. Overview The districts that make up the borough are Enskedefältet, Enskede Gård, Gamla Enskede, Johanneshov, Stureby, ...

. As of December 31, 2007, Hammarbyhöjden had 8,143 inhabitants. The

Stockholm metro The Stockholm metro ( sv, Stockholms tunnelbana) is a rapid transit system in Stockholm, Sweden. The first line opened in 1950, and today the system has 100 stations in use, of which 47 are underground and 53 above ground. There are three colou ...

station ''Hammarbyhöjden'' is an elevated station opened in 1958.UrbanRail The station is served by the green line 17.

History

Together with

Traneberg Traneberg is a residential district in western Stockholm (Västerort) and part of the Bromma borough. For the 1912 Summer Olympics, Tranebergs Idrottsplats hosted some of the Football at the 1912 Summer Olympics, football competitions. Most of the ...

, a district west of the historical city centre, Hammarbyhöjden was one of the centrally located, hilly terrains bought by the city of Stockholm in 1917. The terrain made it unsuitable for the kind of garden cities built during the 1910s and 1920s. Furthermore, by the early 1930s the city authorities had realised the successful small-scale projects of the past could not solve the ramping shortage of dwellings the city was experiencing. In both these districts the ideals of

Functionalist architecture In architecture, functionalism is the principle that buildings should be designed based solely on their purpose and function. This principle is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern archite ...

— multi-family buildings in a natural scenery — were therefore implemented. A plan for the area was adopted in 1930, featuring 15 metres thick buildings 3–4 stories tall. The early 1930s saw few construction projects realized, and when a builder willing to carry the project out finally appeared, he demanded that the plan should be redrawn in accordance to a proposal by

Ragnar Östberg Ragnar Östberg (14 July 1866 – 5 February 1945) was a Swedish architect who is best known for designing Stockholm City Hall. Biography Östberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden. His parents were Carl Östberg and Erika Kindahl. Between 1884 a ...

— a plan featuring buildings 10 m wide arranged in an unmistakably classicist manner. These negotiations foundered, however, and the city redrew the plans again — now with a programmatically functionalist plan. Construction finally started in 1935, but, due to the stalled negotiations, Hammarbyhöjden lost its pioneering role to Traneberg which had its 1932 city plan quickly realised. Nevertheless, more than 4.000 flats had been built in Hammarbyhöjden by the 1950s, 92 per cent of which were two room-flats with a kitchen or smaller.Andersson, ''Stockholms årsringar'', "Hammarbyhöjden - Smalhus med sociala ambitioner", pp 133-135 Construction was small-scale and artisanal. The three story buildings had only two stairwells, which made them easy to deploy in the uneven terrain, while the flats reaching through the buildings made it easy to orient the buildings in different directions. The heights were used for panoramic views, and the roads were made to follow the terrain. On its completion, the district was described as an "ideal society" and named "The White city" (''Den vita staden''), but its first inhabitants were more sceptical, complaining on inadequate services, high rents, and the long distance to the city centre. Many of those who did move in did, however, end up living their entire lives in Hammarbyhöjden.

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History

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