The new suburb was the fruit of plans to exploit the rural areas surrounding Stockholm dating back to the early 20th century. As a direct consequence of real-estate speculations around the turn of the 20th century, centralised municipal city planning was widely accepted as a necessary tool to solve the acute housing shortage and the City of Stockholm bought large areas for the purpose. During the decades preceding the construction of Vällingby, a series of small-scale suburbs had been realised; some more or less exclusive—such as the "egnahemsområden" ("own-your-own-home areas") at Stocksund and Saltsjöbaden built around 1900; or in the style of the Garden city movement, like in Bromma and Enskede built between the wars; and low blocks of apartments built during the 1940s, like in Traneberg and Abrahamsberg. However, many of these suburbs had turned into dormitory suburbs, a problem thought to be avoided in Vällingby by planning for approximately 10,000 work places for the 20–25,000 inhabitants, while the metro was to provide commercial centre access for some 80,000 people.