Vårberg

Vårberg is a district in Söderort within the City of Stockholm. It borders the district of Skärholmen, as well as the areas of Vårby in Huddinge kommun and, on the other side of Lake Mälaren, Estbröte and Kungshatt in Ekerö kommun. The area comprises 194 hectares of land and 65 hectares of water.

A large part of the development in Vårberg is part of the so-called Million Programme, whose architectural roots stem from the utopian visions of the future of the 19th century. Well-known utopian thinkers include Ebenezer Howard and Le Corbusier. The district was planned according to the vision that housing would form social units resembling a chain of small towns. As the Vårberg area is highly hilly, the new district was planned and designed with the idea that the added development would “enhance the character of the landscape,” with tall buildings on the higher parts of the area and low-rise buildings in the lower areas.

Fokus Skärholmen is an urban development project that will encompass the districts of Bredäng, Sätra, Skärholmen, and Vårberg. The goal of the project is to build 4,000 new homes by 2030 and to strengthen the districts’ supply of housing, services, workplaces, meeting places, and green spaces.

City of Stockholm, Stockholm County.

The area has good public transport connections to and from it and is located by the E4/E20, approximately 15 km southwest of central Stockholm. It can be reached by SL buses and the metro. Vårberg has had a station on the Stockholm metro since 1967.

Artistic decoration featuring mosaic panels depicting hands, created by the artist Maria Ängquist Klyvare, was carried out in 1996.

Vårberg has been inhabited for more than 4,000 years, and there are remains from the Stone Age. During an archaeological excavation in Vårberg, pottery of a Neolithic character was uncovered—that is, finds from the period between hunter-gatherer societies and more permanently settled communities. Burial material from the Late Iron Age as well as the Roman Iron Age has also been discovered. Vårberg previously belonged to Vårby Gård in what is now Huddinge kommun. In the 17th century, the estate operated a brickworks here, which later became a croft named Bleket. In the 1790s, the silk weaver Jakob Jakobsson Hoving rebuilt the croft into the summer residence Johannesdal, and the manor house that is still preserved today was constructed. In the 1860s, the property was subdivided from the lands of Vårby gård.

Vårberg received its name in 1961, and the naming was carried out by the city’s naming committee. The name itself is new but was inspired by the Viking Age so-called Vårdberg (Vikingaberget), whose function included serving as a lookout point for approaching enemy ships. Between 1965 and 1973, the area was developed with apartment buildings and terraced houses, and the centre was designed by architect Hack Kampmann.

The summer cottage area of Johannesdal was gradually transformed into a villa neighborhood. Even today, a few individual holiday cottages remain.

Between Vårberg and Sätra lies the Sätraskogen nature reserve. In the summer of 2006, the recreational area was designated as a nature reserve, and the area features open meadows, oak-covered hills, and old spruce forest. Through the nature reserve, a waterfront promenade runs from Liljeholmen to Vårberg along the shore of Lake Mälaren. The walking path offers views over eastern Mälaren toward Kungshatt and Ekerölandet, as well as over Fiskarfjärden.

The highest natural point in the City of Stockholm is located in Vårberg, namely Vikingaberget, which rises to 77.24 meters above sea level. Nearby is the artificial hill Vårbergstoppen, which is 90 meters high. From the summit, there are views of Stockholm city and large parts of the Stockholm region. From the southern ridge, there is a good view over Lake Mälaren. Regular birdwatching and bird counts are carried out at Vårbergstoppen by both individual birdwatchers and under the auspices of the Stockholm Ornithological Society.