The emerging Swedish suburbs of the 1960- 1970s started out as a utopian vision: a new city for the modern people. Media presented a different view and emphasized the inhuman livingenvironment and the social problems of the suburbs. Nationwide there have been local attempts to avoid this negative publicity by adjusting identified suburban problems. Due to medial presentation the suburbs are still associated with segregation, criminality and social problems. The presentation of suburbs and immigrants affects not only the process of integration and the general public idea of integration processes, but also the individual perception of themselves and their living. Media have opened on to a collective discrimination of the neighborhood and its inhabitants. This essay aim to contribute to the understanding of how identities arise and are maintained when people are associated with certain geographical spaces, that is suburbs. The majority of the Swedish study of suburban discrimination and segregation takes place in the periphery off ocused on Andersberg, a suburb in a smaller city called Halmstad. It is a typical high-rise, concrete suburb with a high density of immigrants and unemployment. This essay has studied the power structures in the language regarding Andersberg, to discover the discriminating construction of suburban otherness. A postcolonial perspective illustrates how the perception of the suburb and its inhabitants is constructed as in the Swedish society. Discrimination and segregation is a result of the general public perception of the suburban inhabitants as criminal, uncivilized and patriarchal. the big cities. This essay hasothers, and consequently perceived as aliens

Abstract The Swedish society has always been monolingual, but has for the past decades transformed into a multicultural and multilingual society. The aim of this study is to investigate if and in that case how preschool teachers work with language development in bilingual and multicultural preschools. The concept of linguistic and cultural diversity includes several different components, not least the social interactions that are of great importance to every individual's development, learning and participation in the world. By understanding the importance of language, language development and the role of mother tongue in second language acquisition, we look into various researches done concerning the effects of the preschool teachers’ opinions, methods used to language developmental primarily for children who are multilingual and how the physical environment is shaped to promote language in multicultural and multilingual preschools. The method used in this study is semi-structured interviews with preschool teacher working in multicultural or bilingual preschool settings. The questions concerns opinions on multilingualism, which methods are used to promote children´s second language acquisition and development, and also how the physical environment is shaped to influence children´s cultural and lingual backgrounds in the preschools. The results are analyzed through the socio-cultural perspective, the curriculum for preschool, language acquisition theories, language and second language development and prior research in the studies three areas, opinions, methods and the physical environment. Regarding the preschool teachers opinions about multilingualism the results shows that knowledge of the child’s mother tongue, culture and background is of importance when working with children from a multicultural and multilingual background. The preschool teachers express a need for further education and knowledge of multilingual children’s language acquisition and development. Furthermore the results shows that preschool teachers point out that literature conversations is the most common methods as well as TAKK (sign as a complement for communication). Concerning how the preschools physical environment is shaped the results shows that such is not the case. The children's different experiences often get little or no space in the preschools physical environment primarily in terms of creating an environment that is recognizable for children from a linguistic and cultural diverse background. The discussion about the results stresses the need of further research and deeper knowledge among the preschool teachers concerning methods used and the importance of ensuring that the preschools physical environment reflects the children’s different cultures and languages. Keywords: Multilingualism, Second language acquisition/ development, Place identity Socio-culture perspective, Preschool Nyckelord: Flerspråkighet, Andraspråks inlärning/ utveckling, Platsidentitet Sociokulturellt perspektiv, Förskola

In this study the stories of Unisa academic employees and fashion models were explored. The aim was to understand the nature of place-identity at work and to also look at what impact do changes to these working environments have on place-identity. Another aim of this study was to compare these two work contexts. The data was collected through interviews combined with an auto-ethnographic approach. The study suggested that people form an identity towards their places of work and also that changes within the workplace can be perceived as a threat. The study also showed that there are similarities between Unisa and the catwalk as contexts of place-identity. / Psychology / M.A.(Psychology))

While discussions on the capacity of food tourism on promoting and maintaining the sustainability of host community have recently gained interest in tourism academia, the intersection between food events, tourism and sustainability need to be explored in a greater depth. This study focuses on place identity formation and examines how Ölands Skördefest shapes local residents’ place identity. In-depth interviews conducted with business representatives and tourism department members are themed analyzed through the lend of Identity Process Theory (IPT). The results illustrate how Ölands Skördefest shapes five components of place identity, and in particular how respondents felt about distinctiveness, belonging and self-efficacy. The study offers an understanding of how Ölands Skördefest contributes to promoting community sustainability through strengthening local place identity.

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. / <p>QC 20171004</p>

abstract: This study provides insights into expanding the concepts of community arts in general and more specifically community-based art practices (CAP); highlights the participatory characteristics in the processes of CAP, and seeks to discern the mechanism that contributes to the formation of community collective identity. Revolving around Bhattacharyya’s (1995, 2004) conceptualization of community development, this study found it essential for exploring the fundamental concept of community in relation to community identity. To examine the concept of community identity, this research anchors the inquiry by studying how community-based art practice contributes to community identification and seeks to discover the connection between identity process and social change. The research also discusses the emergent concepts that serve as influential factors to the formation of community identity and proposes an alternative identification mechanism, ‘jen-tung’ process, which provides a needed new dimension to the existing theories of social identity formation and community efficacy development. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Community Resources and Development 2020

Martin Veselý At home at the large housing estate? Local identity and place identification in different types of urban environment The thesis is concerned with the question of local identity and place identification in urban environment on the example of Prague's Southern Town representing a large, centrally planned housing estate, and "old" Vršovice as an example of a traditional city quarter. The author distinguishes two theoretical-methodological approaches to the analysis of urban environment. The first approach is ontological-historical, ethic perspective describing the city with the use of theoretical devices of urbanism and phenomenology of architecture. The second approach - anthropological - is an emic approach studying the interpretation of a place by social agents. The author shows on numerous examples, how do the people identify with a place and what is the role of the physical attributes of the place and its memory in the process of place identification. The relation between ontological-historical and anthropological perspective is according to the author dialogic and he is looking for points of intersection. He shows that the consequence of one-sided way of interpretation is insufficient understanding for place identity. In other words, it is not able to answer convincingly the...

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Martin Veselý At home at the large housing estate? Local identity and place identification in different types of urban environment The thesis is concerned with the question of local identity and place identification in urban environment on the example of Prague's Southern Town representing a large, centrally planned housing estate, and "old" Vršovice as an example of a traditional city quarter. The author distinguishes two theoretical-methodological approaches to the analysis of urban environment. The first approach is ontological-historical, ethic perspective describing the city with the use of theoretical devices of urbanism and phenomenology of architecture. The second approach - anthropological - is an emic approach studying the interpretation of a place by social agents. The author shows on numerous examples, how do the people identify with a place and what is the role of the physical attributes of the place and its memory in the process of place identification. The relation between ontological-historical and anthropological perspective is according to the author dialogic and he is looking for points of intersection. He shows that the consequence of one-sided way of interpretation is insufficient understanding for place identity. In other words, it is not able to answer convincingly the...

Syftet med denna uppsats blev utifrån detta att studera vad värmlänningar anser är deras egna platsidentitet, och om det är denna platsidentitet som lyfts i platsmarknadsföringen. Detta syfte lade en grund för några frågeställningar som ämnades att besvaras genom vår process.  Genom att presentera tidigare forskning inom olika tematiska ämnen lades detta en grund för kommande våra resultat och slutliga analys. Våra utvalda teorikapitel behandlar plats och destination, platsidentitet och platskänsla samt plats- och destinationsmarknadsföring och spänningen sinsemellan alla dessa begrepp. Plats är där invånare bor, medan destination är den plats där turism utövas. Platsidentitet innebär den tillhörighet en individ kan koppla till en plats och platskänsla syftar till en emotionell koppling till en plats. Platsmarknadsföring är den form marknadsföring som riktas till potentiella inflyttare och investerare till platsen medan destinationsmarknadsföring är att stärka destinationen för potentiella besökare och turister.  För att ta reda på detta genomfördes en kvalitativ enkät riktat till värmlänningar, och en innehålls- och dokumentanalys genomfördes för att analysera marknadsföringen. Detta blev ett enkelt sätt för oss att samla in respondentsvar och relevant empiri för våra kommande resultat, analyser och slutsatser. Vi baserade vår enkät på tidigare forskning och relevanta begrepp ur teorin för att på detta sätt kunna ge utförliga svar på våra frågeställningar, och på detta sätt kunde olika representationer av Värmland studeras och analyseras genom våra specifika metodval.  I och med detta visar våra slutsatser att det inte fanns några större skillnader mellan vad våra respondenter ansåg är typiskt för deras platsidentitet. Vare sig respondenten var man eller kvinna, ung eller äldre, hade hög eller låg utbildningsgrad eller sett till respondentens sysselsättningsgrad var de majoriteten överens om vad det innebär att vara värmlänning. Dock fanns det en liten skillnad i vad respondenterna anser var “typiskt” värmländskt och vad olika aktörer väljer att visa i deras marknadsföring. Vi kan se en spänning, som en sorts paradox, mellan att en plats ofta uppfattas som att den har en identitet medan vi lever i en tid där det anses vara problematiskt att gruppera människor, utifrån deras ursprung. / The purpose of this thesis was to study what “värmlänningar” consider to be their own place identity, and whether this place identity is highlighted in place marketing. This purpose laid the foundation for the framing of the questions that were intended to be answered through our process.  By presenting previous research in various thematic topics, this laid a foundation for our upcoming results and final analysis. Our selected theory chapters deal with place and destination, place identity and sense of place, as well as place and destination marketing and the tension between all these concepts. Place is where residents live, while destination is the place where tourism is practised. Place identity means the belonging an individual can attach to a place and sense of place refers to an emotional connection to a place. Place marketing is the form of marketing aimed to attract potential new residents and investors to the place while destination marketing is to strengthen the destination for potential visitors and tourists.  A qualitative survey was conducted aimed at “värmlänningar”, and a content and document analysis were conducted to analyse the marketing. This became an easy way for us to collect respondents' answers and relevant empirical data for our future results, analysis, and conclusions. We based our survey on previous research and relevant concepts from the theory in order to be able to provide detailed answers to our questions, and, with this, different representations of Värmland could be studied and analysed through our specific method choice.  Our conclusions show that there were no major differences between what our respondents considered to be typical for their place identity. Whether the respondent was male or female, young or older, had a high or low degree of education or in terms of the respondent's employment rate, the majority agreed on what it means to be a “värmlänning”. However, there was a small difference in what the respondents considered to be “typical” for Värmland and what different actors choose to show in their marketing. We can see a tension, as a kind of paradox, between a place often being perceived as having an identity while we live in a time where it is considered problematic to group people, based on their origin.