Contact person
Madeleine Frisk Garcia
Doktorand
Contact Madeleine
Sweden's largest public utility company is seeking ways to reduce segregation and increase security in development areas.
In order to reverse the trend in disadvantaged areas and reduce segregation in society, several major initiatives are now being undertaken by authorities and municipal property owners in Sweden. The doctoral project Evaluation of area initiatives in Gothenburg analyses security and segregation using register data and customer satisfaction surveys at Sweden's largest public utility company, Framtidenkoncernen in Gothenburg.
'We will analyse the Group's investment in Gothenburg, hoping that the results can be used to evaluate efforts linked to factors such as perceived security, migration patterns, socio-demographic changes and more. We also hope that the results will be useful to other municipal property owners, as well as to authorities such as the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Audit Office," says Madeleine Frisk Garcia, a doctoral student at RISE.
The doctoral project forms part of the practice-oriented research school ASSURE, which is run by RISE in collaboration with a large number of partners, including the Framtiden Group.
Focus on areas for development.
The Framtiden Group is Sweden's largest public utility company. One in four residents of Gothenburg live in one of the group's 75,000-plus apartments. In 2020, the group adopted a development strategy based on the municipality's ambition to eliminate all particularly vulnerable areas by 2030.
Lars Bankvall, Head of Research and Development at Framtidenkoncernen, explains how they work: - The municipality has decided that no area in Gothenburg should be on the police's list of particularly vulnerable areas by 2030. 'This is a major challenge, but it also engages our employees and the residents of these areas. We believe it is achievable, but we are also humbled by the challenges that come with such an ambitious goal," he says.
Madeleine Frisk Garcia has noticed a high level of commitment within the group.
It is interesting to see how many initiatives the housing companies within the group are already carrying out. These range from homework help and activities for children and young people to safety-promoting initiatives such as securing the properties. 'When I look at the list of measures and activities, there are hundreds of them,' says Madeleine Frisk Garcia.
As a municipal property group, we play a key role in helping the city bridge the socio-economic gaps between its different areas.
Identify patterns and take action on initiatives.
The police currently consider Biskopsgården, Bergsjön, Hammarkullen, Hjällbo and Lövgärdet to be particularly vulnerable areas. Tynnered was previously on the list, but has not been classified as such since 2021.
'As a municipal property group, we play an important role in helping the city bridge the socio-economic gaps between its different areas. We also see this as a commercially viable and potentially profitable endeavour. It is therefore important that we can use this project to identify patterns and track our efforts quantitatively to see results," says Lars Bankvall.
Gårdsten is one starting point for reversing the trend in disadvantaged areas and has become something of a model for the Framtiden Group. Over the past 20 years, the Group's subsidiary, Gårdstensbostäder, has worked long-term to improve the area's economic and social conditions, and will now also add an ecological and sustainable dimension to further develop the area.
'We see that the Gårdsten area has developed positively in recent years and is no longer classified as particularly vulnerable, so it serves as a starting point and inspiration for us,' says Lars Bankvall.
We have already benefited from the project, having conducted preliminary analyses that look promising. We hope to gain a clearer picture of the situation and identify what works well and what could be improved.
However, according to Madeleine Frisk Garcia, it is not straightforward to achieve clear results or draw concrete conclusions.
In a perfect world, we would all want to see concrete results from a particular effort. When it comes to evaluating area-based efforts, where several initiatives are carried out in parallel, there are methodological challenges. Nevertheless, she says that it would mean a lot to be able to see the process that led to the result.
Lars Bankvall again:
We have already benefited from the project through preliminary analyses that look promising. We hope to gain a clearer picture of the situation and identify what works well and what could be improved. This information will inform future investments and is therefore linked to our strategy for each residential area. We believe that the project will support us in making decisions and carrying out analysis in our evaluation of ongoing initiatives and our work to identify future priorities.
increased security
The Framtiden Group has properties throughout Gothenburg. Its annual tenant survey has shown that living conditions in particularly vulnerable areas have improved over the past three years.
Since we have properties in many different areas of Gothenburg, we can compare them. Overall, the feeling of living in an attractive and safe area is increasing. There are many signs that things are moving in the right direction, and the results in these particularly vulnerable areas are approaching the city average, which is positive. All other things being equal, our aim is to bridge the gap between the different parts of the city. 'Your living experience should not depend on which part of Gothenburg you live in,' says Lars Bankvall.
Valuable knowledge that offers practical benefits.
The Framtiden Group is also working on other similar projects that will highlight various aspects of residential areas. However, this particular project has significant advantages.
We think it works very well with RISE's knowledge in the field. The collaboration provides us with practical benefits, which is important to us. The results will ultimately serve as decision support, and we are moving in that direction, which feels good. Investing in the living environment is also purely business-related. It increases property values, which is essential for our business priorities. In addition, we hope that the project will help other property owners in Sweden facing similar challenges, and contribute to area development there as well,' concludes Lars Bankvall.
