| 1. |
- Andersson, Ida, 1982-
(author)
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Geographies of Place Branding : Researching through small and medium sized cities
- 2015
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Place branding is commonly conceptualized with a focus on big cities, such as London, New York and Singapore, building from concepts and models from mainstream branding theory. In contrast to such conceptualizations, this thesis focuses on place branding in small and medium-sized cities. The present thesis aims to study place branding from a geographical perspective. It starts with debates theoretical and empirical understandings of place branding; what it is and how it is affecting the places where it is introduced. The thesis develops and argues for a perspective of territoriality and relationality to place branding discussing concepts, methods and empirical approaches to carry out place branding research using geographical perspectives. Empirically, this thesis focuses on in-depth studies of place branding in small and medium-sized cities in Sweden. By analyzing the development of place branding over the course of time, nuances and aspects of both territorial and relational origin emerge, situating place branding practices within a wider spatial contextualization. Four individual papers are presented, which taken together contribute to the aim of the thesis. Paper 1 introduces the place branding research field in geography and how it has developed; Paper 2 investigates the phenomena of flagship buildings located in small cities and towns; Paper 3 discusses the relationship between policy tourism and place branding; and Paper 4 analyzes how local environmental policies are affected by green place branding. The thesis demonstrates the complex and continuously interchangeable spatial structures and place contexts that create and re-produce the geographies of place branding. Here, research models and methodological examples are presented to illustrate how place branding can be studied from a geographical perspective and thus improve theoretical understandings of place branding.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Eimermann, Marco, 1979-
(author)
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There and back again? : Dutch lifestyle migrants moving to rural Sweden in the early 21st century.
- 2013
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis has a twofold aim. First, it studies motivations and decision processes of Dutch families moving to rural Sweden, with a focus on Hällefors municipality in the Bergslagen area. Second, it explores how this migration flow can be conceptualised within migration theory. The results of the study are presented in four papers.The migrants’ characteristics are explored using variables from the Bergslagen Database. This is complemented with data from interviews with municipality officials, project leaders and Dutch families in rural Sweden.The theoretical framework consists of literature on counterurbanisation, the creative class thesis and lifestyle migration. The creative class thesis has inspired many rural place marketing projects and efforts to attract the ‘right type’ of people to stimulate rural development. Based on the interview study, I argue that lifestyle migration research offers most apt insights into the act of migration within the wider life trajectories of these Dutch families.The thesis offers new empirical data that suggest amendments to be made to the academic definition of lifestyle migration. Additional contributions consider the novel geographic direction of the migration flow (northwards), the destination (a deprived area) and the structure framing the decision process; a local authority and its deliberate attempts to attract new residents from abroad. The findings suggest transcending four binaries. First, in the context of an integrating EU, the thesis adds international dimensions to the initial story of internal counterurbanisation. Second, these flexibly mobile families transcend and combine issues of urbanity and rurality through access- facilitating technology and cheap means of long distance transport. Third, this study reiterates the importance of production as a complement to consumption in lifestyle migration research. Finally, the thesis adds dynamic issues of transience to the static permanent-temporary binary of migration.
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| 4. |
- Gustavsson, Eva, 1956-
(author)
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Mellan det lokala och det globala : klimat, kommuner, nätverk
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Between the local and the global: climate, local governments, networks The notion of an ongoing global warming is shared by a large number of researchers and decision-makers around the world. Through the act of signing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change a majority of the world's naitons have accepted the idea of human induced climate change, and to develop national climate change mitigation programmes. The Kyoto protocol later quantified the commitments made by the nations. The issue of climate change has become a political issue of its own. In the European Union as well as in Sweden and other nations, climate mitigation goals, programmes and strategies are developed. This is also the situation on the local level, for example in Swedish municipalities, which is the context of this study. Local goverment is an important actor in climate mitigation, both as a political organization in its own right and as an arena involving actors from different sectors in society. Climate change mitigation measures conducted by local governments re partly shaped by national grant programmes. The study shows, however, that the local context - the palce - with its natural prerequisites, economic structures and composition of actors, is just as decisive for how the local climate policies are developed and implemented. It also shows that although responsibility for the environment is an important driving force in local climate mitigation there are at least two other dirving forces; local and regional development and the symbolic valute of being in the forefront of climate change mitigation. Another arena where actors in climate change mitigation meet is the network. Together wiht actors from different sectors and levels many municipalities participate in various networks, with local to global extension. The fact that the netsorks like climate change in inself transcends political and administrative borders, is alsö addressed theoretically in the study, focusing upon the concepts of re-scaling, multilevel governance and network governance, which constitute the theoretichal fram of the thesis.
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| 5. |
- Hedfeldt, Mona, 1979-
(author)
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Företagande kvinnor i bruksort : arbetsliv och vardagsliv i samspel
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The Bergslagen region in Sweden has a history of iron and steel production, and in the small industrial towns in the region, one large employer has often held a strong position. Although the region has gone through structural change since the 1970’s, in previous research, becoming self-employed is perceived of as difficult, since it implies going against a strong working culture. The image of Bergslagen is that of a non-entrepreneurial region. Furthermore, in previous research, the gender contract in the region is characterized as traditional. In this thesis light is shed on women in the region who are self-employed. Topics that are focused on are work experience, role models, family situation and networks. The study builds on qualitative interviews and longitudinal registry based statistics (1993-2003). The interviews were carried out in the municipalities of Norberg and Fagersta with self-employed women in the fields of health and business services. Conclusions drawn concern both the region Bergslagen as an entrepreneurial region and the lives of self-employed women. The situations and conditions under which women become and remain self-employed displays a complex interaction between different areas of life, both in relation to the start-up phase and the subsequent running of their businesses. The idea of the region as non-entrepreneurial is scrutinized. For one, the share of self-employed in the Bergslagen municipalities only differs among men, compared to the national average. The share of self-employed women in the region, however, is similar to the national average. Furthermore, the share of self-employed men and women varies among the municipalities within the region. Thus, it is problematic to speak of the region as non-entrepreneurial and as homogenous when it comes to self-employment and entrepreneurship. These findings indicate that the idea of the region as non-entrepreneurial is an expression of both the region being male coded and women entrepreneurs being subordinated.
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| 6. |
- Jakobsson, Max, 1969-
(author)
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Från industrier till upplevelser : en studie av symbolisk och materiell omvandling i Bergslagen
- 2009
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In old industrial regions traces from historical mining and production of iron and steel have become a valuable resource in developing a tourism industry and other experience-oriented industries in the post-industrial society. The so called Experience Industry became a buzz-word in regional development programs during the 2000´s. The region of Bergslagen in the middle of Sweden is a good example of this structural change in economy which has been going on since the crisis of the steel industry in the middle of the 1970´s. In the 1980’s, the region was seen as one of the most depressed areas in Sweden, together with the sparsely populated north. Because of that, cultural heritage has been promoted to strengthen regional identity in Bergslagen. Strengthening regional identity is still a matter in regional development in the region, but today efforts are more concentrated on commercial use and packaging of heritage as experience in order to create an attractive image of Bergslagen. Statistical data shows that the regional labour market is changing. During the 1990s and early 2000s employment in the Experience Economy in Bergslagen has increased by almost 30 percent. The emerging labour force is in many ways different from the traditional patterns on the regional labour market. Traditionally marginalized group, such as women, young people and immigrants are well represented. But they are often low educated, low paid and part-time employed. On the other hand we also find a growing well educated and well paid group of employees. They are often in-migrants or commuters from places outside the region. Campaigns to promote Experience Industries on the local level are common in many places in the region. Local campaigns tend to focus on tourism and the commercial use of the typical industrial heritage associated with Bergslagen. However, the regional identity is often considered a problem due to the negative image of Bergslagen which where formed after the crisis for the steel industry. Although there is a tendency towards a more positive approach to Bergslagen, developers and politicians often still claim that they rather use other local and regional identities in place marketing than being a place in Bergslagen.
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| 7. |
- Möller, Peter, 1974-
(author)
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Young adults in rural tourism areas
- 2016
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis examines how tourism affects conditions for young adults in rural areas. Such a study lies at the intersection of research about tourism impacts, adult transition, and rural areas. The aim is to examine how largescale tourism affects the opportunities for young adults living in rural areas; their perception of place and the perceived opportunities and obstacles that tourism provides.The thesis utilizes a mixed method approach. A quantitative study based on micro-data on individuals identifies the patterns and magnitudes of the mechanisms by which tourism affects population change among young adults. Interview methods are used in the case study area, Sälen, to investigate these mechanisms in depth. Finally, the rural–urban dichotomy is explored in a conceptual study that asks how tourism affects the perception of a local village as either rural or urban. Young inhabitants in rural areas are rarely considered in tourism research; therefore, the main contribution of this thesis is that it illuminates how tourism affects conditions for young adults in rural areas.The thesis reveals a substantial impact on the adult transition, mainly due to easier access to the labor market and a good supply of jobs during the high season. Further, the large number of people passing through creates flows of opportunities to make friends, get a job, or just meet people. All of these factors contribute to high mobility in these places, and to the perception of them as places where things happen. The high mobility in Sälen implies that fixed migrant categories (such as stayers and leavers) are largely insufficient. The tourism environment creates a space that is always under construction and continually producing new social relations mainly perceived as opportunities. Conceptualizing this as a modern rurality is a way to move beyond the often implicit notions of urban as modern and rural as traditional.
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| 8. |
- Sundström, Peter, 1977-
(author)
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Orter i stadens närhet
- 2013
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis examines localities in the vicinity of cities, starting with Ekeby- Almby which is situated near Örebro. In the past twenty years, Ekeby- Almby has experienced vast sociodemographic changes. These lines of development give rise to a number of questions. For example, does the socioeconomic change of Ekeby-Almby reflect a general trend for this kind of locality? What are the perspectives and concepts that characterise the planning of these localities, and what is the significance of these suburban areas for the urban development as a whole? The purpose of this thesis is to examine the peri-urban localities, their role in, and their significance to, the development of cities. The thesis is made up of three empirical parts. Some of the main results are that the peri-urban localities can bedescribed as continuously growing, even during periods of shrinking towns and growing countryside (70s and 80s), and re-urbanisation (90s and 00s). Other results from the study are that layers of peri-urban localities with partially separatesocioeconomic profiles become apparent. Together these localities are, in various ways, part of the city’s socioeconomic differentiation. Finally, the result from the study indicates that the development of localities is shaped by a series of structures, and actors operating in relation to these. The development of the peri-urban localities can, theoretically, be seen as an urban counter- urbanisation, but perhaps primarily as a Swedish periurbia, and thus as an extension of the city, often described as an urban sprawl. This study also discusses the role of the peri-urban locality in the city’s social geography, where it among other things can be described as the ”hidden” space of the segregated city. Another aspect of the peri-urban locality is that it can be seen as a place which is important in an intermunicipal competition in population growth.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Trumberg, Anders, 1976-
(author)
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Den delade skolan : segregationsprocesser i det svenska skolsystemet
- 2011
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In the beginning of the 1990s the responsibility for the compulsory schools shifted from the government to the local authorities, a freedom of choice was introduced, and several municipalities brought in a school voucher system. With these changes, the educational system in Sweden went from being one of the world’s most government dominated and unified, to one with a high level of freedom of choice. The overall aim for this study is to explore the interplay between the school choice policy in the compulsory school and the process of integration and segregation on a school level. The aim is also specifically to study to what degree the pupils’ choice of school reflect the schools’ composition, with regards to ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds between 1992 and 2004.The thesis is based on three different kinds of materials; registry data from SCB (Statistics Sweden), the municipality’s data surrounding the school applications, and interviews with civil servants, politicians, and head teachers. In conclusion, the study shows that a divide has emerged between different schools, the make-up of pupils is becoming more homogenous, and the school as a meeting place between different ethnic groups is affected in a negative way. The study also shows that the school choices have an influence on this segregation between the schools. However, there are a small number of exceptions. In certain schools, the ethnic mix of pupils is relatively fair.
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