Coming back.

A little over 50 years ago the first houses were built on the farmland south of the Swedish town of Helsingborg. It was going to be the place for families to have their first house at a reasonable cost. The location was close to the beach of Öresund, perfect for summer days with the children. Many felt that it was the place of their hopes and dreams. And two of them were my parents. It was 1968 and I was a happy seven years old kid, playing all day long at the building sites. When I wasn't on the beach. All around us there were houses being built and families moving in as soon as they could. The growing middleclass of the sixties had found their perfect place. No one had to lock their doors, kids could be let out to play on their own and the neighbors looked after each other.
Now I've decided to return and see what's happened. Meet the people that live there now and see what has changed. Not much it turns out. The decor has changed, but it's still the same middleclass family dream. The world with all it's problems and conflicts are far away. It's like a bubble. But this seems to give birth to ideas of them and us. Them being people with no valid reason to be there. Beggars, foreigners, strangers. I've even heard of creating a gated community there. A strange and horrifying thought in a country like Sweden.
This is an environment where many from the swedish midddleclass of today comes. Entrepreneurs, politicians, civilservants, academics and media persons. I like to think that it's in places like these that Sweden of today was shaped. And many of them has returned today to raise their own families here. I meet them at the beach and gymclass, in their gardens and homes. And I'm trying to find out if I'm one of them or not.