Årby or Årby housing projects is one of the public housing

Public housing

Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...

 and private owned developments in Eskilstuna

Eskilstuna

Eskilstuna is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 60,185 inhabitants in 2005. Eskilstuna has a large Sweden Finn population....

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. The housing opened in the 1960s as a result of the Million Programme

Million Programme

The Million Programme is the common name for an ambitious housing programme implemented in Sweden between 1965 and 1974 by the governing Swedish Social Democratic Party to make sure everyone could have a home at a reasonable price. The aim of the programme was to build a million new dwellings in a...

 by the Swedish government.

Location

Årby is located in the northern parts of Eskilstuna, near the European route E20

European route E20

The European route E 20 is part of the United Nations International E-road network.It runs roughly west-east through Ireland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and finally Russia. The length is . The road is not continuous, at three points, a sea crossing is required. ...

 and the main road to downtown Eskilstuna

Eskilstuna

Eskilstuna is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 60,185 inhabitants in 2005. Eskilstuna has a large Sweden Finn population....

. Along Årby runs the Torshällavägen, which leads to the small town of Torshälla

Torshälla

Torshälla is a locality situated in Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 7,614 inhabitants in 2005.Torshälla is for historical reasons normally referred to as a stad even though it does not have a population of 10,000 which is the limit defined by Statistics Sweden.Before the...

. The area can be reached by car or by bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

line 1 and 2.

Buildings

Årby concists of 29 Apartment buildings of various sizes. Most of the buildings are either 7 or 11 floors with a smaller 3-floor building attached to the bigger building. The rent is low compared to the other areas in Eskilstuna, which have resulted in a population of almost 80% non-swedes. Most of the inhabitants have a different language than Swedish as their mother tongue.
The apartments are in various sizes, from two rooms and kitchen up to five rooms and a kitchen.

Årbyskolan

Close to the area is the "neighbourhood"-school: Årbyskolan. The School

School

A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

 have about 600 students from kindergarten

Kindergarten

A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

 up to middle school

Middle school

Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

.

Green areas

Årby have many large grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

areas and meadows spread around the projects. Further north, crossing the European route E20

European route E20

The European route E 20 is part of the United Nations International E-road network.It runs roughly west-east through Ireland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia and finally Russia. The length is . The road is not continuous, at three points, a sea crossing is required. ...

 lies Årbyskogen (Swedish: skogen English: woods). The woods are inherited by the local Special school  and Friluftsfrämjandet. There is also several exercise tracks that goes along the tight vegetation.

Music

Since the large population of non-natives, the cultural influence on the area is very large. The yearly Årbyfestivalen is held every summer and gives the people music from all different cultures.
Recently, the Hip hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

music style have been successful in the housing area. Individuals and groups like Årby berättar do their own music (often in the studio of Årbyskolan) and tell about their lives and stories about Årby.