{"id":1031,"date":"2016-10-27T13:19:45","date_gmt":"2016-10-27T13:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/iis\/?page_id=1031"},"modified":"2016-10-27T13:19:45","modified_gmt":"2016-10-27T13:19:45","slug":"chapter13-kallgard","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/testforneal\/publications\/bridging-islands-2\/chapter13-kallgard\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging Islands \u2013\u00a0Chapter 13"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Sweden, Islands and Bridges
<\/strong>Anders K\u00e4llg\u00e5rd<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Over 100 Swedish islands have been connected to the mainland since the year 1900. How have these bridges and other \u2019fixed links\u2019 influenced the islands’ number of inhabitants and quality of life? How did the many unconnected islands manage their own transition to modernity? Why did islanders vote \u2019no\u2019 to bridge proposals in three local referenda during the last decade? This chapter will provide some basic data and suggest answers to these questions, in relation to the unlikely \u2019island nation\u2019 of Sweden.Islands with bridges (or any other kind of permanent connection with the mainland, such as a tunnel or a causeway) were excluded in two attempts to count the nation’s islands, as were islands lacking a permanent population. The National Rural Development Agency found 576 such islands; while K\u00e4llg\u00e5rd suggested 401. Note that life on very small islands may be less stimulating, perhaps even boring. Remember that, out of Sweden’s 401 inhabited islands without a fixed link, 64 have only one inhabitant!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is true that no scientific study of the effects of bridges on Swedish islands seems to have been undertaken, but we still have some facts, some knowledge and some reason to discuss the phenomenon. The general impression, after having contacted authorities and local politicians on somewhat bigger islands that have been linked to the mainland – such as \u00d6land, Orust and Tj\u00f6rn – is that the fixed links have been good for the economy, the development and for population growth. It is even claimed that life without the bridge would be “unthinkable”. The islanders on Tj\u00f6rn experienced almost two years without their bridge, after the accident when the 1960 bridge was struck by a ship and collapsed in January 1980; apart from the sudden tragedy (seven car-drivers realised too late that the bridge was gone, eight people died) the islanders really mourned the bridge. For small islands as well, fixed links seem to have had a positive effect on the number of inhabitants. It appears likely that a study in Sweden would come to a similar conclusion: bridges can stop or delay depopulation. If one compares the population development on Sweden’s five largest \u2018linked\u2019 islands with the development on the five largest \u2019real\u2019 (or un-linked) islands, it is evident that there is a difference: the five islands with bridges have all had a very positive population development, whereas only one<\/em> of the islands without a bridge has experienced any population growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the question: Bridge or no bridge?<\/em> is considered so interesting and worthwhile to discuss that it has been used by the Swedish Parliament as an example when informing children how democracy works. In the Parliament’s example, if islanders do not want a bridge, then a bridge is not built. Yet, in reality, it remains to be seen if the Swedish islanders who voted \u2019no\u2019 to bridges on F\u00e5r\u00f6 and \u00d6cker\u00f6 will be obliged to see a bridge being built anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

RETURN TO OVERVIEW<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n