The Swedish cooperative housing company, known as HSB, was formed in 1923 as a result of a nationwide mobilization of tenants from mid 1800’s and forward. In 1929, they entered a new area of production by the planning and creation of Sweden’s first cooperative seaside resort, named Årsta havsbad. The purpose of this project was to offer affordable and accessible recreational housing to working class families living in any of the appartements owned by HSB in the city of Stockholm. 

The aim of this thesis is to examine how Årsta havsbad was constructed as a social product during its early establishment around 1920–1931. Drawing on the spatial theory developed by French sociologist Henri Lefebvre in his 1974 book The production of space, the study seeks to identify how ideology, spatial practices and imaginaries simultaneously operated in the constitution of Årsta havsbad. The material analyzed are writings and pictures of HSB’s own newspaper Vår Bostad, as well as pictures, movies and additional press material. The study finds that HSB played a dominant role in shaping the practices and values of its intended inhabitants. Through the highly visual propaganda, HSB advocated for modernist views of domestic, social and environmental values. This left little to no space for conflicting ideas and behaviors. Furthermore, Årsta havsbad can be seen as a material manifestation of the inner conflicts of modernity, cutting through dichotomies such as individual/collective, city/countryside and nature/culture.