| 1. |
- Wahlström, Marie, 1970-
(författare)
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Livable and Sustainable Cities : Explorations of the City Soul and Energy-Efficient Housing based on Swedish Data on Citizens’ Preferences
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Contemporary cities face many challenges, none the least from an urban planning perspective. Global climate change and urbanization is putting pressures on planning for combatting and adapting to, e.g., a warmer climate and an increased need for housing in already dense environments.The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of residents’ opinions and preferences regarding various aspects of city livability and sustainability. Two of the papers discuss energy-efficient housing and two the identity/soul of the city and its neighborhoods. The papers are empirically oriented and rest on relatively large quantitative materials of Swedish data. The database used in the first two articles contains around 77,000 observations of single-family homes. The residential survey used in the two final papers was sent to a random sample of 6,600 residents in four cities, resulting in 2,573 respondents.Regression is the primary analytical method and the results indicate a preference for sustainable housing, in terms of a price premium on heat pumps (attributes that both reduce the energy consumption and are easily observed in the house). It is further suggested that the perception of a strong city/neighborhood soul is linked to positive relations to the city and to positive perceptions of its physical characteristics. In particular, feelings of attachment, belonging, and pride as well as perceptions of aesthetics, arts, and symbols, seem to be linked to a strong city/neighborhood soul.The presented research contributes to related literature through providing insight to Swedish residents’ preferences and opinions concerning energy-efficient housing and the city/neighborhood soul. It is shown that a citizen perspective based on carefully designed databases and appropriate analytical tools can be used by planners to gain new insights supporting urban livability and sustainability efforts.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Brouwer, A. E., et al.
(författare)
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Perspectives on the dynamics of third spaces
- 2022
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Ingår i: The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Future of Working Spaces. - London : Informa UK Limited. - 9781032014340 - 9781003181163 ; , s. 200-212
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 4. |
- Danenberg, Rosa
(författare)
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Main streets as resilient public spaces : Zooming in on ground floors in Stockholm
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This research focuses on how main streets and ground floors can be adaptable and resilient public spaces. Main streets are vital components of the urban fabric of cities worldwide, serving dual roles as both links and places. They have played a major role in Western cities since the turn of the twentieth century; however, their significance as places has diminished over the years due to modernist planning. Contemporary planning approaches have struggled to address the link and place dimensions simultaneously (von Schönfeld and Bertolini 2017; Carmona, de Magalhães, and Hammond 2008a; Carmona et al. 2003). Main streets are pivotal nodes for socializing, commerce, and mobility. Their character is largely determined by the spatial features and functions of continuous ground-floor spaces, and the small businesses inhabiting those who create comfortable and sociable sidewalks (Jacobs 1961; Mehta 2011). Yet, spatial, social, and economic shifts driven by processes of privatization, globalization, and digitalization have transformed the main street character. Despite generally being considered to be adaptable and resilient places, main streets require dedicated planning, design, and management support in order to contribute cities being sustainable (Kickert and Talen 2022; Carmona 2015; Jones, Roberts, and Morris 2007; Zukin, Kasinitz, and Chen 2016). The research presented in this thesis aimed to provide an in-depth examination of how ground floors change from a socio-spatial perspective and how they are adaptable and resilient, in order to understand how planning, design, and management can support the future existence of main streets. The question that guided the research presented in this thesis was: What role do ground floors play in the creation of adaptable and resilient main streets, and how can planning, design, and management support this process?The research presented in this thesis reveals a reciprocal relationship between the spatial features of main streets and their ground floors and socio-economic dynamics, which are fundamental components of adaptable and resilient public spaces. To study main streets, ground-floor change was examined using Google Street View, focusing on three main streets in Stockholm between 2009 and 2018. This analysis showed a substantial transformation, with almost half of the ground floors changing during the studied period. This supports the idea that main streets are dynamic ecosystems capable of adapting to shifting socio-economic conditions, indicating their resilience. However, it also became apparent that small, local, and independent businesses accounted for two thirds of the ground floors in 2009 but just ten years later they occupied closer to half of the ground-floor spaces, and that chain stores appeared in the places of the independent stories that disappeared. The store categories that increased in number included ‘food and drink services’ and ‘personal beauty services’, while the ‘retail product store’ category showed a decrease. When investigating the spatial aspect of this transformation, it became evident that small ground-floor spaces are where change occurs. Small spaces undergo more frequent changes and are more adaptable to new functions. Interestingly, chain stores have downscaled to fit into these small spaces, intensifying competition with small, local, and independent businesses that are already in vulnerable positions. The research also investigated the privatization of property ownership in Stockholm and the impact of the Pandemic on ground-floor changes. Between 1990 and 2010, privatization occurred in the form of large-scale tenure conversions to cooperative housing associations (CHAs), especially in already-attractive inner-city areas of Stockholm (Andersson and Magnusson Turner 2014; Blomé 2012; Magnusson 2005). A fourth street was studied alongside the first three, and property data from Datscha was added to the database. It was found that CHAs emerged as the dominant type of property owner on the four main streets, such that almost half of ground-floor tenants were renting from CHAs in 2018. Research indicates that the large-scale conversion to CHAs has sped up and reinforced the gentrification process (Hedin et al. 2012; Andersson and Magnusson Turner 2014; Magnusson Turner and Andersson 2008; Magnusson 2005; Blomé 2012), and that in the later stages of gentrification, retail gentrification caters to the lifestyles and consumer preferences of new and affluent residents (Mermet 2017; Sakızlıoğlu and Lees 2020; Zukin 201). Retail gentrification involves new retail capitalizing on the value of storefronts as part of a process that leads to the closure of small, local, and independent retailers, who are integral to the vitality of main streets. Employing Kosta’s retail gentrification index and Zukin et al.’s (2009) retail-capital categorization, this research infers that patterns of retail gentrification are evident on Stockholm’s main streets, as demonstrated by the increasing prevalence of the ‘food and drink services’ category and chain stores. Further examination of the property owners responsible for these changes reveals an increase in retail gentrification under CHAs. The shift towards privatization via CHAs has enabled residents to serve as board members who oversee ground-floor tenancy management. This unique aspect of CHAs allows residents to be involved in their immediate living environment. The Pandemic shed light on how this plays out in practice, as it posed various challenges for small-business owners. One of these challenges was the reluctance of CHAs to apply for and pay half of government-subsidized rent reductions on behalf of their tenants, which were intended to mitigate the economic impact of the Pandemic and social-distancing practices. This reluctance stemmed from what the small-business owners perceived to be short-term economic considerations. This approach seemed to prioritize the allure of new retail capital over the preservation of small, local, and independent retailers who had contributed to neighborhoods’ unique characters. Retail planning and public-space management approaches to main streets and ground floors shed light on the need for curation. The research presented in this thesis suggests that the responsibility for main streets and ground floors as adaptable and resilient public spaces should be borne by polycentric governance structures where public and private interests can be balanced.
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| 5. |
- Ekane, Nelson, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Linking sanitation policy to service delivery in Rwanda and Uganda : From words to action
- 2020
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Ingår i: Development Policy Review. - : Wiley. - 0950-6764 .- 1467-7679. ; 38:3, s. 344-365
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Motivation The gap between policy, implementation and outcome is neither new nor specific to the sphere of sanitation. This article attempts to apply policy implementation literature in the context of developing countries, when much of the scholarly work on implementation and policy process and empirical research has been in the context of developed countries. Purpose This article explores the gap between sanitation policy intentions and outcomes in a comparative study in Rwanda and Uganda with "good" and "limited or no" reported progress respectively towards the former Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Approach and methods From a multi-level governance perspective, the gap between strong political will and insufficient resources, implementation and outcome, is examined by drawing on policy and implementation theories and empirical research. The selection of variables for comparison is based on a range of factors theorized as affecting outcome in contemporary governance. Findings Whereas the policy climate and prioritization of sanitation has been favourable in much of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), resources and capacity constraints, especially at the local level, negatively affect sector performance in an increasingly decentralized governance landscape. Progress in Rwanda is explained by stronger political leadership and support for sanitation, stringent performance monitoring and oversight, an institutionalized community-based approach, and investment in rural sanitation. Policy implications This article shows that the management of sanitation depends on a changing governance landscape; leadership is important for overall sector improvement; networks present co-ordination challenges; approaching sanitation as a public concern requires strong government intervention; the move towards markets necessitates government oversight; approaches that foster inclusion and legitimacy at the local level need to be considered.
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| 6. |
- Eliasson, Kent, et al.
(författare)
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Determinants of net migration to rural areas, and the impacts of migration on rural labor markets and self-employment in rural Sweden
- 2015
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Ingår i: European Planning Studies. - Abingdon : Routledge. - 0965-4313 .- 1469-5944. ; 23:4, s. 693-709
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Across most of Europe, the countryside seems to show a polarized development in which large districts are depopulating, while certain areas, mainly around big- and mid-sized cities, are increasing in population. The latter development is often described in concepts of “rural gentrification” and “rurbanization”, symbolizing a transformation of rural communities to communities with urban values and lifestyles. Most studies of the effects of these processes have focused on social and cultural consequences, as e.g. the displacements of lower-income households with higher-income residents and of rural culture and values with urban ones. This paper examines the phenomenon from another perspective, namely the effects of the “rurbanization” processes on countryside’s labour markets and economic life. This paper aims at analysing the determinants of net migration to rural areas in general and to different types of regions, and the impacts of inmigration on rural labour markets, self-employment and other socio-economic conditions in Sweden for the period of 2003–2005. We find that net migration into rural areas increases with the size of adjacent local and regional centres, whereas net migration decreases with the average commuting distance of workers in the rural areas. When comparing in-migrants to rural areas with rural area stayers, our results indicate that the former has lower incomes, a lower employment ratio and a lower degree of entrepreneurial activities. These differences could—at least partly—be explained by the fact that rural area stayers were on average 6 years older than rural area inmigrants, i.e. the two groups were in different stages of their life cycles.
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| 7. |
- Eneqvist, Erica, 1982-
(författare)
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Experimental Governance : Capacity and legitimacy in local governments
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Contemporary planning and governance of cities involves practices of experiments and trials in urban experiments, collaborative platforms, and urban development projects with high ambitions for sustainability and innovative solutions. These practices of experimental governance can be seen as new policy instruments that include actors from all sectors of society in collective problem-solving. The introduction of experimental governance establishes a new logic of public administration that results in multiple opportunities and challenges. Previous research has emphasised the importance of organisational development beyond a focus on single experimental projects and institutional designs to support experimentation. This thesis aims to examine the municipalities’ organisational capacity for experimental governance and the opportunities to ensure legitimacy.The thesis involves a case study of the City of Stockholm and its innovative practices in general and experimental governance practices in particular. The focus is on the municipal organisation and how it has developed over the past decade, rather than single experiments, collaborations, and projects. Using a qualitative research approach, empirical data was collected by shadowing City of Stockholm staff members, while also conducting semi-structured interviews, participatory observations, and document studies. The thesis comprises four research articles: three using the City of Stockholm as an empirical case of a municipality engaged in experimental governance, and one that develops theoretical insights using examples from Stockholm. The first article provides a discussion of municipal innovation approaches and their influence of institutional logics. The second article is about municipal functions related to experiments, and how these functions challenge the local government. The third article examines the work of experiments and partnerships in policy and practice from a legitimacy perspective. The fourth article explores the institutional capacity for translating innovation actions from high-profile urban development projects into regular processes of the municipality.The results provide new knowledge about public actors and urban experimentation, while also providing practical insights that are relevant to stakeholders who engage in urban experiments. Specifically, the thesis reveals the challenges that municipalities face in embracing experiments while also ensuring and developing procedures for legitimacy. It also highlights the tensions of introducing new logics and roles for public authorities in a changing governance environment. The findings point towards the need for a more nuanced understanding of practices of experimental governance, and the development of permanent organisational structures and cultures to support and steer these practices. There is also a need for organisational procedures to ensure legitimacy, related to both input in terms of transparency, accountability and equality, and output in terms of results and effectiveness, with a capacity to implement the results. By meeting these needs, municipalities can harness the opportunities of experimental governance to serve the public good.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Falck, Simon, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Högskolan i Borås : Om högskolans betydelse för kompetensförsörjning, forskning och samverkan i Västra Götaland
- 2017
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Denna studie handlar om framtiden för Borås. Den gör det för att dess tema gäller högskolans roll som en central komponent i en kunskapsproducerande ekonomi med global räckvidd. I studien analyseras hur kunskap sprids från utbildnings- och forskningsverksamheten vid Högskolan i Borås till det omgivande samhället samt betydelsen av olika kunskapsspridningsmekaismer. Syftet är att öka förståelsen av högskolans roll för kompetensförsörjning, forskning och samverkan i en regional kontext. Studiens bakgrund är ett tilltagande behov att förstå och förklara hur kunskap sprids och spiller över från universitet och högskolor samt den långsiktiga betydelsen av högre lärosäten för kompetensförsörjning och regional utveckling. För planerare och beslutsfattare kan studien ligga till grund för diskussioner och planeringsarbete om hur främja högskolans roll som motor i en kunskapsdriven ekonomi.En slutsats av den förhållandevis omfattande genomgång som studien görs av utbildning, forskning och samverkan vid Högskolan i Borås är att högskolan uppvisar förhållanden som liknar de som gäller vid andra regionala högskolor i landet. Studenterna sätter sin prägel på stads- och kulturliv. Högskolan framstår som väl etablerad på sin ort. Detta lägger en grund för ekonomisk tillväxt och utveckling. Man behöver dock förbättra det strategiska arbetet med att få fler att stanna kvar, inte minst bland dem med utbildning och kunskap utanför välfärdsrelaterade yrken. Bland dem med utbildning och kunskap typisk inom innovationsrelaterat arbete samt teknisk forskning och utveckling är det relativt få som stannar kvar. För att få studenterna att stanna kvar efter avslutad måste förutsättningarna stärkas för karriärer inom yrken med krav på (fördjupad) högskolekompetens.För att detta ska vara möjligt krävs ett långsiktigt och gränsöverskridande arbete som involverar högskolan, företag, entreprenörer och offentliga arbetsgivare samt planerare och beslutsfattare på lokal, regional och nationell nivå. Ett lyckosamt ett exempel på ett sådant arbete är satsningen Smart Textiles. Man behöver dock ett bredare och mer omfattande engagemang. En central fråga i ett sådant arbete är hur långt man kommit i att främja ett närings- och arbetsliv som skapar en kompetensmultiplikator till nytta för den ekonomiska utvecklingen på längre sikt. En annan fråga är hur kunskapsnyttor från forskningsverksamheten vid Högskolan i Borås kan få ännu större spridning och förankring i regionen.För att komma vidare på det spåret behövs en kritisk granskning från universitetsledningen av hur man ska förhålla sig till frågan om konkurrens eller samverkan mellan universiteten i Västra Götaland. Vid strategivalet kring Högskolan i Jönköping eller som lärosätet nu heter Jönköping University har frågan om lokal förankring eller internationell positionering varit av central betydelse. Det ambitiösa valet att satsa på det internationella spåret och göra hela Jönköping University internationellt har inte skett utan motsättningar och svårigheter.
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| 10. |
- Falck, Simon, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Regional Grants and FDI Location : Evidence from Swedish Regional Policy Programs 2002-2009
- 2013
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Ingår i: Romanian Journal of Regional Science. - Bukarest : Asociatia Romana de Stiinte Regionale. - 1843-8520. ; 7:1, s. 36-68
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study investigates factors determining the location of foreign direct investments (FDI) in Sweden. The main purpose is to examine the link between FDI and public incentives, in the form of regional grants, which make up a central part of the Swedish regional policy and state expenditures that explicitly addresses regional development. Our main finding is that there is no evidence of a robust relationship between grants and the location of FDI. However, a statistically significant effect is found for investment support and transport allowance, which are grants that aims at promoting development in designated areas. This by supporting investments in machines, buildings, and so on, and offset costs disadvantages in the northern parts of the country. We conclude that a better integration between the work on FDI and regional development may be a plausible route to promote economic development in Sweden, particularly in deprived regions.
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