ABC is a concept in Swedish town planning, said to have been minted by Stockholm city planner Sven Markelius around 1952. ABC refers to the approach of building a suburb where modern families have easy access to work, dwelling and services, such as shops. A stands for ‘arbete’ (work), B stands for ‘bostad’ (accommodation) and C stands for ‘centrum’ (center for services and shops).
ABC city planning was introduced mid 1950’s and it expanded suburban Stockholm to the north and south. This growth was spurred on by the influx of people to the capital after the Second World War, and the severe shortage of accommodation.
In the original development plan from 1952, Markelius suggests that blocks of flats should be constructed within 450m of the centre, small houses should be built within 900m of the centre and light industry 600m from the centre. Everything should be built compactly in order to facilitate daily life for its 16000 residents. An underground system would connect the ABC suburb to the rest of the city and Stockholm’s downtown.
If you’d like to visit an ABC suburb, the two that are mostly still in tact are Vällingby to the north of Stockholm, and Farsta to the south.
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