Here There Be Dragons

My city of New York is known more for it’s skyline than its outdoor offering. But in Stockholm, nature seemed to appear out of nowhere, intertwined within the city fabric. Even neighborhoods constantly labeled “dangerous” have pretty stunning views. How has Stockholm grown, and keeps growing, with natural spaces in mind ?

Twitter/Instagram: @dragons_podcast

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Check out Melissa Pons' Swedish Forest Textures: https://melissapons.bandcamp.com/album/swedish-forest-textures

The subway can tell you a lot about the geography of a city. Who gets off where and why? But at the central station all those wires get crossed and people are there for all types of reasons to work, to shop, to hustle, to hand out, to protest, to get out as fast as possible.

So T-Centalen ticks a lot of factors on the Stockholm spectrum between fear and security. 1) Crowded and 2) Unpredictable and 3) Controlled.

We’ll be navigating all three of these as we do the unimaginable, take our time in T-Centralen.

Twitter/Instagram: @dragons_podcast

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In a country known for both pragmatic protestantism and Absolut Vodka, you can imagine there is some anxiety around alcohol, that swings between enjoyment and control. A spectrum of emotion that simmers in the background of Stockholm’s night life. So episode we’ll be talking about the party, the club, the bar, the night life of the city.

Twitter/Instagram: @dragons_podcast

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Families are a common political battle ground. What’s good or bad for families is a regular explanation for everything from censorship to over-policing to immigration intolerance. So if families are so worth providing for and so worth protecting, what exactly are they afraid of? What do kids and parents feel they need to be safe in the city? This episode we’ll be discussing how parents and kids navigate the city. What’s working for them and what really isn’t.

Twitter/Instagram: @dragons_podcast

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Knowing the rules and being able to navigate them can be a big part of feeling safe in the city. Whether newly arrived or born and bred, we’ll hear from Stockholmers trying to figure out the norms, how to use them, and how to change them. Will they have to bend to Stockholm or will Stockholm bend to them?

Twitter/Instagram: @dragons_podcast

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We are taking a small break from our regularly scheduled programming to give listeners a little taste of the mini episodes that Patreon subscribers receive every other week. That's right, for subscribers Here There Be Dragons is a weekly podcast.

Support us at: https://www.patreon.com/htbdpodcast

You might remember that in episode 2, The Malms, we interviewed a Swedish-Chilean woman, Paulina Torres. If you haven’t listened to that episode, you might want to go and listen to it.

Paulina told us about a traumatizing experience she had when she was about 16 or 17, in 1996. She was in the metro with her mother and grandfather when they got attacked by a mob of neo-nazis.

Her story made it all the way to public radio. A well-known Swedish reporter Bosse Lindquist got in touch with Paulina. Together they tried to get answers from the police who just would not follow up on Paulina’s complaint.

Today on the mini, we talk with Bosse Lindquist about what happened to Paulina in 1996 and more generally about the rise of neo-nazism in Sweden in the 1990s.

Last episode, we learned about a few key concepts. The design and planning of the Million Program. The increase of working class immigrants in Swedish cities. And the privatization of public housing. These conditions all woven together created a situation where urban immigrant families were stuck living on Stockholm’s periphery, in housing that was aging and coming apart.

We’re going to pick up where we left off, exploring how buildings became ideas.

The more we poked around the edges of what Stockholmers meant when they talked about the separation in their cities, we realized people were talking about many different things. Because segregation comes in many forms. Racial segregation is often the most obvious. But there is also class segregation, segregation by citizenship, by social status, by family size, by age. And the way these forms of separation impact you also influences which forms of separation you are able to perceive.

This episode we will be exploring Stockholm's separations and where they came from.

Housing is one of the hairiest urban planning questions. You have to get the balance absolutely perfect. If you build too much the cost of upkeep will bankrupt the state. But if you build too little, you’ll have a human crisis on your hands in no time.

Sweden is a case study of this teeter totter, constantly chasing that perfect balance. And the right way to get it is always up for debate.

Twitter/Instagram: @dragons_podcast

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Also check out the music of Kristofer Svensson xkatedral.bandcamp.com/track/ir-himinn-gr-nn and Slackerist movecutclone.bandcamp.com/track/slacke…other-places.

No matter how neighborhoods change, old meanings and power structures remain. This episode, we explore how the power and wealth wielded in the neighborhoods of Södermalm, Östermalm, and Gamla Stan, impact city residents today.

Check out Ellen Arkbo's music: https://ellenarkbro.bandcamp.com/album/for-organ-and-brass

Twitter/Instagram: @dragons_podcast

Sign up for our newsletter: www.htbdpodcast.com

Record a question or comment for us and send to: [email protected].