ABSTRACT
The Swedes are not urbanites but for the most part only first- or second-generation city dwellers, and even young people find cities a hostile climate. In the experience of Gosta Carlestam and Lennart Levi, two Swedish authorities on urban environment and stress, various reactions of dissatisfaction and annoyance or even disease may be provoked even in the presence of environmental conditions that would be characterized by the majority of a population as being most favorable and pleasant. The state-supported housing program achieved an annual building rate twice the average for the European members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and public control made possible highly coordinated planning for urban expansion. Karin Ahrland, Liberal MP and Chairperson of the Equality Committee, attributes the reluctance to the fact that although there are politicians in every party who favor collective housing, there are not enough of them on the Stockholm City Council: "Every man wants his Mom's meat balls."
