Renovation for the Common Benefit? : On Urban Restructuring and Displacement Pressure

Abstract: This thesis is about renovations and municipal housing companies, and more generally, it concerns housing inequality and urban restructuring. The Swedish housing market is strongly characterized by housing inequality, and, in addition, large parts of the affordable rental stock are facing need for renovations. Renovations which risk making the rental stock less accessible and, in addition, reinforce inequality and displacement. Half of all the properties facing renovation in Sweden are owned by municipal housing companies, allmännyttan, which are obliged to provide good and accessible housing for everyone and the common benefit. However, since 2011, the municipal housing companies are at the same time to operate under preconditions that require profit. In the light of this potential conflict of interest, the overarching purpose has been to provide an empirical exploration and problematization of how renovations are managed and motivated within allmännyttan and what potential implications this has on supplying good housing for all. Through the case of the municipal housing company Bostads AB Poseidon and the district Frölunda Torg in Gothenburg, renovations have been explored within a municipal setting and larger urban restructuring process. The material that formed the empirical data was qualitative and comprised three parts: policy, communication with tenants, and interviews with employees at Bostads AB Poseidon. Central concepts in exploring the renovations have been displacement pressure, urban restructuring, and hegemonic gaze. The thesis has identified several aspects concerning renovations and the altered role of allmännyttan which raises questions whether the renovations can be understood as for the common benefit.