Abstract
In the 1960s and the early 1970s a lively discussion took place in Sweden about the role of the metropolitan areas in the urbanization process. The debate disclosed our limited knowledge of the spatial anatomy of urban Sweden; it became obvious that a better understanding of the pattern of population change in both metropolitan and in non-metropolitan areas was needed. This dissertation aims at a wider basic knowledge of the changes in the urban population distribution of contemporary Sweden. The inquiry is confined to the period 1960-1970. Because of the unequivocal urban place definition in use since 1960, conditions have never been more suitable for unbiased population comparisons of individual places between censuses. Since the prime interest lies in changes in residential pattern, the emphasis is on the study of agglomerations as places of residence rather than places of work. Both inter-regional changes and the relative location of urban places are discussed. A large section provides a background and a conceptual framework for the detailed analysis of the urban pattern in the sixties. This part of the book involves an appraisal of the extent to which various interpretations of the urban concept are reflected in the current Swedish urban statistics. It also involves a discussion of the operationalization of the concept and the development of urban place statistics in Sweden. Finally, it involves an outline of earlier urban development. This dissertation challenges the notion of a concentration of population to the metropolitan regions (which strongly influenced regional planning and policy in the 1960s) and discerns the beginning of a population dipersal towards smaller urban places.