Stadsdelslyftet Andersberg är ett omfattande projekt inom Gävle kommun med idag mycket viktiga ambitioner såsom att öka integrationen, skapa mer jämlika förutsättningar, att öka den upplevda tryggheten, samt att utveckla en modell för brett samverkansarbete med dessa och andra samhällsutmaningar i stadsdelar där det finns behov. Gävle kommun anlitade en forskargrupp vid Högskolan i Gävle för att bedriva följeforskning av projektet Stadsdelslyftet. Syftet med följeforskningen var att undersöka hur den nya mötesplatsen Andreassalens verksamhet bidrar till uppfyllandet av Stadsdelslyftets målsättningar, med ambitionen att generera forskningsbaserad kunskap som en grund för utvecklingen av verkningsfulla metoder för att åstadkomma ökad social inkludering och en socialt hållbar stadsutveckling. Forskningsmetoden har inkluderat semi-strukturerade intervjuer och fokusgruppsintervjuer samt enkätundersökning.  Resultaten visar att Andreassalen spelar en viktig roll i det samverkande samhällsarbete som bedrivs i Andersberg och att verksamheten har bidragit till uppfyllandet av flera av Stadsdelslyftets effektmål. Andreassalen fyller en funktion som ett områdescenter där kommunala aktörer, civilsamhällets föreningsliv, boende från lokalsamhället och andra stadsdelar, möts och interagerar och där en mångfald av aktiviteter organiseras. För att uppnå en socialt hållbar utveckling av Andersberg är det därför angeläget att Stadsdelslyftets och Andreassalens arbete fortsätter och vidareutvecklas. I det fortsatta arbetet att vidareutveckla Stadsdelslyftet och utarbeta en modell för liknande arbete i andra stadsdelar finns viktiga lärdomar att dra från arbetet med Andreassalen.

Stadsdelslyftet Andersberg is a comprehensive project within the municipality of Gävle with very important ambitions such as increasing integration, creating more equal conditions, increasing the perceived security, and developing a model for broad collaborative work with these and other social challenges in neighborhoods where there is a need. The municipality of Gävle asked a research group at the University of Gävle to conduct participatory research on the Stadsdelslyftet project. The purpose of the research was to explore how the new meeting place Andreassalen's activities contribute to the fulfillment of the Stadsdelslyftet project goals, with the ambition to generate research-based knowledge as a basis for the development of effective methods to achieve increased social inclusion and socially sustainable urban development. The research method has included semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews as well as a questionnaire survey. The results show that Andreassalen plays an important role in the collaborative community work conducted in the neighborhood Andersberg and that the activities have contributed to the fulfillment of several of the project impact goals. Andreassalen serves as a community center where municipal actors, civil society associations, residents from the local community and other city districts meet and interact, and where a variety of activities are organized. In order to achieve socially sustainable development of Andersberg, it is therefore important that the work of Stadsdelslyftet and Andreassalen continues and is further developed. In the continued work to further develop Stadsdelslyftet and develop a model for similar work in other city districts, there are important lessons to be learned from the work with Andreassalen.

Summary

This study examined how youth perceive their health, well-being, and working-life capacity in relation to ecosocial work within the context of sustainable development. Data were gathered using the photovoice method with two discussion groups, including 11 15- to 19-year-olds from Gävle, Sweden. Inductive thematic analysis was used to create themes from the data. The Having-Doing-Loving-Being model of well-being by Helne and Hirvilammi, and Zimmerman's psychological empowerment were applied to interpret the findings.

Findings

The findings indicate that the participants saw sustainable development as a “buzz concept” with low relevance for their health and well-being. The participants perceived health and well-being as “feeling good” on an individual level, with more emphasis on doing activities for self-actualization and less on working-life capacity or environmental issues. They expressed no interest in disseminating the results of their discussions to other stakeholders for collective empowerment and social mobilization, which is a crucial part of the photovoice method. The results also indicate an individualistic and hedonic life orientation among the participants.

Applications

The study provides social work and its practitioners an understanding of the importance of enabling youth voices and linking youth personal and collective well-being with sustainable development. The study also offers an understanding of well-being within social work discourse that incorporates environmental stewardship alongside youth's personal fulfilment.

Mitigating and adapting to climate change is a vital challenge that cannot rely solelyon technology or macro policies but need also be tailored to local social and ecologi-cal contexts. As theory suggests, institutional designs that increase collective climateaction could potentially speed up climate action in society. In this article we explorethe concept of ‘community climate commons’ (CCCs) to foster interconnected andholistic approaches involving citizens and civil society in addressing climate change.Based on a systematic literature review, the aim is to further develop the concept ofCCCs and to identify key features for the successful establishment of CCCs for thepromotion of collective climate action. The results identify four key features forCCCs: (1) democratic organization with transformative leadership, (2) small groupsizes with clear boundaries and existing rules-in-use for participation, (3) access toorganizational structures, meeting places, social capital, collective identity, and socialcohesion, and (4) external financial, political, and social support. In conclusion, CCCshave a real potential to foster a wider societal mobilization of collective climateaction while simultaneously addressing other issues of concern in local communities.

The concept of social sustainability has long been a subject of discussion within academic literature and practitioners. However, there remains a lack of clarity in its definition and scholars argue that this can impacting the legitimacy of addressing social sustainability challenges. Through a systematic literature review and a content analysis, we shed light on the multifaceted discourse surrounding the concept of social sustainability, elucidating its diverse applications and meanings portrayed and defined within scholarly discourse. Our findings show that the concept predominantly revolves around four prevalent categories: “Equity,” “Well-being,” “Participation and Influence,” and ‘Social Capital. Based on results, we develop and present a novel analytical framework of the four pillars of social sustainability, referred to as the “SoSuCompass,” representing a conceptual framework to clarify the concept's multifaceted nature. The framework can serve as a tool for a fuller comprehension of the definition of social sustainability.

This paper aims to emphasize the need for enhancing inclusivity and accessibility within smart-city societies. It represents the first attempt to apply Amartya Sen’s capability approach by exploring the implications of digital divides for promoting inclusive and climate-friendly cities that prioritize well-being, equity, and societal participation. Sen’s framework recognizes individual variations in converting resources into valuable ‘functionings’, and herein emphasizes the importance of aligning personal, social, and environmental conversion factors for individuals to fully navigate, participate in, and enjoy the benefits provided by smart cities. Adopting the capability approach and employing a cross-disciplinary analysis of the scientific literature, the primary objective is to broaden understanding of how to improve inclusivity and accessibility within smart-city societies, with a specific focus on marginalized community members facing first- and second-level digital divides. This paper underscores the importance of adopting a systemic perspective on climate-smart city navigation and stresses the importance of establishing a unified governing body responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and enhancing smart-city functionality. The paper concludes by summarizing some policy recommendations to boost social inclusion and address climate change in smart cities, such as creating capability-enhancing institutions, safeguarding redundancy in public-choice options, empowering citizens, and leveraging academic knowledge in smart-city policy formulation.

Carbon taxes are considered to be an efficient method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; however, such taxes are generally unpopular, partly because they are seen as unfair. To explore if public acceptance of a stricter carbon tax in Sweden can be enhanced, this study investigates the effectiveness of three different policy designs, addressing collective and personal distributional consequences and promoting procedural aspects (democratic influence). A large-scale (n = 5200) survey is applied, combining a traditional multi-category answer format with a binary choice format. The results show that support for higher carbon taxation can be enhanced if tax revenues are redistributed to affected groups. Policies with collective justice framings can change the attitudes of individuals who express antagonistic attitudes to increased carbon taxation and influence groups comparably more affected by carbon taxes, such as rural residents, low-income groups, and people who are driving long distances. Policy designs addressing collective distributional consequences are, however, less effective on individuals expressing right-leaning ideological views and low environmental concern. Policies addressing personal distributional outcomes, or perceptions of procedural injustice, had no significant effect on policy acceptance. 

Drawing on a Gramscian Regulation Approach and Harvey’s accumulation by dispossession thesis, this article discusses the structural and hegemonic mechanisms of the neoliberal transformation of Sweden’s welfare sectors. Providing new longitudinal data on welfare retrenchment, corporate governance, wealth shares, and private economic power, the article further analyzes how the transformation of the Swedish post-war universal welfare model is related to class struggle and accumulation regime change in the Swedish economy. Following a decade-long countermobilization of Swedish capital and a severe economic crisis in the early 1990s, neoliberal economic common sense was cemented among social democratic policy elites that manifested itself in an institutionalized austerity polity, leading to a slow but steady dismantling of the Swedish welfare project. Roughly a fifth of employees in the three largest welfare sectors work in private welfare companies that generate tax-financed profits on politically created welfare markets. Welfare profits are in turn defended by a welfare–industrial complex and undergirded by a hegemonic bloc consisting of capital elites and sympathetic policymakers. In the virtual absence of vocal antihegemonic forces, many social democratic leaders have limited criticism against welfare profits throughout the last decades. On the contrary, austerity measures practiced by Swedish social democrats have thereto led to deteriorating social cohesion and spawned distrust among core social democratic voters.