Helen Runting: Images of Desire: Architecture and the Aesthetics of (Swedish) Neoliberalism

A neoliberal mood infuses the political and architectural landscape of Sweden’s capital at present.

Vast tracts of land surrounding inner-city Stockholm bristle with construction cranes; the Swedish Association of Architects reports an unemployment level approaching zero amongst architects; and Stockholm’s population is increasing split between those who rent legally, those who rent precariously, and those who engage in a trade-off between debt and taste in a game of advancement known as “the housing career".

A sense of economic exuberance characterizes what is in fact a moment of scarcity – this enthusiasm is transmitted through a flow of shimmering images that circumnavigate all kinds of architectural surfaces. Examining material ranging from design policy to façade studies, this lecture presents a critical picture of Sweden’s “plunge into real estate” via the images that reinforce the lure of owning, occupying and commissioning architecture. (Text: Helen Runting)


Helen Runting is a doctoral candidate within the research group Critical Studies in Architecture at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. Helen holds qualifications in urban planning and urban design. Her research addresses the relation between architecture, aesthetics, and economy under neoliberalism in the Nordic region. Helen’s research interests include urban economy, architectural post- modernism, practices of critique, biopolitics, and design regulation. She is an editor of the journal LO-RES.