Swedish Urban Dimensions in the 1970's

ABSTRACT

The major part of this paper deals with urban places in Sweden with more than 10,000 inhabitants in 1975. This set of places is described in terms of six major latent dimensions, the three most important of which refer to systemwide variations in demographic composition, housing, growth trends and position in the urban system, while the remaining three dimensions reflect functional specialization within the tertiary sector. A complementary analysis of smaller urban places yielded very similar results, indicating considerable structural homogeneity within major parts of the urban system. A comparison of latent structure in 1965 and 1975, respectively, revealed broad similarities, but a different ordering of major dimensions, due primarily to the impact of differentiated growth and a major shift in the proportions of different types of dwellings in the production of new housing.