STADSINGENJÖREN Ett yrke speglat i S.E. Bengtsons liv och gärning

Abstract

The principle aim of this thesis is to examine the occupational role of the so called city engineers of the early 20th-century and explore how they in their capacities as urban ‘jacks of all trades’ shaped the built environment, especially in small- to medium sized towns in Sweden. By exploring the life of a single city engineer, Svante Emanuel Bengtson (1873–1934), and his work in the Swedish town of Alingsås during the first three decades of the 1900s the study seeks to create a nuanced and representative biographical image of a contemporary city engineer and thus provide comprehensive and in-depth knowledge concerning his and his professional colleagues vocational function. Bengtson was during his 27- year tenure as city engineer in the small but rapidly expanding town of Alingsås responsible for the lions share of the towns civic responsibilities. In addition to the responsibility for the towns’ measuring- and survey services, in which the execution of necessary site measurements, land surveys and mapping as well as the handling of all issues related to planning was mainly included, Bengtson was also the head of the towns’ gas and waterworks. Furthermore, he was responsible for the supervision and maintenance of all of the towns public facilities. That is, everything from buildings, streets and roads to bridges and plantations. He was additionally a town builder and served as the general contractor for all construction work managed by the town. In addition to this he also served the various local authorities, including the town council and the building committee, as their official expert. Moreover, Bengtson was an architect. This segment of his professional career is given extra attention in the thesis.