Jacob Christensen

Fetched from Yale University’s Gecon project: Economic activity in Denmark. Andreas Bergh has posted the Swedish equivalent (and forgot all about it).

Because of Denmark’s small size, the image is not quite as striking as the Swedish but you can still see the nodes of the Copenhagen and Århus – “Triangle city” areas.

Given that Sweden is supposed to be one of the world’s most egalitarian societies, good old class has a tendency to manifest itself in surprising ways. If you visit Stockholm, then take a walk on Östermalm. Sure, Copenhagen has its upper-class enclaves, but it is obvious that Stockholm – and Östermalm – really plays in a different league here. Of cause much of Östermalm was built before the inferior classes Social Democrats took over but the upper-class air is still very much alive and well.

Outside of central Stockholm, the upper-class also has its favourite haunts – you should in particular look at the municipalities of Danderyd and Lidingö – and it is not really surprising that when the magazine Focus presented a ranking of Swedish municipalities, places like Danderyd, Lidingö and Täby as well as Lomma and Vellinge crowd the top-10 – if there is one thing which sociologists and statisticians will tell you, then that is that levels of health and education are heavily correlated with wealth. Equally unsurprising, a number of traditional bruk – rural industrial communities – round off the list.

Anyway, the question is if you can replicate the strategies of Danderyd in a place like, say, Södertälje or if the succes of Danderyd is only possible because of its position in a stratified society. Rhetorical question, I know: You can’t. Norsjö – #8 on the list – would be much more interesting to study if you are looking for lessons in “best practice”.

But what really made my jaw drop – or then again, perhaps not considering that we are dealing with the upper classes – was this comment by Djursholm (Djursholm is the really wealthy part of Danderyd) resident Lüüli Lundvall Klebe about the true charms of the place:

We who live here are of a different kind, a class of our own. That gives a good sense of cohesion

Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie.

And in Denmark? Oh, you would be looking at some parts of Frederiksberg, Hørsholm and Rudersdal municipalities.