Town halls, municipal buildings, city halls: the architecture of Swedish democracy

Anna Livia Vørsel is an architectural historian and researcher. Her project Town halls, municipal buildings, city halls: the architecture of Swedish democracy examines municipal government buildings in Sweden built after the Second World War. These buildings—such as town halls (kommunhus), municipal buildings (kommunalhus), courthouses (rådhus), and city halls (stadshus)—house local administrations, social services, and sometimes public facilities like libraries or reception areas. The offices, council rooms, and meeting rooms within these are where the work of Swedish democracy takes place through meetings between politicians, civil servants, and citizens.

As the Swedish welfare state developed from the 1930s onward, national governance was reorganised, reducing the number of municipalities from 2,500 to 270. The new, larger municipalities required modern buildings, leading to the construction of new town halls (kommunhus) and city halls (stadshus) across the country. Since then, many of these buildings have changed: some have been renovated, repurposed, or privatised, while others have become outdated or need repair.

Using archival material from architects such as Tore and Erik Ahlsén, Carl Nyrén, Sten Samuelsson, and others in the ArkDes collection, the project studies these buildings at different scales. It explores how architects helped shape these physical spaces of democracy and public administration and asks what democratic spaces might look like today and what role architecture plays in creating them.