The transformation of cities through gentrification and the commodification of culture and green space are central problems in Urban Studies. This thesis investigated how cities like Stockholm can move forward from this gentrification. The perspective of relational placemaking was taken, as this can occur both top-down via actions of urban planners and bottom-up by the organization of local residents. The SoFo neighbourhood on the island of Södermalm in central Stockholm is a rich example of gentrification and hipster urbanism. This research investigates the meaning of SoFo today, over 20 years after it was first named. The analysis was organized using the relational placemaking framework of Pierce and colleagues. To summarize, the problem or conflict was gentrification and this was illustrated for SoFo using data. Gentrification occurred after 2001 and the rapid rise in property value, a 20% turnover of people and the Swedish middle class demographics each confirm the gentrification noted by others. With this problem established, theplace frame of the current identity of SoFo was what the actors interacted around and what was considered as the response to gentrification. The initial placemaking of SoFo rested on a strong identity that was both radical and carefree and respondents tended to look back with nostalgia to the 90s when the area was the centre of the Stockholm music scene. The brand of SoFo was mainly produced grassroots through local residents and businesses without specific top-down actions from the city government. The two actors explored were real estate and small businesses. Real estate could encourage gentrification through the discourse in the ads and selective marketing to wealthy gentrifiers that appreciated quality and could afford it. Looking at final sale prices from abehavioural perspective, people were willing to pay for living in SoFo and paid more to be near areas like Nytorget with its liveliness. However, realtors claimed that SoFo also offers relaxation or peace and quiet, which rebrands away from the established carefree identity. Looking then at the small businesses, evidence was provided that indicated a strategy against gentrification. Many businesses focused on small scale handicraft or providing places for their friends and local community. Some were even not interested in a profitable business plan and acted on purpose to make their place uncool, to avoid attracting trendy hipsters that would displace their clientele. Small businesses were also rebranding SoFo, expressing that the carefree and relaxed identity is there if one looks away from trendy Nytorget. The defensive strategy of the small businesses was subtle and unusual and led the author to the following, somewhat informal analogy: SoFo is playing dead until the bear of gentrification moves on to another neighbourhood. This strategy understands theinterconnectivity of trendy, authentic shops, raised rents and gentrification.

This exploratory research project explores the production and use, and subsequent closure and eviction of the community-designed and managed Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford – a predominantly working-class area in south-east London. This community garden played a key role in the lives of many local residents and its closure and subsequent demolition to make way for a large housing project drew a significant backlash from local residents which included protests, law-suits, and the occupation of the garden itself. Why this small, half-acre community garden garnered such a notable response is the main focus of and motivation for this research project. Using a combined-methods approach consisting of semi-structured interviews and participant observation, this research investigates what it was about Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden which resulted in this backlash, and why the local council’s decision to close it drew such a militant revolt from local community members. Combining the empirical results of this research with a deep inquiry into the concepts of space and power within urban theory, this thesis seeks to understand the rights working-class communities have to contribute to the production of public green space, and how such community-led contribution can impact on the space produced, both inside and outside the context of Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden and its former users.

The thesis covers the role of the Green Space Factor (GSF) system as a nature-based solution for ecological urban planning in the sustainable city. One main focus for sustainable urban development is the aspect of constructing green spaces and green buildings in order to improve land-use efficiencies and thus minimize negative environmental impacts. Hence, in this study research is made through conducting a qualitative municipal document analysis on how the GSF system is portrayed and implemented in urban planning strategies based on the municipalities of Malmö and Gothenburg. To limit the study, two urban areas are selected for further investigation, the Western harbour in Malmö City and the Freeport in Gothenburg City. The documents included in the study are based on three categories of developing the chosen urban areas: visions, area programs and detailed plans. From the document analysis, several categories or themes were extracted consisting of future goals and vision, actors and trademarks, visionary sustainability, climate change adaptation strategies, sustainable urban development models, green infrastructure, and lastly strategies and design principles of the Western harbour and the Freeport. The results are analysed through the theory of neoliberalised urban climate change adaptation strategies and green fix as crisis management. In order to include the local context of sustainable urban development, environmental policy localization is also included in the analysis of the results. The results from the analysis of the empirical material show that the municipalities of Malmö and Gothenburg have implemented the GSF planning system into the local context of their visions, area programs and detailed plans of both the Western harbour and the Freeport. The GSF system is included in both urban planning strategies through indirect terminologies connected to general sustainable development, such as climate change adaptation, green infrastructure and design principles showcasing the desired sustainability strategies. However, the results present the risk of market-based sustainability trademarking. The study concludes on the mark that it is important for the cities to on one hand implement the GSF system into the overall policies design, and on another hand face sustainable urban development at a variety of spatial scales in order to meet the external requirements originating in the localization of environmental policies.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka olika former av exkluderande design i offentliga och semi-offentliga rum, samt vilka konsekvenser en sådan design kan ha på olika samhällsgrupper. Studiens resultat är baserade på fokuserade observationer av den fysiska designen, främst i Göteborg, i triangulering med innehållsanalys av översikts- och detaljplaner. Studiens resultat visar att en mångfald av designmodeller användes i de observerade offentliga och semi-offentliga rummen, varav en del av dessa designer kan ses som exkluderande. Majoriteten av observerade sittplatser finns hos privata aktörer som caféer och uteserveringar, vilket signalerar ett behov av att vara konsument för att få ta del av dessa semi-offentliga platser. Semi-offentliga platser som var stängda nattetid samt hinder mot skateboardåkning var andra observerade designer som riktar in sig på särskilda samhällsgrupper eller beteenden. Fyra grupper anses vara speciellt påverkade av exkluderande design: hemlösa, funktionsnedsatta, resurssvaga, samt skateboardåkare. I kontrast till tidigare forskning anser vi att flera av de observerade designerna kan anses vara inkluderande istället för att enbart ses som exkluderande. / The aim of this study is to explore different forms of unpleasant design in public and semi-public spaces and what potential consequences such design may have on different social groups. The results are based on focused observations of the physical designs themselves, primarily in Gothenburg, Sweden, in triangulation with text analysis of official documentations of land use and zoning plans. The findings indicate that a variety of designs were used throughout the observed public and semi-public spaces, some of which can be seen as unpleasant. Most of the observed seating options were located within privatised businesses, signalling the need to be a consumer to use these semi-public spaces. Semi-public spaces that are inaccessible during the night as well as anti-skate obstacles were other observed designs that targeted a certain group or behaviour. Four social groups were found to be more of a target or sufferer of the designs: the homeless, people with disabilities, the destitute, and skateboarders. In contradiction to previous research a substantial amount of the observed designs can be perceived as inclusive rather than only exclusionary.

The purpose of this essay has been to attain an in-depth understanding of communicative power struggles within the urban space from a critical urban perspective based on the Right to the City. The project that constitutes the case study for this analysis has been the BID Malmö’s utility box project. The starting point has been that Malmö’s utility boxes function as a communicative medium, an urban public bulletin board, a common whose usage is constrained by projects implemented by entities like BID Malmö. The study is grounded in a theoretical understanding of the city as a social product, marked by power struggles linked to the competitive, postindustrial city. Critical urban theory has been combined with a discourse-oriented ctitical perspective focusing on power, ideology and hegemony, forming the basis for the conducted critical discourse analysis. The findings of the study reveal that art and culture are assigned a central role in the postindustrial city, tasked with transforming urban space. The transformation from a dirty or unsafe current to a safe and attractive futurecity. At the same time, culture is assigned a commitment to fostering participation, even as the same art is used to enclose and restrict certain parts of the public space. / Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att nå fördjupad kunskap om det urbana rummets kommunikativa maktkamper utifrån ett kritiskt urbant perspektiv om Rätten till staden. BID Malmös elskåpsprojekt har utgjort undersökningens fallstudie. Utgångspunkten har varit att Malmös elskåp är ett kommunikativt medium, en urban offentlig anslagstavla, en allmänning. Vars användning begränsas genom olika projekt som genomförs av bland andra BID Malmö. Undersökningen förankras i en teoretisk förståelse för staden som socialt producerad och präglad av maktkamper kopplade till den konkurrerande, postindustriella staden. Den kritiska urbana teorin har kombinerats med ett diskursteoretiskt perspektiv med fokus på makt, ideologi och hegemoni. Vilka tillsammans har lagt grunden för den genomförda kritiska diskursanalysen. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att konsten och kulturen tillskrivs en central roll i den postindustriella staden, vars uppgift är att omskapa rummet till något annat än vad det är idag med fokus på trygghet och stadens attraktivitet. Kulturen tillskrivs ett åtagande att skapa delaktighet, samtidigt som samma kultur används för att inhägna och stänga ner delar av det offentliga rummet och minska rätten till staden.