In its 2017 New Urban Agenda, the United Nations lists almost 200 declarations and implementation plans for creating sustainable and equitable cities, towns and settlements, yet the word ‘history’ is mentioned only once – to describe our own times as a critical juncture – a somewhat detached approach to problems with great time depth. Historical archaeology provides a unique toolbox for understanding urban through-lines, scientifically and theoretically. Case studies of Swedish cities, some many centuries old, describe the processes through which they were founded, transformed through time, and emerged differently in new contexts. Today, some have emerged as places not unlike the aspirational declarations of the New Urban Agenda. Yet most of these cities have few roots in equity and sustainability. Many systematically promoted less equality, even abject misery, focusing on the relatively short-term harvest of regional and local resources and labour, or for border security, population domination, and state and elite control. Many were ‘reinvented’ over the centuries – adjusting to new iterations of the same founding principles. Using select historical and modern case studies, we trace how relationships between various classes of hinterland and urban dwellers, influencers, and government officials struggled through time over the meaning and quality of urban life.

中文翻译：

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老城市，“新”议程：不同时期的瑞典城市

联合国在 2017 年《新城市议程》中列出了近 200 项旨在创建可持续和公平的城市、城镇和住区的宣言和实施计划，但“历史”一词仅被提及一次——将我们所处的时代描述为一个关键时刻——对时间深度较大的问题采取某种超然的态度。历史考古学为从科学和理论上理解城市干线提供了独特的工具箱。对瑞典城市（其中一些已有数百年历史）的案例研究描述了它们的建立、随时间转变以及在新环境中以不同方式出现的过程。如今，有些地方已经成为与《新城市议程》的理想宣言无异的地方。然而，这些城市中的大多数在公平和可持续性方面缺乏根基。许多系统性地促进了不平等，甚至赤裸裸的苦难，着眼于相对短期的区域和地方资源和劳动力收获，或者为了边境安全、人口统治以及国家和精英控制。几个世纪以来，许多项目都被“重新发明”——适应相同基本原则的新迭代。通过精选的历史和现代案例研究，我们追踪了内陆地区各阶层与城市居民、影响者和政府官员之间的关系如何随着时间的推移在城市生活的意义和质量方面进行斗争。