The consortium has agreed to build Culture Casbah, a high-rise designed by Danish architects Lundgaard and Tranberg. But can such private investment fight social problems? Or might it make them worse?

"We think that this is the right way. We also think that it can never be wrong to invest in an area like Rosengård," says Petra Sörling, the chief executive of Rosengård Fastigheter, which at the start of October took over 1,660 apartments. 

"We can't help [solve] all the social problems just by building one tower, but we can create job opportunities and we can also show the people of Rosengård that we believe in Rosengård and that we can invest here." 

But Anders Skans, who leads the opposition Left Party in Malmö's city council, argues that residents risk becoming worse off with a private landlord which lacks the municipally-owned MKB's social remit.

He also criticizes the municipality's decision to hand over a 75 percent stake in the apartments just a year before a new train station is scheduled to be opened, which could see them rise in value.