Slänts

Slänts is a Swedish noun used to describe inclined surfaces, including natural slopes such as hillsides and riverbanks, as well as man-made embankments, cuttings, and graded terraces. The term is commonly found in geography, civil engineering, landscape architecture, and road design, where the orientation and steepness of a slope influence planning and construction.

In natural settings, slänts shape drainage patterns, soil stability, and vegetation distribution. In built environments, they appear in road cuts, embankments beside highways, retaining walls, and landscaped slopes around buildings. Designing and maintaining slänts involves assessing stability, preventing erosion, and ensuring adequate drainage to reduce pressure and water buildup.

Steepness is typically described by a slope gradient or an angle measured in degrees. In Swedish technical usage, lutning and slopings are often used alongside measurements of percent grade or slope angle when estimating load on the surface and the need for stabilization measures. Practical considerations include soil type, rainfall, land use, and potential for landslides or rockfalls, which determine whether a slope is left natural, terraced, reinforced, or vegetated.

Linguistically, slänts is a plural-oriented form related to the singular slänt; in contemporary Swedish, the standard plural is slänter, with definite forms slänterna. Slänts may appear in older texts, dialects, or certain toponyms. The term remains primarily a descriptive concept in discussions of terrain and civil works.

See also: topography, slope stability, erosion control, terracing, drainage engineering.