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Nya visioner för landsbygden
Abstract
NYA VISIONER FÖR LANDSBYGDEN Relationen mellan stad och land är under ständig diskussion. I urbaniseringens tidevarv koncentreras människor, företag och service till städerna. Hur kan landsbygden utvecklas under dessa förutsättningar? Hur bygger vi kreativa och inkluderande samhällen på landsbygden? Hur kan en positiv och inkluderande framtidsvision för framtidens landsbygd? I den här boken ger elva forskare från olika discipliner och lärosäten sina perspektiv på just dessa frågor. Med utgångspunkt i tematiker som globalisering, migration, digitalisering, service, bostadsförsörjning, näringslivsutveckling, lantbruk, klimat, hållbarhet och samskapande fördjupar sig forskarna i landsbygdens förutsättningar och framtid.
Authors:
Josefina Syssner
Marianne Abramsson
Elisabet Cedersund
Patrik Cras
Erik Glaas
Jan-Erik Hagberg
Brita Hermelin
Mattias Hjerpe
Martin Hultman
Niklas Högberg
Dick Magnusson
Ingrid Stiernström
Cecilia Waldenström
Erik Westholm
... Civil society in such areas is often well developed and displays a strong sense of community. These qualities make shrinking rural places well suited to meet the complex needs of a newly arrived family (Syssner 2018b). ...
For parts of the sparsely populated areas, the trends of globalisation, urbanisation and deindustrialisation constitute difficult circumstances. Population decline, escalating dependency ratios, lack of human and financial resources, and diminishing commercial and public services form part of lived experience in many of these areas. This paper discusses what geographers can do for these territories. The paper suggests that geographers can aid in understanding and demonstrating (a) how resources have been distributed in space over time and (b) why patterns of resource distribution take the shape they do. Geographers can also illuminate (c) what it means to live, work, and operate in shrinking, rural territories. Geographers could also (d) make implicit geographical imaginations explicit, (e) elucidate how shrinkage is dealt with by various policy actors, and (f) point to alternative policy directions. The paper also suggests that geographers in the Nordic countries could enrich an international research field of studies of shrinkage by (g) providing case studies or comparative studies from a Nordic context.
... Parallel to this, I could start searching for both shifts and stability regarding the different aspects and in relation to potential policy paradigms (Hall, 1993). Crucially, this stage and process helped me sort through a large amount of empirical material and find patterns, similarities and differences between time periods (Syssner, 2018). ...
Sweden’s population has increased by over 1.5 million people since the mid-1970s.
Despite this, almost half the municipalities reduced their population during the
same time-period. Previous studies have shown that the size and composition of
the population are of great importance for the municipalities. Nevertheless, most
municipalities lack strategies for dealing with long-term population decline. The
purpose of this article is to discuss whether the municipal comprehensive plan is,
or has the potential to become, a context in which strategies for dealing with population decline can be developed and articulated. The discussion takes out from
relevant planning theoretical research, and is based on a review of 20 comprehensive plans published by the municipalities showing the most extensive population
decline over the past decade.
This paper examines a struggle over the future use of Nordic forests, which took place from 2009 to 2012 within a major research program, Future Forests—Sustainable Strategies under Uncertainty and Risk, organized and funded by Mistra, The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research. We explore the role of strategic environmental research in societal constructions of long-term challenges and future risks. Specifically, we draw attention to the role played by environmental research in the creation of future images that become dominant for how societies structure action for the long term. We also show that this process is on several accounts problematic. Research labeled “strategic” or “relevant” is intended to manage long-term risks and challenges in a sustainable way, by taking into account the “open” and “plural” nature of the future. The case of Future Forests suggests, rather, that by contributing to the emergence of dominant future images, environmental research is entangled with a process of gradual consensus creation around what may be highly selective or biased narratives of the long term, which may conceal or postpone key forms of future conflict.
Earlier research on residential mobility has demonstrated a tendency for the young old of the 55+ population to prefer peripheral locations, whereas older age groups choose central locations. Here, we present survey results indicating that such late-adulthood differences in preferences are supported by age-related shifts corresponding to differences in housing preferences expressed by individuals in peripheral as well as central locations in Sweden. A sample of 2,400 individuals aged 55 years and over was asked to select the seven most important characteristics of a dwelling from a list of 21 alternatives (Survey of Housing Intentions among the ELDerly in Sweden (SHIELD), 2013). The preferences expressed were used as dependent variables in logistic regressions to determine to what extent the housing preferences of older people are linked to age, gender, socio-economic status and type of geographical area. The results demonstrated a close link between neighbourhood characteristics and housing preferences. Owning the dwelling, having a garden and access to nature were stressed as important by individuals living in non-metropolitan middle-class areas and in suburban elite areas. The youngest cohort expressed similar preferences. Older age groups instead stressed the importance of an elevator, single-storey housing and a good design for independent living; preferences that have similarities to those expressed by individuals living in large cities and smaller urban centres where such housing is more readily available.
Access to land is a key challenge for prospective farmers in Europe. Retiring family farmers who lack a successor resort to leasing or selling their land, but the decision has implications for the community and the rural landscape for generations to come. It is thus crucial to know more about values and decisions linked to keeping, leasing or selling land, and the opportunities these provide for young farmers seeking to establish a business. It is also important to consider the choice of lessee/buyer and the relationship between the former farmer and lessee/buyer. This study is based on interviews with retired farmers, young farmers and farm advisors in Sweden. The results revealed that the lessee/buyer tends to be carefully chosen by the outgoing farmer and that non-monetary values and motivations, such as social interaction and concern for the environment, the rural community and the agricultural landscape are important. In some cases, the relationship between landowner/former farmer and lessee/buyer resembled family ties. The decision to lease/sell sometimes appeared to be a relief for the retiring farmer. For some lessees/buyers a close relationship with the former farmer provided valuable mentorship, while others valued the greater degree of freedom in leasing/buying compared with inheritance. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Most AFN studies tend to investigate in which ways these socio-economic constructs are distinct from conventional agricultural circuits. Less emphasis has been put on investigating how the relational processes leading to the formation of different types of AFN constitute different socio-economic constructs. In this paper, I use theoretical underpinnings from the debate in economy geography about proximity dynamics to explore the relational processes of formation of AFN. The use of proximity as a conceptual framework allows distinguishing between spatial (i.e. Euclidean distance) and relational (cognitive, organizational, institutional and social) understandings of emerging producer-consumer relations. I will perform this empirically by investigating accounts from small organic farmers located in a remote rural region of Sweden of how they establish and develop such short relations. The paper comforts findings from previous studies accounting that individual farmers are engaged in co-occurent forms of market relations but goes further by emphasizing the new spatialities and temporalities of the flows of goods, persons and information across the physical landscape that are induced through the formation of AFN.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'I see [Raworth] as the John Maynard Keynes of the 21st Century: by reframing the economy, she allows us to change our view of who we are, where we stand, and what we want to be.' George Monbiot, Guardian'This is sharp, significant scholarship . . . Thrilling.' Times Higher Education'[A] really important economic and political thinker.' Andrew MarrEconomics is broken. It has failed to predict, let alone prevent, financial crises that have shaken the foundations of our societies. Its outdated theories have permitted a world in which extreme poverty persists while the wealth of the super-rich grows year on year. And its blind spots have led to policies that are degrading the living world on a scale that threatens all of our futures.Can it be fixed? In Doughnut Economics, Oxford academic Kate Raworth identifies seven critical ways in which mainstream economics has led us astray, and sets out a roadmap for bringing humanity into a sweet spot that meets the needs of all within the means of the planet. En route, she deconstructs the character of ‘rational economic man’ and explains what really makes us tick. She reveals how an obsession with equilibrium has left economists helpless when facing the boom and bust of the real-world economy. She highlights the dangers of ignoring the role of energy and nature’s resources – and the far-reaching implications for economic growth when we take them into account. And in the process, she creates a new, cutting-edge economic model that is fit for the 21st century – one in which a doughnut-shaped compass points the way to human progress.Ambitious, radical and rigorously argued, Doughnut Economics promises to reframe and redraw the future of economics for a new generation.'An innovative vision about how we could refocus away from growth to thriving.' Daily Mail'Doughnut Economics shows how to ensure dignity and prosperity for all people.' Huffington Post
This paper explores to what extent organic initiatives that go beyond mainstream organic (so-called Organic 3.0) can challenge the corporate food regime and how they can push the food system towards sustainability transformations. We depart from the assumption that individual initiatives may differ in their potential to influence the corporate food regime and that this potential can be assessed by examining traits linked to reformist, progressive or radical food regime/food movement trends that they may possess. Rather than establishing a dichotomy between niche and food regime or categorizing Organic 3.0 initiatives within one of these trends, we explore the nuances in niche–regime relationships within the food system from a multi-level perspective, using the cases of two Organic 3.0 initiatives in Sweden. The results show that relations between these initiatives and the food regime share key characteristics, but also differ in important respects. While a reformist strategy facilitates niche growth, progressive and radical approaches are more likely to challenge the regime. The choice of approach in both cases involves trade-offs between growth and organic values. We conclude that one of the primary roles of Organic 3.0 initiatives may be to illustrate the viability of alternative models.
The failure of most developed western economies to return to the rates of economic growth enjoyed in earlier times has raised the spectre of secular stagnation first identified by Hansen in the 1930s. Central to secular stagnation is the complex link between capital investment and innovation, prompting fears that the recent collapse in investment is both a cause and an effect of the so-called end of innovation. The emergence of so-called zombie companies suggests a curtailment of creative destruction. The paper looks to the smart specialisation agenda and demand-led strategies for innovation as a means of removing innovation activity from reliance on large-scale top-down capital investment, instead shifting the focus to the role of the entrepreneur in the innovation and growth process. Key features of smart specialisation are used to underpin the construction of a conceptual model (the microsphere) that presents policymakers with a framework to reconnect with the entrepreneur to boost innovation and growth at the level of the region. The model frames the microsphere within which smart specialisation takes place, and how this can encourage innovation among small non-growth rural firms. Influenced by New Industrial Policy and the social geographies underpinning reflexive capitalism, the model builds on the entrepreneurial discovery process inherent in smart specialisation. The model provides policymakers with a guide to operationalise a smart specialisation strategy. Finally, the model is tested in a case study based on the priorities of an economic strategy of a rural region of Scotland.
The insurance industry is important for facilitating climate change adaptation.
Insurance companies’ involvement is, however, influenced by national adaptation
policy. The literature suggests that especially policy factors – government
interventions, political priorities and public–private cooperation – and market factors –
cost offset, cost mitigation, planning flexibility and business opportunities – shape
private actor approaches. To increase the understanding of insurance company
involvement in adaptation, this study examines how insurance companies’ approaches
are influenced by policy and market factors in three countries: Denmark, Norway and
Sweden. The study found that the policy factors tested significantly shaped the
approaches of the companies assessed, while market factors currently appear less
influential. This is likely due to the absence of climate risk and adaptation in political
debates and among insurance policyholders. The study discusses the potential role of
the insurance industry in adaptation governance and suggests how barriers facing
insurance companies could be overcome.