Vallgravsstråket

Abstract: The subject of empirical study is Vallgravsstråket, an urban space with squares, parks and open spaces that was created in the place of the Gothenburg’s original fortification in the 19th century. The study can be discerned with two moments. The first part unfolds Vallgravsstråket’s obscure historical legibility by looking into the subject’s conditional processes of creating/producing heritage with focus on Vallgravsstråket’s local identity and place-based memory. The second part of the thesis focuses on the area’s operative practicality by studying the consequences of constructing a footbridge over Vallgravsstråket with the help of a morphological analysis. A recurring question involves understanding what makes up Vallgravsstråket and why it is important to preserve it and, for whom. Along these lines, it has been interesting to identify an inconsistent gap between how the area is currently represented, what is commonly stated in legally binding documents and, how the local users evaluate the area. The aim of the study is to unveil different perspectives on Vallgravsstråket in order to obtain a better comprehension of the subject’s cultural-historical, legal and morphological dimensions. The thesis of this dissertation as such, has an inductive nature and grounds from a holistic approach that is motivated by a pluralistic view of reasoning where knowledge cannot be reasoned from one single particular perspective. The dissertation starts out with an intersubjective field study that introduces the area’s ‘urban walls’, ‘urban rooms’ and ‘urban experience’. The thesis then shifts its focus on Vallgravsstråket’s urban development by outlining the significant changes in the history of Gothenburg and analysing the impact of planning interventions. Vallgravsstråket’s urban elements, that is to say, parks, bridges and canal, are evaluated as thematic chapters. The dissertation then exemplifies a qualitative text analysis of legal documents that concern the named area with the purpose of understanding how or why certain approaches have surfaced in debates and researches. After having assessed an adequate empirical background on Vallgravsstråket, the last and final coordinated academic effort has been to experiment with a morphological analytical method both in theory and practice.