Yngve Larsson

This article is about the politician. For his son, the physician, see Yngve A. A. Larsson.

File:Yngve Larsson.jpg

Yngve Larsson (1881-1977)

Gustaf Richard Yngve Larsson (born December 13, 1881 in Sundsvall, died December 16, 1977 in Stockholm) was a Swedish Ph.D., Municipal commissioner (Borgarråd), Member of Parliament and statesman.

He was a marked modernist and was for 22 years a leading vice Mayor of Stockholm, in charge of urban development, and politically leading behind several of the city's largest urban development projects of the 20th century, including Slussen, Stockholm Metro and the major redevelopment of Norrmalm borough in central Stockholm. Larsson's role in the post-war planning of Stockholm and its new suburbs was internationally recognized. The American city planner Clarence Stein wrote that:

They have developed an organization for city building that is second only to that of the London County Council. But it differs from that in having a broader, more complete goal and ideal. This has been due I think largely to Yngve Larsson's statesmanship; also to his sympathetic understanding with Markelius and Sidenbladh as architect-planners, and with Holger Blom (an architect, too), who makes the parks throughout Stockholm rich with blooming color.

— Clarence Stein,1960,

During the Second World War, Larsson was also a leading Nordic anti-nazi, and a board member of Samfundet Nordens Frihet and chairman of Svensk-Norska föreningen. He was awarded several Swedish and foreign state orders. In 1946, King Haakon VII appointed Larsson as a Commander with Star of the Norwegian Order of St. Olav "for particularly outstanding merits of the Norwegian Resistance during the war." He also received the French Legion of Honour, Swedish Order of the Polar Star and Order of Vasa and the Order of the White Rose of Finland.

Larsson came to be called his century's foremost Swedish city builder and Stockholm politician.

Yngve Larsson was married to Elin (1884-1980), née Bonnier, and they had six children, including later professor Yngve A. A. Larsson.

References

• Yngve Larsson at Swedish Wikipedia