ABSTRACT
Sweden is a country large in area and small in population, located on the northern fringe of Europe. Urbanization in Sweden emerged in the mid-19th century. That was when the degree of urbanization began to continually grow, as a result of the expansion of the manufacturing sector combined with a continuing increase in the birth-rate of city dwellers. The pace of urbanization dropped significantly during the 1970s, when the population of built-up areas grew by only 4.4 per cent, a figure that can be compared with an increase of 15.4 per cent during the 1960s. At this time, the form of urban development also changed; the growth of metropolises was replaced by an increase in suburban areas around the cities. Local autonomy is one of the cornerstones of Swedish polity. In 1994 the Swedish government commissioned a second investigation to work on living conditions in metropolitan areas.
