Väggens

Väggens is a term in architectural theory and urban studies used to describe walls not only as structural elements but as social actors that shape space and experience. Derived from Swedish, where vägg means wall and Väggens is the possessive form meaning “the wall’s,” the concept emphasizes the material, spatial, and cultural functions of walls—how they regulate movement, provide privacy, control light and acoustics, and mediate visibility.

In scholarly usage, Väggens encompasses a wide range of topics from historical fortifications and interior partitions to contemporary interventions that reframe walls as surfaces for art or citizen participation. It highlights issues of materiality, construction methods, and surface treatments, as well as the sociopolitical meanings attached to enclosure, boundary drawing, and surveillance.

Scholars apply the concept to analyze architecture, urban design, and public art. Case studies can include ancient city walls, modern galleries that use movable partitions, border fences, and rehabilitated industrial walls turned into pedestrian spaces. Väggens is often invoked in discussions on gentrification, heritage conservation, accessibility, and the phenomenology of space, arguing that walls are not passive barriers but active determinants of social life.