| 1. |
- Krifors, Karin, 1982-
(författare)
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Managing Migrant Workers : moral economies of temporary labour in the Swedish IT and wild berry industries
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Temporary migrant workers and circular migration constitute a growing global phenomenon as the management of migration becomes increasingly important to policymakers. This thesis takes academic discussions on citizenship and migration as its starting point, and examines the role of employers in terms of defining temporary migrant workers and their role in the Swedish labour market. The concept of moral economy is applied in particular to analyse the justifications and negotiations through which working conditions of migrant workers, and their role in local and transnational economies, are established and contested.The role of capital in migration management is studied through ethnographic fieldwork and through interviews with managers in the Swedish wild berry and IT industries; two very different industries that are, however, both shaped by particular structures of seasonal labour and international outsourcing and that increasingly rely on temporary foreign workers from Thailand and India respectively. The conceptualisation of supply chains in these industries offers a particular framework through which relations, as well as management discourses, can be analysed.The study explores how notions of circularity, nation, cultural difference, and transnational economic difference, are managed by private sector actors. It also explores how managers relate to public discourse and emotions in the face of global economic restructuring and changing citizenship, which situates temporary migrants as part of, yet different from, Swedish labour.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Ida, 1982-
(författare)
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Geographies of Place Branding : Researching through small and medium sized cities
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)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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| 3. |
- Ayerakwa, Hayford Mensah
(författare)
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Planting to feed the city? : Agricultural production, food security and multi-spatial livelihoods among urban households in Ghana
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The 2010 population and housing census in Ghana revealed that more than half of the Ghanaian population lived in urban centers. Critical to the phenomenon of urbanization is the question of how to sustainably feed the urban population especially the urban poor as rapid urbanization has the tendency to urbanize poverty. This has led to renewed policy debate about the implications of farming in cities to the food security of urban residents.This thesis aims at contributing to the debate by delineating the non-market sources of food and analyze their implications for urban households in terms of food security. In doing this, the thesis analyzes the interplay that exist between the various agricultural engagements by urban households in both urban and rural areas as well as food transfer receipts to urban households and how they contribute to household food security in small and medium sized cities in Ghana. The thesis employs a mixed methods approach-quantitative and qualitative methods- to investigate the concept of urban food security. The analytical framework employed is grounded on the access pillar to household food security.The findings of the thesis are presented in three articles preceded by a ‘kappa’. I argue that the debate on the contribution of urban agriculture to urban household food security seems to over concentrate on urban agriculture alone without accounting for the other food provisioning opportunities available to the household including food production in peri-urban and rural spaces. Expanding the scope also helps to account for other non-market food sources such as food transfer receipts that are found to play important roles in the food security of urban households. The thesis establishes that, households with multiple food provisioning opportunities, especially those who engage in both urban and rural agriculture have better food security outlook than those who do not.The implications from the findings is that policies aimed at addressing urban food security through own food provisioning should not be treated in isolation. Rather, such policies should account for the active rural-urban interactions characteristic of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and how they could be harnessed to complement each other for better food security and livelihood outcomes.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Farahani, Ilia
(författare)
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Land rent, capital, rate of profit : A critique of Harvey’s model of urban land rent
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study critically evaluates David Harvey’s model of urban land rent and its centrality in his explanation of the material forces that underlie and limit urban land policies, strategies, planning decisions, and investment choices. Harvey emphasizes structural forces of capital in relating economic urbanization processes to uneven patterns of capitalist development, recurrent economic crises of overaccumulation, and the need to produce spaces of accumulation to absorb surplus capital that creates crises. He argues that the movement of capital (i.e., the mass of new investments) drives urbanization processes and that land rent constitutes a barrier to the free movement of capital from the primary circuit (i.e., productive investments) to the secondary circuit of capital (i.e., investments in built environments) and arises due to monopoly power relations on land markets. Harvey’s Spatial Monopoly Model of Land Rent (SMLR) is empirically and theoretically compared with a proposed Turbulent Inter-Sectoral Model of Land Rent (TILR). The TILR argues that capital moves to sectors with excess (i.e., above-normal) rates of return. The inter-sectoral and intra-sectoral excess rates of return constitute land rent, and turbulent inter-sectoral competition maintains excess rates of return in rent-bearing sectors. The empirical portion of the monograph encompasses a bibliometric study of rent research and three empirical studies: the first two empirical studies compare the SMLR and the TILR in the US and Swedish housing and construction sectors using seminal case studies by Harvey and Eric Clark. The third study operationalizes the TILR on the Iranian housing sector.It is argued that the SMLR suffers from the following theory-data anomalies: 1) above and beyond a monopoly pricing mechanism, the model offers limited analytical tools for empirical research on rent rates, ceilings, and magnitudes; 2) the model offers inadequate economic mechanisms for macro-level patterns of rent creation and appropriation; 3) it offers an inadequate explanation for the historical contingency of macro and micro-level rent creation and appropriation; 4) it breaks with its structural starting points and does not offer a consistently endogenous structural analysis of rent creation and appropriation. In analyzing the relation between the rate of profit in manufacturing and construction sectors determining land rent, the TILR explains the source of rent with reference to fluctuations of profit rates rather than the monopoly pricing mechanism (the SMLR’s crucial method). The TILR argues that long-term national (economic) structures, indicated by the falling rate of manufacturing (and aggregate) profit, determine the rate and ceiling of rent. The TILR improves on the SMLR by incorporating alternative analytical tools to measure and explain rent rates, ceilings, and magnitudes and resolves its theory-data anomalies by bringing in the concept of absolute rent, logically dismissed by Harvey and Harvey-inspired urban economic geographers. The concept of absolute rent is inconsistent with core assumptions of the SMLR’s underlying theory of monopolistic competition, which relies on exogenous barriers to the free movement of capital to explain excess rates of return. That hinders the SMLR from incorporating the TILR’s resolutions to the anomalies without inflicting further theoretical tensions. The TILR is rooted in an alternative interpretation of Marx’s economic theory recently revived and advanced by Anwar Shaikh as the theory of turbulent competition. This theory allows the TILR to consistently incorporate the concept of absolute rent, integrate national economic trends and local economic relations, and provide a consistently endogenous structural explanation of rent creation and appropriation.
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| 6. |
- Gottfridsson, Hans Olof
(författare)
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Färdmedelsvalets komplexa förutsättningar : En studie av arbetspendling i småbarnshushåll med Kils kommun som exempel
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Gottfridsson, H. O., 2007, Färdmedelsvalets komplexa förutsättningar – En studie av arbetspendling i småbarnshushåll med Kils kommun som exempel, (Complex conditions governing choice of transport – A study of parents of young children commuting to work from the municipality of Kil).Travel is a means through which people fulfil a variety of social and biological requirements. In turn, the purpose, destination and identity of the traveller set different requirements that different forms of transport have different opportunities of fulfilling.The purpose of this dissertation is to find out about the complex conditions that form the scope for action in the choice of transport, in this particular case for parents of young children when travelling to and from work. The dissertation emphasises the importance of studying the whole picture and of the interchange between the component parts in order to gain a better understanding of the conditions governing a commuter’s choice of transport.In the study a theoretical framework of reference is gradually established by mixing empiricism and theory. As a result, a number of factors significant for the transport selection process are identified. These factors include the composition and organisation of the household, transport system structures, local community structures and the resources and preferences of the commuter.Several methods were used during the collection of data. Data about commuters was collected via surveys and travel diaries. Traffic systems and associated structures were studied with the help of maps.Work requirements combined with local structures such as the location of the home, workplace and services, and how the household chooses to organise daily activities, place specific demands on the planning of the journey to and from work. Different transport systems meet these demands in varying degrees. The choice of transport is also determined by the commuter’s socio-economic situation, travel resources and how he or she, depending on motives, knowledge and habits finally perceives the alternatives available.The results confirm that car users and public transport users have different strategies when choosing transport. The results also indicate that there are commuters who declare the same grounds for their choice of transport, but who in practice conclude different consequences and choose different means of transport. The data also indicates clearly that among users of public transport there are major differences in journey times, number of stops, distance to bus stops and travel costs, and that commuters who use public transport are more complex as a group.
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| 7. |
- Gustafsson, Jennie, 1988-
(författare)
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The state of tenancy : Rental housing and municipal statecraft in Malmö, Sweden
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rental housing tenants in Sweden and Europe are increasingly seeing their homes subsumed to market pressures. This thesis provides empirical and conceptual insights into the processes by which market and financial practices and logics shape the housing sector, through a critical analysis of rental housing in Malmö, Sweden. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the role of rental housing within the context of municipal governance and, in turn, to explore how the relationship between rental housing and municipal governance affects residents. Empirically, the thesis focuses on developments in and around the area of Rosengård. The methods used include an interpretive analysis of official documents and secondary statistics, interviews, focus group meetings, participant observations, photos, and analysis of register data. The thesis comprises four papers and a comprehensive summary (the “kappa”).Inspired by the regulation approach to political economy, the thesis engages with theoretical literatures on trajectories of rental housing market change, the financialization of rental housing, and local-state restructuring. In demonstrating how tenants and residents are affected by municipalities’ governance of rental markets, the thesis offers fresh perspectives on the nature of contemporary Swedish municipal “statecraft”.The thesis finds that mounting market pressures from the 1980s initially resulted in a relocation of Malmö’s public housing stock to more attractive urban areas, and greater financial independence for the municipal housing company (MKB). In the process, the municipality used its ownership of public housing to support rebranding of the city following deindustrialization. However, more recently, the municipality has integrated management of MKB’s finances into the governance of municipal finances more broadly. The thesis argues that recent examples of public housing privatization and urban renewal have seen the municipal housing stock come to function as a quasi-financial asset, one bearing local urban development-risk and signaling municipal economic flexibility to credit rating analysts. It also argues that residential property investors’ local use of renovations as an investment strategy strengthens their financial position while leading to declining affordability for tenants. Residents experience increasing rent levels, worry, and a lack of influence within – and disclosure of information about – processes of renovation and privatization. Meanwhile, the thesis finds that the spatial distribution of public and private rental housing has changed as a result of municipal governance initiatives to create attractive new urban spaces, with rental tenants being increasingly marginalized. In sum, the thesis concludes that market and financial practices and logics are progressively undermining Sweden’s renowned universal housing system, while reinforcing inequality.
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| 8. |
- Johansson, Susanne, 1964-
(författare)
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Genusstrukturer och lokala välfärdsmodeller : Fyra kommuner möter omvandlingen av den offentliga sektorn
- 2000
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall purpose of this thesis is to analyse recent changes in the preconditions for theproduction of public services and their impact upon, specifically, women's jobopportunities in local labour markets. The effects of these changes on the largest segmentof women's labour market, i. e. that of the municipal public sector, have been analysed forthe first half of the 1990's in four municipalities in Sweden: Botkyrka, Gnosjö, Kalmar andPajala. Special emphasis has been put on local variations regarding the development ofemployment opportunities in the sector and the degree of reorganization within it. One ofthe hypotheses in the thesis is that, as a consequence of deregulation and decentralizationof public services in the 1990's, it no longer is possible to speak of one single welfare modelbut instead of different local welfare models. Secondly, an attempt to explain theconnection between the welfare state and women's labour market is made usingHirdman's concept "gender contracts". The decentralization of public services implies thatit is absolutely necessary to adopt a local perspective in studies of the form and contents ofgender contracts, because negotiations with respect to the division of labour increasinglyare enacted between women, men and the local government. A third aim, therefore, is totry to explain the effects of ongoing restructuring in terms of the connection between localwelfare models and local gander contracts. Regarding the "bargaining position" of womenvis-à-vis the local government, the four case studies show that the local conditions forwomen are rather disparate. In Botkyrka, the new organizational ideas were introduced ina very determined way, whereas Kalmar chose a cautious approach, with less far-reachingorganizational changes. In Pajala, much of the new ideology was adopted, although localconditions severely restricted its implementation, and in Gnosjö a basic policy was not tosubject core local sector activities to competition. The study shows, very clearly, that thestrategies adopted by local governments to meet changing conditions and economicproblems strongly affect women's labour market.
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| 9. |
- Kmoch, Laura, 1987
(författare)
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Remittances, Access & Adaptation: Options to Secure Rural Livelihoods in Morocco and Myanmar
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- State leaders have adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and pledged to leave no one behind. This thesis advances knowledge for attaining these goals, through systems thinking and place-based research in the context of climate and land-change processes in Morocco and Myanmar. It (i) advances empirical knowledge about the dynamics that shape the livelihoods of rural people, (ii) assesses what puts them at risk, and (iii) discusses how they could become more secure. It proposes a conceptual framework for studying frontier dynamics through the lens of neglect and demonstrates the utility of local knowledge methods in climate adaptation research. Papers I and II assess rural peoples’ land-dependence, livelihood strategies and associated risks, in the Chin Hills of western Myanmar. They combine cross-sectional household survey data, clustering techniques and access theory, showing that people in Chin State meet much of their needs through farming and products from forests and trees. Households who receive remittances or wages tend to fare better economically yet face additional risks from their exposure to labour markets. Discrepancies between Myanmar’s land-sector laws and communities’ customary practices imply that many households stand to lose all their land-derived income. Lacking assets, inequalities and local land-change dynamics limit some households’ land-access too. Papers III and IV draw on local knowledge research, in the latter combined with household survey data. The former captures local system dynamics and peoples’ disaster experiences to understand how climate-related livelihood risks arise. It argues that interlinked cascading effects, farming challenges and pre-existing vulnerabilities led to escalating disasters when Cyclone Komen crossed western Myanmar. The latter explores tree-based adaptation options to diversify rural livelihoods in northern Morocco. It shows that agroforestry practices are already integral to the regions’ smallholder production systems. Yet, complex barriers need overcoming, for further farm trees to be planted and maintained. Paper V draws on frontiers literature, conceptual thinking and fieldwork for Papers I, II and III to propose a novel framework for studying frontier dynamics. It shows how the workings of neglect render Chin State’s rural people vulnerable to dispossession. All papers argue for enhanced efforts to secure rural livelihoods in Morocco and Myanmar.
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| 10. |
- Pettersson, Robert
(författare)
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Sami tourism in Northern Sweden : Supply, demand and interaction
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Indigenous tourism is an expansive sector in the growing tourism industry. The Sami people living in Sápmi in northern Europe have started to engage in tourism, particularly in view of the rationalised and modernised methods of reindeer herding. Sami tourism offers job opportunities and enables the spreading of information. On the other hand, Sami tourism may jeopardise the indigenous culture and harm the sensitive environment in which the Sami live. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the supply and demand of Sami tourism in northern Sweden. This is presented in four articles. The first article analyses the potential of the emerging Sami tourism in Sweden, with special emphasis on the access to Sami tourism products. The study shows that there is a growing supply of tourism activities related to the Swedish Sami. The development of tourism is, however, restricted by factors such as the peripheral location and the lack of traditions of entrepreneurship. The second article analyse which factors influence tourists when they make their decisions about Sami tourism. In the article the respondents are requested to answer a number of hypothetical questions, ranking their preferences regarding supply, price and access. The study indicates that tourism related to the Sami and Sami culture has a considerable future potential, but also that there is a gap between supply and demand. In the third article the analysis shows that the festival in Jokkmokk, thanks to continuously added attractions, has been able to retain a rather high level of popularity, despite its peripheral location. Finally, the fourth article analyses to what extent the winter festival in Jokkmokk is a genuinely indigenous event, and to what extent it is staged. It is argued that the indigenous culture presented at the festival and in media is highly staged, although backstage experiences are available for the Sami and for the tourists who show a special interest.
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