The stories we tell about "the economy" in discourses of regional economic development play an active role in shaping our economic realities. The construction of more equitable, democratic and ecologically-sound economies must involve an interrogation of our assumptions about what “the economy” is, how it works, and how these conceptions shape our senses of agency and possibility. I argue in this thesis that key texts in regional economic development present a concept of economy that renders the interrelationships between social, economic and ecological processes invisible or beyond ethical contestation, restricts the field of economic possibility, and generates a problematic sense of necessity in the pursuit of endless growth and competition. Effectively enacting different forms of economic relationship requires different economic ontologies. After exploring in some detail, through engagement with the work of Butler, Laclau and Mouffe and Latour, the proposition that "the economy" is socially-produced and that economic ontologies can be "performative,” I investigate the alternative economic ontologies of Karl Polanyi, Stephen Gudeman and J.K. Gibson-Graham. Offering a conceptualization of economy as a process of actively constructing livelihoods in which human and more-than-human participation are recognized and the ethical nature of this interdependence is placed at the forefront of economic negotiation and construction, I distill a provisional toolbox of economic questions, concepts and coordinates which might become sites of new learning, imagination and construction when placed in the hands of communities who seek a different kind of development.

This thesis focuses on how local administrations in mid-sized cities can govern and plan for the sharing economy. To explore this, a case study of Umeå municipality's work on the sharing economy is carried out. Umeå municipality is one of four Swedish cities participating in the national program for the sharing economy in cities, Sharing Cities Sweden (SCS). The sharing economy can be described as an economic model that promotes a change from ownership to access and the production of resources and services in peer-to-peer networks. In response to a growing sharing economy in cities, local administrations have implemented policies and regulations against sharing platforms such as Airbnb and Uber. Cities also encourage sharing initiatives by planning for publicly run tool libraries, bike sharing schemes and local maker spaces (workshops to share tools, knowledge and ideas). Furthermore, there is an ongoing discussion about the implications of a growing sharing economy in cities. Some researchers argue that parts of the sharing economy instead of reducing resource consumption, building trust and creating more just resource access are centralizing power to a few platform monopolies and are using control and surveillance through collection of big data in order to extract profit. To counter this trend, this thesis is interested in how cities can govern and plan for a democratic and just model for the sharing economy. The discussion about the sharing economy in research and the media has mainly focused on big cities and metropolises, thus the focus on mid-sized cities in this thesis. Through interviews of key actors within Umeå's sharing economy and participation at the Cooperative Cities conference in Umeå, the thesis points to a locally based model of sharing economy in Umeå. In the absence of larger platforms within the sharing economy, Umeå can provide “shareable” resources in the city through collaboration with local actors and by organizing public-commons partnership. To sustain a locally based sharing economy, the thesis argues for the municipality to think of the sharing services in Umeå as a sharing ecosystem. It implies that the municipality contributes to a good environment for sharing services by providing a network, knowledge, support and spaces. Two sub-projects within Umeå's participation in Sharing Cities Sweden are analyzed, the library for sport equipment’s, Fritidsbanken and Service hubs which involves "nodes / hubs that concentrate and provide various services to Umeå residents". Fritidsbanken can be understood as a form of social infrastructure that can contribute to rebuild social capital in neighborhoods. Service hubs can be understood as a form of sharing infrastructure that facilitates sustainable lifestyles. Finally, it is stated that the municipality of Umeå, as a mid-size city that has not experienced the negative consequences of the sharing economy, can take a proactive role for a just and democratic sharing economy. / Den här uppsatsen undersöker hur lokala förvaltningar i mellanstora städer kan styra och planera för delningsekonomi. För att utforska detta görs en fallstudie av Umeå kommuns arbete med delningsekonomi inom det nationella programmet för delningsekonomi i städer, Sharing Cities Sweden (SCS). Koncept som delningsekonomi eller kollaborativ konsumtion har vuxit sig starka under 2010-talet. Det handlar om att gå från ägande till tillgång, att minska resursförbrukning genom att utnyttja ”slumrande” kapacitet hos resurser och att producera resurser gemensamt peer-to-peer. I reaktion mot en växande delningsekonomi i städer har lokala förvaltningar infört riktlinjer och policys mot delningstjänster som t.ex. Airbnb och Uber. Lokala förvaltningar uppmuntrar också delningsinitiativ genom att planera för till exempel offentligt drivna lånebibliotek för verktyg, lånecykelsystem och verkstäder för delning av verktyg, kunskap och idéer. Vidare förs det en diskussion om delningsekonomins utveckling i städer. Vissa forskare menar att delar av delningsekonomin istället för att minska resursförbrukning, bygga tillit och skapa en mer rättvis resurstillgång kan bidra till försämrade arbetsvillkor, kontroll och övervakning samt en centralisering av makt. Med bakgrund i denna diskussion är uppsatsen intresserad av att studera hur städer istället kan styra och planera för en rättvis och demokratisk delningsekonomi. Diskussionen som förs om delningsekonomins utveckling i forskning och media fokuserar mestadels på storstäder och metropoler, därav ligger fokuset på mellanstora städer i uppsatsen. Genom intervjuer av centrala aktörer inom Umeås delningsekonomi och deltagande på konferensen Cooperative Cities i Umeå konstaterar uppsatsen att den delningsekonomi som utvecklas i Umeå kan ses som en lokalt förankrad delningsekonomi. I frånvaro av större plattformar inom delningsekonomi tillgängliggör Umeå stadens resurser genom att samarbeta med lokala aktörer och organisera sig i vad som kan beskrivas som ett partnerskap med civilsamhället. För att få en lokalt förankrad delningsekonomi att fungera argumenterar uppsatsen att kommunen kan tänka på helheten av de delningstjänster som finns i Umeå som ett ekosystem för delning. Det innebär att kommunen bidrar till att skapa en miljö där delningstjänster får rätt förutsättningar genom att tillhandahålla nätverk, kunskap, stöd och lokaler. I uppsatsen undersöks två delprojekt inom Umeå kommuns arbete med delningsekonomi, lånebiblioteket för fritidsutrustning, Fritidsbanken och delprojektet Servicehubbar som innebär ”noder/nav som koncentrerar och tillhandahåller olika service till Umeås invånare”. Fritidsbanken kan förstås som en form av social infrastruktur som kan bidra till att bygga socialt kapital i stadsdelar. Servicehubbar kan förstås som en form av delningsinfrastruktur som underlättar för hållbara livsstilar. Avslutningsvis konstateras att Umeå kommun, en mellanstor stad som inte upplevt de negativa konsekvenserna av delningsekonomi likt flera storstäder, kan ta en proaktiv roll för en rättvis och demokratisk delningsekonomi.

The demand for natural resources is increasing, leading to more exploitations in northern Sweden. This project is situated in the region of Norrbotten, which is currently undergoing significant transformations due to continued mining activity, energy production, and forestry. These activities are claiming, destroying, and disrupting large areas of land. In addition, little of the resources produced from these activities benefit the communities. Sami people were nomads, moving to different hunting, fishing, and reindeer land. However, the Sami community has had southern models imposed upon them, which has affected the loss of Sami knowledge and culture. This project challenges the dominant narrative of ‘green development’, stating that the exploitations are not sustainable or just. Through the lens of sustainability, the project understands the practices of Sami culture and the value of local ecologies in the region to derive solutions. By building on nomadic practice and utilizing the land like the Sami community, this project generates resilient, productive landscapes. This project puts forward an alternative future scenario, one where Sweden is based on a distributed, decentralized structure. This thesis aims to provide strategies for a more self-sufficient, interdependent region where the connection between local communities and local ecologies is re-established.

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Although debate on commons has been going on for the last five decades, it is only in the last two decades that attention has been focussed on new commons. Even then, urban commons though acknowledged as part of new commons, has attracted little attention among researchers of commons. This study therefore sought to explore the nature and management of urban commons and how they (urban commons) contribute to social sustainability in the neighbourhood. This study has taken a qualitative approach and deployed a case study method with a focus on Stapelbadden/Stapelbaddsparken as cases. In-depth semi - structured interviews were conducted with thirteen participants drawn from diverse stakeholders representing different interest groups. The study found out that the two phenomena (Stapelbadden/Stapelbaddsparken) display some of the factors that affect the management or governance of urban commons more than traditional commons namely, indirect value, contested resources, mobility and cross-sector collaboration. In addition, by virtue of creating networks of different user groups, they create bridging social capital which contributes to social sustainability in the city.

In recent decades, care ethics has become more visible in discussions of contemporary moral problems; however, longstanding ethical theories such as deontology and utilitarianism remain prominent in discussing controversial contemporary issues. I show the relevance of care ethics in discussions of globalization, especially regarding care ethics's applicability to the problem of "global care chains." Global care chains form when a person from a developing nation, usually a female, emigrates to serve as a fulltime nanny or housekeeper for a middle or upper class household. Her remittances pay for another care worker to replace her at home during her absence. This chain of caring labor extends across oceans and involves multiple households and various intricate webs of relationship. Care chains are problematic for three reasons. First, immigrant care workers find themselves particularly vulnerable to manipulation and abuse at the hands of their wealthy employers: Generally, labor laws in most countries do not apply to workers in private households. Second, the consistent migration of female care workers from poorer to wealthier countries eventually damages the socio-emotional commons in these workers' home communities. Third, care chains maintain the global illusion that women have achieved genuine equality with men: Because the gendered division of labor persists in the private and public sphere along with the masculine career model, women generally still find themselves burdened with the second-shift of caring labor in their homes. In response, I propose the use of "caring contracts" to address these conflicts. First, the caring contract shows how care ethics's feminist priorities can work in conjunction with the liberally derived concept of contractual arrangements between seemingly distant parties. Second, caring contracts prohibit the abuse of immigrant care workers while motivating a global conversation regarding the patriarchal and masculinist norms that have encouraged women's reliance on care chains. Privileged men and women will have to reconsider the true value of care work and understand why all capable individuals should participate in its completion. This dialogue would have to include revising global economic polices that have forced women in developing countries to emigrate for employment opportunities. / Philosophy

Die Komplexität und auch die zusammenhängenden globalen Prozesse auf unserer Erde werden immer grösser und undurchschaubarer. Dies hatte in den letzten Jahren zur Folge, dass die Anzahl und Häufigkeit an Krisen, denen wir als Gesellschaft ausgesetzt sind, immer mehr angestiegen sind und auch in den nächsten Jahren nicht abnehmen werden, wenn sich Faktoren, die die Umwelt und Wirtschaft beeinflussen, nicht massgebend ändern. Unter diesen Gegebenheiten eine vorausschauende Betrachtung unserer Welt und somit auch Gesellschaft anzugehen, führt zu einer Diskussionsgrundlage für neue Visionen des Zusammenarbeitens, Zusammenwohnens, also des Zusammenlebens. Ein Phänomen, welches besonders in den letzten zwei Jahren wieder mehr aufkommt, ist das verstärkte Interesse an gemeinschaftlichen Projekten, sei es zu den naheliegenden Themen Wohnen und Arbeiten oder auch im übergeordneten Sinne, wie man wieder Gemeinschaft schafft oder gemeinsam schafft. In erster Linie klingt es nach einer Wortklauberei, dennoch haben sich bereits viele WissenschaftlerInnen mit den Folgen von einem neuen Gemeinschaftsgedanken auseinandergesetzt, bzw. viel mehr Handlungsoptionen aufgezeigt, was ein neues Verständnis für Stadt, Architektur und Gesellschaft bedeuten könnte.