This photographic mapping takes its point of departure in the Swedish municipal public rental housing, “Allmännyttan”. A cornerstone of Swedish housing provision, with strong connotations to the welfare state.
The concept of Allmännytta does not translate well. It connotates to the public and to the common. Housing for everyone, regardless of where you come from or the size of your wallet.
Such ideas are reflected in the variety of the location, the design, and the characteristics of the houses. And their doorways.
Here, 16 photographs complemented by short stories convey this variation. A visual and social typology of the doors of public housing
What’s with a doorway?
What do you feel when you reach your home doorway?
The sound of the key sliding into the keyhole
Frozen fingers struggling with a malfunctioning keylock
Homecoming. Safety. Warmth.
A sense of belonging
What’s with a doorway?
What do you feel when you reach your home doorway?
The sound of the key sliding into the keyhole
Frozen fingers struggling with a malfunctioning keylock
Homecoming. Safety. Warmth.
A sense of belonging
How do you feel when you close the door behind you?
Ease of getting out in the fresh air, of leaving your cramped apartment
There are people here
Anxiety as the outside world pushes on
Am I my home?
Värnhem
An old man lives here. He’s out to have a smoke outside the 1922 door.
He wishes he had a balcony. But the rent is low.
This is a house where people stay.
Kirseberg
When things go bad. Are we welcome here?
Kungsgatan
There is some kind of shield on the bottom part of the door, perhaps protecting the modern steel door of this 1923 house with a taxable value of 93 million SEK.
There is a smell of Chinese food from the restaurant next door.
Rörsjöstaden
The house in Corten steel was voted “Malmö’s ugliest building” after its construction.
Lugnet
During the renovation of inner-city Malmö in the 1970s, apartment blocks from the 17th century were torn down and replaced by houses like this.
Most of the area was gated to create a sense of community and safety. The public housing estates, however, were not.
Everyone who lives here has a dog.
City
Remnants of a person in a hurry
Sege Park
There is a commotion. People are moving in. Young people. Couples.
Laughing, carrying plants and IKEA art, trying to figure out how to keep the doorways from closing automatically.
The first own home.
Limhamns sjöläge
The houses are tightly packed in one of Malmö’s newest development areas.
Still, the sun hits the wall in the late afternoon.
Östra Fäladen
Keep the green engine running
Rörsjöstaden
Six doors from Rörsjöstaden’s quarters Judith, Lea and Olga from the late 1800s. These might be among the most attractive rental apartments in Malmö.
Värnhem
Murder, she wrote
Potatisåkern
Built in the 1990s by MKB in order to attract more wealthy households. One of the most evident examples of postmodern architecture in Malmö
Västra hamnen
Malmö’s White City. With an ocean view
Värnhemstorget
Pils next door, and a small pipe on the steps.
Solgatan
A bricked solitaire an otherwise plastered façade street
Segevång
The million programme, 1965-1974. This is a door which represents a large bulk of all rental housing and is perhaps what most people associate the Swedish public housing with.
Welcome in, welcome back
Biography
Martin Grander is an associate senior lecturer in Urban Studies at Malmö University and the Director of the interdisciplinary research environment Studies in Housing and Welfare. His research focuses on urban planning and housing provision from a perspective of equality and inequality, with particular attention on the role of housing in shaping present and future living conditions.
Department of Urban Studies, Malmö University