Fokus Järva : a case study on Stockholm municipality’s strategies to break residential segregation

Abstract: Residential segregation in Stockholm is referred to as a threat to the social cohesion and a hinder for sustainable urban development. Therefore, Stockholm municipality has launched a series of actions explicitly addressing segregation, being urban development projects the most prominent iterations. However, these projects have met limited success, being this utmost evident in the Järva district, that, despite more than 30 years of consecutive desegregation projects, remains socially, economically, and spatially segregated from the rest of the city. Now, Stockholm municipality means to finally solve segregation in Järva through Fokus Järva. This thesis pretends to reveal how Stockholm municipality intends to achieve this through urban planning. For this, the context provided by Fokus Järva is analyzed through a qualitative single-case study, with special attention to underlying ideologies and issues of power, vis a critical approach. Criticality is based on an anti-subordination perspective, advancing an anti-racist, historically aware, social justice project. Fokus Järva is conceptualized as the intersection of the geographic, historic, and urban planning contexts of the Järva district. The geographic and historic context provided a clear picture of the current state of segregation in the Järva district and how it came to be, as well as the evolution of urban planning themes related to segregation. Subsequently, the urban planning context revealed the municipal structures involved in urban planning and how they plan to engage with the segregation picture of Järva. These three contexts are then analyzed through Critical Thematic Analysis (CTA) to reveal cohesion, equalization, diversity, densification, and attractiveness as the overarching themes in Stockholm municipality’s scheme to break segregation through urban planning. Finally, the risk of Fokus Järva to produce social injustice in Järva due to the influence of concealed ideologies over Stockholm municipality’s take on desegregation is explored.