Tilde Stenson

My degree project focuses on the life and needs of teenagers growing up in rural and semi-rural parts of Sweden who because of their immobility and need for a room of their own are especially subjected to their immediate surroundings and architecture, or rather, lack thereof.

Industrialisation has globalised the production of resources, shifting the way our society looks and behaves. We have gone from a predominantly pastoral society to a predominantly urban one in less than a century and in this process the idea of the countryside has grown into a romanticised fantasy, safely distanced from the reality of rural areas. While cities expand and evolve, rural areas remain overlooked, leaving young people with few designated spaces for gathering and social interaction.

My degree project explores the informal and alternative meeting places that emerge in these rural landscapes, revealing how young people adapt and create their own spaces in response to the lack of structured environments.