In the Nordic countries, with their longstanding tradition of valuing education for the masses, a large number of schools have been built over a more than century-long period and therefore represent a variety of pedagogical and architectonical ideals (Bengtsson, 2011). For example, the school landscape represents traditional and progressive ideals and in terms of the buildings themselves, those that are currently considered as highly innovative exist in parallel with more traditional schools from earlier decades. However, a school design that was considered radical at the time of its construction may be considered old-fashioned and unfit for purpose today. Despite the importance of school buildings for education, research-based knowledge about them is limited, especially in educational research and in the Nordic countries. At present, such research is mostly conducted and published in the Australian, UK and US contexts. The special issue of this journal addresses this knowledge gap by focusing on the relations between educational practices and school environments in the Nordic countries and highlighting the intentions, complexities and negotiations relating to the design, building and use of schools at different levels.