For whom is the city built? A study of goal conflicts, migration patterns and living conditions in the densified city

This study analyses how the inequitable housing market, with rising socio-economic segregation, is affected by municipal policy to use urban development to foster social sustainability and equality. The focus on Gothenburg is motivated ny the city’s implementation of an exceptionally vigorous housing construction programme. The plans contain overarching objectives to use urban development to both strengthen the city’s economic competitiveness and to foster equality. International research has shown there is tension between these two objectives. The urban governance of these housing construction programmes and their material outcome will be critically analysed in the complex intersection of gender, class and race. The aim of the study is to use empirically sound analysis to deepen understanding of how potential goal conflicts are managed locally and what consequences the prioritisations have for the design of city districts, the living conditions of current residents and social stratification of the city as a whole. The study takes a multi-methodological approach with focus on 1) comprehensive policy analyses of how the municipality's goals are translated into concrete planning; 2) quantitative analyses of migration patterns with particular focus on who moves in and who moves out; and 3) interviews with working-class residents with regard to their living conditions and everyday strategies.