Spatial Traces of Societal Change

QC 20261015

Abstract

The main research questions of the thesis are: How are societal values and norms translated into the architecture of our everyday environment? How does the architecture of schools and schoolyards spatially manifest societal valuesand norms? These questions imply that space is shaped by society, by politicaland economic decisions, and by the values and ideals present in a specific culture. Space is shaped by society – and, conversely, space shapes society. The latter occurs through the location of, for example, urban functions, and the ways in which such functions organise movement, encounters, and other activities in the city. Because space and society are related in this way, reading a spatial structure can provide insights into the societal values and norms that shaped– and continue to shape – it. In addition, by analysing what values and norms documents contain about spatial structures, further light can be shed on the reciprocal relations that exist between space and society. The key concern of the thesis lies in the material manifestations of societal values and norms in the architecture of the daily spaces of schools and schoolyards in Stockholm. These manifestations are investigated through a combination of analyses of documents, morphology, and visual material. The documents that I examine are official state or municipal documents and articles from the professional press, all of which concern the design and planning of schools. The morphological analyses investigate the spatial properties of schools and schoolyards, and their presence in the neighbourhoods. My thesis is that the presence and architecture of schools and schoolyards, together with the urban design of their neighbourhoods, offer material traces of societal values and norms concerning education, play, and discipline. The study primarily focuses on the last 75 years, from the welfare society in Sweden in the 1950s until 2025 (schools from before the 1950s are addressed in one of the papers of the thesis, which investigates changes that occurred between the 1860s and 2019). The results of the analyses of documents show that some values and norms have remained consistent since their first introduction in the 20th century through to today – for instance, the aim to locate schools at a distance from pollution and in proximity to parks and sports fields – even if (as some of the spatial analyses show) they were not always materially realised. What was materially realised, to a high degree, was the location of schools on central streets in the neighbourhood, indicating that schools are, and have been, regarded as a key facility of the neighbourhood in society. In comparison, the visual presence of schoolyards is shown to have been more varied and cannot thus be easily linked to specific time periods or to particular societal values and norms that are presented in state architectural guidelines. Learning about the material manifestations of societal values and norms over time enables a discussion about the past and enhances the understanding of contemporary ideals and their potential material realisation in and through architecture. The thesis aims to inform discussions in the long run about what a resilient school and schoolyard can be and their role in relation to producing equal conditions and a just city. The research is situated within the field of urban design, and I view schoolyards and school buildings as one of several structuring elements in the city. My interest lies in questions of what is given space, where, and on behalf of what (and what did not fit because of that negotiation), as well as how past and present negotiations of these questions can be understood. I investigate which urban functions will be given space and presence in a city in order to understand more about how societal changes are reflected in architecture, and how they affect contemporary and future daily life.

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