Housing is a fundamental dimension of human life. Yet, we know surprisingly little about dwelling houses in the past, and we know exceptionally little about pre-industrial urban housing in Sweden. The eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries have commonly in Swedish urban historiography been associated with stagnation and absence of change. Recent research, however, indicates that the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was a time of profound change in the built structure, in social organization, and in cohabitation patterns. Houses were built larger and more complex, population density increased, and tenants and small households became more prevalent. These findings indicate broader processes of urban change, closely related to the housing dimensions of urban life. They also indicate that fundamental urban transformations started long before industrialization.
The aim of this project is to reach deep and qualified knowledge about pre-industrial urban houses and housing conditions, during a time span from 1600 to 1850, with special attention to 1700 to 1850. We focus on the dynamic relation between built structures and social practices. The overall aim is further specified in four main research questions. How and why did the built urban structures change? What were the fundamental practices of urban real estate ownership? How did the spatial organization, specific uses, and the spatial practices of houses, town plots, and domestic spheres change? In what ways and to what extent did people’s dwelling places transform into homes? These fundamental research questions are further operationalized in 6 distinct empirical work packages. The project furthermore aims at theoretical and methodological innovation; through active and close cooperation, it will develop and integrate theories and methods of urban archaeology and urban history. The project is organized in 6 separate work packages (WP:s)They are all strategically designed to contribute to the overall aim of the project and each single WPs identifies areas where Swedish research can contribute to international scientific discussions, providing important both empirical observations and methodological and theoretical developments.
WP 1: The patterns of long-term changes in the built urban structures 1600–1850
Results from the previous House and Household research project indicate important changes in the house and housing structures in Linköping and Kalmar during the eighteenth century; houses were built larger and with more complex structures, additional houses were built in the inner yards, and population density, household structures and cohabitation patterns changed. Significant differences were also observed between Linköping and Kalmar. This WP provides a broader basis for general conclusions about these changes and differences. It will also establish if the observed transformations in the eighteenth century represent a new phase, characterized by change in contrast to previous more stable times, or if the built urban structures and the social organization has rather been in a more or less constant state of change over the centuries. This WP is based on analyses of archaeological and antiquarian documentation, timbering analyses, dendrochronology, tax records, demographic records, inspection protocols, and insurance documentations.
WP 2: The building of houses (1700 – 1850)
To analyze the building of new residential houses, and the change towards larger and more complex houses, we need to know more about those who commissioned all this. Who were the owners initiating the building activities? Can these initiatives be linked to specific life events or stages in the household cycles? With more complex houses special skills became important. Who were the builders, what professions were at hand and how was the building procedure professionalized during the period? It is also important to examine the supply of timber and other building materials, and how building projects were financed.
WP 3: The practices of urban property-owning (1700 – 1850)
This WP analyses real estate property and the practices of urban property owning. What were the modes and practices of property transfer? What were the uses and options related to real estate owning? What were the obligations and maintenance strategies of real estate owners? This WP is organized as a PhD project (Jenny Grandin). In order to achieve deep and detailed analyses of ownership strategies and networks, this WP will focus on one single town (Kalmar). It is based primarily on sales records, inspection documents, probate inventories, tax records, and insurance documents.
WP 4: The spatial organization of houses and homes (1700 – 1850)
When urban houses were built larger and more complex, the spatial organization of houses and homes changed. This is an essential dimension of changes in the urban way of life. Results from the House and Household project indicate change and innovations during the eighteenth century, but we need broader and more systematic documentation and analyses, not just individual examples. We collect and analyze information about connections and seclusions (access analyses), possible separation of distinct apartments, functional specialization between different rooms and various indoor spaces, specific naming of rooms, and arrangement of heating systems related to comfort (especially the use of tiled ovens). We collect and analyze information about people’s presence, movements, and uses of specific rooms and spaces in the houses. Gender dimensions are essential in these analyses. We use archaeological and antiquarian documentation, access analyses of standing buildings, timbering analyses, inspection protocols, insurance documentation, probate inventories, and court records.
WP 5: The material culture of the urban home (1700 – 1850)
International research emphasizes the growing significance of the domestic sphere and the intensified manifestations of the private home in the eighteenth century. These manifestations required certain material objects and specific elements of interior decoration. These processes have not yet been systematically studied in Swedish urban contexts, but we have reasons to assume that this was an important dimension of urban change also in Sweden in terms of developments of early bourgeoisie lifestyles and manifestations. We also have reasons to believe that this substantially affected gender relations. It is important also to establish if these processes concerned only a small elite or if the material culture of larger groups also changed in similar directions. The prevalence, the distribution, and the market for such objects will be studied.
WP 6: Uses and spatial reorganization of urban plots (1600 – 1850)
When sizes, structures, and uses of dwelling houses changed, this obviously also affected the wider context of the town plots. In order to fully understand and analyse changes of the built environment and their dynamic relation with social organisation and social practices, we need to include the complete town plot. This also include the spatial dynamic between street, houses and inner yards. We will analyse the spatial organisation and reorganisations of plots, their uses and the locations of various activities. Today we only have fragmentary information about this, but we have reasons to believe that town plots were fundamentally reorganized in spatial terms, and that significant changes took place also concerning for example horticulture, animals, work places, and the organization of indoor and outdoor activities. The analyses are built on archaeological analyses (including garden archaeology and macrofossil analyses), inspection protocols, insurance documentation, probate inventories, and information from court records.
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