Handbook, Standard, Room: The Prescription of Residential Room Types in Sweden Between 1942 and 2023

Daniel Movilla Vega and Lluis Juan Liñán
Additional contact information
Daniel Movilla Vega: Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå University, Sweden
Lluis Juan Liñán: Madrid ETSAM, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

Urban Planning, 2024, vol. 9

Abstract: Norms and handbooks have played a key role in the design of residential rooms in Sweden since the 1940s. Ever since, changes in housing policies have led to varying definitions and regulations of residential rooms, allowing their existence, defining their configuration, and framing their performance. And yet, none of these rooms has been built; they are prescribed room types that belong in the pages of handbooks that validate the framework in which housing design can operate. What are these prescribed room types? What do they look like? Who and what do they include? Have they changed over time? In response to these questions, this article follows the evolution of a set of residential room types in the design handbooks that have accompanied housing policy bills in Sweden from 1942 to 2023. These manuals are not the law itself but operate as an interface for professionals and designers by reflecting the practical consequences of the norm. Diagrams, dimensions, texts, and references to housing literature vary from handbook to handbook to define the specific traits of each type of room. By studying these traits in relation to key moments of Swedish housing politics, the article reveals the role that norms and standards have played in the establishment of the regulatory regime in which housing design in Sweden operates today.

Keywords: housing design; housing regulations; housing standards; residential rooms; room typology; Sweden (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/7846 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:urbpla:v9:y:2024:a:7846

DOI: 10.17645/up.7846

Access Statistics for this article

Urban Planning is currently edited by Tiago Cardoso

More articles in Urban Planning from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().