Town Hall Titans
Meet five big city bosses — the mayors of Rome, London, Stockholm, Berlin and Paris — who are tackling the challenges of contemporary urban life with new energy and ideas.
Outwardly at least, Annika Billström doesn't match the stereotypical image of a hard-nosed big-city mayor. A slender woman, Billström, a 49-year-old Social Democrat, found out how pervasive that image is when she was elected to the top position in the Swedish capital. "In the beginning I met a lot of resistance" as Stockholm's first female mayor, she recalls. "Many doubted my ability to do the job. 'Will she really be able to cope, that little girl?' they said. They questioned whether I had sufficient determination to realize my intentions."
Nobody is asking that question now. A loyal party soldier whose first job was as assistant treasurer at the Social Democrats' headquarters, Billström rose through the ranks and in 2002 ousted a conservative regime from Stockholm's city hall. Like Rome's Veltroni, she believes in accessibility: every Thursday she gets out of the office to meet and greet Stockholmers in schools and workplaces. She even writes her own blog at www.annikasblogg.se. "It's not enough to receive a report from an official," she says. "I must experience it myself."
Accessibility — of affordable housing — is one of Billström's biggest challenges. Stockholm, like many cities in Europe, faces rising demand for housing coupled with stagnant or tightening supplies, a crunch that has forced prices up and increasingly put home ownership out of reach of all but affluent residents. The population of Stockholm grew by around 11% in the 1990s, from 674,000 to 750,000, and some 100,000 people were waiting for housing in the city when Billström took office. She's pledged by 2006 to provide 20,000 new homes for rental and ownership in price ranges that students and lower-income workers can afford. "There is plenty of space in Stockholm, so it is up to developers to build," she says.
Trouble is, not everyone agrees. Claes Trygger, a leading Stockholm environmentalist, calls Billström "desperate" in her efforts to meet election promises. "Desperation cannot, however, excuse what's going on," he says. According to Trygger, the mayor's plans to build on land abutting Stockholm's National Park would violate laws designed to protect the city's green spaces. Trygger, who represents the Union for the EcoPark, a collection of 50 Swedish environmental associations, wants the remaining open land in central Stockholm to be preserved for recreational purposes. Instead, Billström should look outside the center for available building sites, he argues.
Other mayors face a real challenge in maintaining affordable housing within city limits as real-estate prices soar and young families are drawn, often reluctantly, to cheaper digs in sprawling suburbs. Getting them back requires not only schemes to encourage construction and subsidize access, but also to settle them in cities with enough parks, childcare centers and schools. Billström knows this well, and dismisses Trygger's protests. "Stockholm's green profile is a vital policy," she says, "and we've already made a major effort to clean up the city and improve the open spaces, but there are always people who oppose new developments."
Billström's commitment to affordable housing stems, she says, from her childhood as one of six children of a single mother. "We have to support those people who have come on hard times," she says, "and to make sure that, irrespective of background, everyone gets the best possible start in life."
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