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The present dissertation deals with the establishment of Campus Sundsvall, MidSweden University, and discusses how the architecture visualizes visions and ideas of the participants involved, the city of Sundsvall, the university and the proprietor, Akademiska Hus. The purpose is to investigate the process where the symbolic values are formulated and materialized – the interaction between architecture, language and visual material.

The first chapter discusses the American tradition of campus planning and how the idea has been transformed in Sweden to represent an area, often located in the city, gathering one or more buildings used by a university.

The second chapter deals with the architectural competition of Campus Sundsvall and analyzes the program, the solutions presented by the participants and eventually how Campus Sundsvall turned out in the late 1990s.

The third chapter investigates the sources of the concepts of the architecture and the planning model and discusses why the city of Sundsvall was attracted by these ideas. The planning history of Sundsvall and especially Stenstaden, the city centre of Sundsvall, are central in interpreting the question of identity as a symbolic value.

In the last chapter, discussing the campus as a creative space, the present increase of IT supported distance courses questions the importance of the university campus.