Research group The research group Swedish Housing Studies, located in Umeå, investigates housing architecture and domestic space as two sides of one single yet complex phenomenon, the Swedish home.
The acute housing shortage in Sweden has put great pressure on the production of new homes. Despite a significant increase in the construction rates of new residential buildings, sustained population growth in Swedish municipalities has aggravated the shortage. This leads to major problems for residents with lower incomes, young adults and newly arrived Swedish residents, including refugees, as well as for the recruitment potential of employers, the stability of tenants and the impact on condominiums in the municipalities. In short, the lack of access to housing is a problem that impacts society in many different areas.
Our mission is to respond to the most critical challenges facing housing today by producing new knowledge on the past, present, and future of the Swedish home. We examine why, how and by whom dwellings are being built in Sweden, investigate the spatial, environmental, and social components of specific housing projects, shed light in the changing role that housing architecture plays in Swedish society, and launch discussions on the conceptualization, design, construction and representation of Swedish domestic space today.
We are a discipline-specific group related to other fields of research, education, and architectural practice. We learn from exemplary housing architecture in Sweden and abroad, investigate sustainable design solutions, seek housing integration and equalities of many kinds –gender, race, class, ability, sexuality, age –, and produce novel research, design, and education in the field of housing architecture.
Our researchers are predominantly affiliated at the Master's Programme in Architecture and Urban Design. Topics, methods, and perspectives developed at the group are also utilized in education by students as a means to address architectural design at the edge of academic knowledge. Similarly, Swedish Housing Studies is a site for testing and proposing methods of research-based practice. To do this, we work closely with the public sector, associations, and private actors, including architectural offices.
