Editing History of Stockholm (section)

=== Population and city plans ===
[[Image:Gamla Stan swe.jpg|thumb|250px|left|[[Skeppsbron]].]]
{{See also|Historical fires of Stockholm|The plague during the Great Northern War}}
The process of reshaping Stockholm was initiated by a major fire in 1625 which destroyed the south-western part of today's old town.  As a result, two new [[boulevard]]-like streets were created — [[Stora Nygatan]] and [[Lilla Nygatan]] — and along the eastern waterfront the medieval wall was replaced by a row of prestigious palaces — [[Skeppsbron]].<ref name="hall-60-63">Hall, pp 60–63.</ref>

For the ridges surrounding the city – [[Norrmalm]], [[Östermalm]], [[Kungsholmen]], and [[Södermalm]] – new city plans were worked out to create wide and straight artery streets.  The project was implemented so thoroughly, in several parts of the city no traces exist of the previous medieval structures.  Many of the streets from this era are still extant, and some of those proposed have been realised with some minor modifications.<ref name="hall-63-70">Hall, pp 63–70,</ref><ref name="hall-70-74">Hall, pp 70–74.</ref><ref name="hall-74-75">Hall, pp 74–75.</ref>

The population grew from less than 10,000 in the early 17th century to more than 50,000 in the mid-1670s.

The city's income rose from 18,595 [[Swedish riksdaler|daler]] in 1635–36 to 81,480 daler in 1644. In 1642, approximately 60 per cent of that sum was spent on construction works.<ref name="hall-53-58" />