Hovings malmgård - A Cultural Heritage Worth Preserving or Densifying?

Sammanfattning: 1770, Hoving malmgård is a part of Stockholm’s cultural heritage, and the surrounding garden is currently used as a public green space. The current owner of the property, the company Einar Mattsson, proposed in 2021 to build a care facility for the elderly on the southern part of the garden, which would weaken Hovings malmgård’s cultural capital, and reduce urban green spaces in the east of Södermalm.  The purpose of this study is to investigate what different actors want to do with Hovings malmgård and the surrounding garden. In order to put Hovings malmgård in a broader context, the actors’ views on densification, green spaces and cultural heritage is also investigated. The actors are Einar Mattsson, the municipality “Stockholms stad”, the support group “Arbetsgruppen för Hovings Malmgård” as well as the political parties Liberalerna, Socialdemokraterna and Sverigedemokraterna. In order to investigate this, literature studies, document studies and interviews have been carried through.  Einar Mattsson argued that the care facility for the elderly would finance the upkeep of Hovings malmgård and the northern part of the garden. This would have positive effects on green spaces and the cultural heritage in the area. The political parties Socialdemokraterna and Liberalerna had a similar view, although they recognised that cultural capital would be lost. The different units of Stockholms stad had different views on whether the care facility for the elderly should be built or not. “Stadsbyggnadskontoret” supported it, while “kulturförvaltningen” and “Skönhetsrådet” were against it. The support group “Arbetsgruppen för Hovings Malmgård” and the political party Sverigedemokraterna were also against the care facility for the elderly. Arbetsgruppen för Hovings Malmgård wanted to turn Hovings malmgård into a folk museum, while Sverigedemokraterna believed that the important thing was that Hovings malmgård was visually open to the public. The actors whose views on the development of Södermalm aligned with their opinion on the care facility for the elderly, were Arbetsgruppen för Hovings Malmgården, Socialdemokraterna and Sverigedemokraterna. The actor whose views did not align with each other was Liberalerna. An important factor to why some actors approved of the care facility was finances, since it would be very expensive for Stockholms stad to repurchase Hovings malmgård and take over the upkeep. Additionally, Einar Mattsson purchased the property, believing that they would obtain the necessary permits needed to raise new buildings on the property. This has made some actors think that it would be unfair if Einar Mattsson were not to be permitted to build a care facility for the elderly.