SuperLine : A Framework for Domestic Urbanism

• Main Author: Johansson, Linnea
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Umeå universitet, Arkitekthögskolan vid Umeå universitet 2022
• Subjects: urbanization; domesticity; resilience; urban planning; arctic architecture; Architecture; Arkitektur; Arctic; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-197291

How we organize cities and design their spatial configuration is always relevant because it reflects politics, financial interests, and territorial dynamics. But the city is also a powerful spatial system as its framework defines the domesticity that is possible within it. This report aims to investigate the relationship between urbanization and domesticity. How can urbanization be reframed, theoretically and spatially, in relation to domesticity? The research is conducted using a subjective and feminist approach. This entails acknowledging the authors position in the research, both emotionally and politically. It also uses a non-binary approach, which refers to an active stance against the false dichotomization of concepts and abandoning restrictive binary modes of discussing, developing, and thinking about spatial concepts. Using literature review, case studies, design explorations, and photography, this report seeks to reframe urbanization beyond the urban-rural dichotomy, situate the discourse in the arctic region, and eventually propose a framework for a new urbanism in northern Sweden which is based in domesticity. The report argues that we must understand all landscapes as devices of urbanism, that urbanization is a domestication of territory, and that strong connections and shared infrastructures across all territory would allow for a more sustainable relationship between urban and rural conditions. This discourse resulted in an architectural proposal of a new framework for urbanization and domesticity in coastal Västerbotten. As conclusion, the report reflects on the danger of its theoretical nature and the interesting possibility to implement the project in a larger territory. Finally, it restates the significance of our urban frameworks.