Sweden
Ann Bergsjö
Landscape architecture in Sweden
The dialogue and harmony between landscape
architecture and the natural landscape are explicit
and obvious in Sweden, whether it is shown by
designers taking their inspiration from nature or
by the incorporation of existing natural elements
into a design. The garden or park often appears
as nature refined. The clue, or key word, for
landscape architecture in Sweden could be resist-
ance. This word can be interpreted in terms of the
resistance offered by the natural landscape and
the harsh climate which presents such difficult
growing conditions for vegetation. Second, the
word can be understood in terms of the restrained
forms found in Swedish landscape architecture
itself. Designers must also contend with financial
resistance.
The importation of foreign ideas has a long history
in Sweden. Landscape architecture has developed
over the centuries in close relation to and dialogue
with art and society. Looking back at their prede-
cessors, Swedish landscape architects find monks
and nuns of the Christian monasteries, peasants,
royalty and aristocracy, military figures, garden-
ers, architects, botanists and artist painters. As a
result of the extraordinary conditions presented by
the natural landscape and climate, foreign ideas
have rarely been copied exactly, but often given a
special modification, or interpretation with respect
for the given site. Inspiration for landscape design
has also been drawn from vernacular forms and
old cultivation methods, such as meadows and
pastures.Even in more recent times, when Modernism
appeared around 1930, it was not applied in its
purest form. Outdoor life became a priority, when
architects implemented ideas for better health,
access to light and to greenery. Use became more
important than form. Architects tended to mix the
new with the traditional, as for example in the
famous Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm, the first
park in the world on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
The Swedish landscape is dominated by woodlands
and the forest has been one of the most profound
images in the tradition of landscape architecture.
The enduring belief, shared by many landscape
architects throughout the different eras of archi-
tectural style, has been that the natural landscape
should act as the model for the urban landscape.
The Stockholm School of the 1940s designed mod-
ern parks with a social programme, modern mate-
rials, detailing and management, though mainly
naturalistic and traditional in their visual aspect.
The vegetation consisted mainly of native species
and materials and vernacular references were pre-
ferred. Since the 1970s, many Swedish landscape
architects have been drifting away from this natural-
ism and have adjusted to the more continental and