Claiming the Inbetween : Providing tools for expansion to create a citiness between homes

We live in a world where individual wealth and success is sought after by many. Swedish people are more isolated than ever; people feel lonely and mental illnesses is on the rise. This, of course, is caused by many different factors, but we need each other, that is certain. The statistics say that 40% of the households in Sweden are single households, 1 in 3 people over 60 live alone, often as a result of a partner passing away. Used statistics are usually very family- and couple-fixated. It is hard to navigate through the statistics if you’re looking for collectives and other alternative living situations. When having these set standards of SCBs statistics, it is hard to be a visionary. People are leaving their home towns for Umeå due to many different reasons; work and studies at the university are dominant factors. It is quite rough to gain a social network in a new city, and when you’re new somewhere you need a safety net to fall back on when times are rough. But people also need their privacy; their recreational space for healing. People shouldn’t be forced to interact with each other, but they need to get the tools to be able to, when they want it. Imagine a space that celebrates individuality; the neo-liberal way of living we’ve been taught to pursue, but at the same time criticizes it. Imagine quite small isolated dwellings in a bigger enclosed space. As time goes by, the residents will see how bizarre their isolated cocoon homes are, and their activity will bleed out into the collective. The collective space is plain and open for all to use. It is a street within the building that can be adapted to whatever purpose. Eventually, the residents will create a citiness within the building by themselves. They will claim the space outside of their front door. They reclaim the corridor, the elevator, the courtyard, where you usually just nod towards your neighbours. The corridor becomes home, yet it belongs to nobody. They are not forced, but they have been given the tools to discover it themselves; resulting in their homes spilling out into the collective