Pomophobia and Feminism: Revisiting the Swedish Postmodern Discourse

Architecture in Effect, Essay, expanding design practices, Helena Mattsson, No Density, Politics and economics

Activism, Architectural theory, Architecture, Architecture’s challenge, Architecture&Gender, Building regulations, Collective Awareness, Community, Consumption, Culture, Designing Strategies, Developing policies, Environmental, Essay, Global Awareness, History of Architecture, Identity, Ideology, Interaction, Mind Shift, Participation, Political & Economic Approach, Political implications, Post-modernism, Rethinking Urban Environments, Social cohesion, Social environment, Social Inclusion, Social process, Sweden, Urban Paradigms, Urban planning, Women

This essay is an excerpt of Architecture in Effect vol. 1 edited by Sten Gromark, Jennifer Mack and Roemer van Toorn. Published by Actar Publishers.

In his article “1980–2000: Pomofobi och uppsving,” the architect Thomas Hellquist (2001) argues that an avoidance of postmodernism, what he calls “pomophobia,” ruled the architectural establishment in the early years of the 1980s. This interpretation seems reasonable, as few practitioners would have called themselves postmodernists, but revisiting the period today, can we reframe the postmodern turn in Swedish architecture to broaden the picture?