Utvunnen identitet: En studie om platsidentitet i Kiruna, 2002-2018

Sammanfattning

The ongoing urban transformation in Kiruna is one of the most extensive relocation projects in modern history. While the type of great challenges, filled with uncertainties both for planners and the local community exist within most urban planning situations, the Kiruna example provides an extreme, and a particularly obvious case that makes it interesting to illustrate the reinvention of a town caused by great physical change. The aim of this research is to examine how Kiruna municipality’s representation of place identity has changed in relation to the urban transformation. The concept of place identity that most frequently underpins planning is the notion that there are essential place features that guarantee the place’s distinctiveness and continuity over time. Using Kiruna as a case study, I employ a qualitative content analysis of four municipal planning documents published before and after the urban transformation process was realized. The analysis draws on Amundsen’s framework for place identity in order to identify which elements of Kiruna’s identity are most prominent and how representations have changed over time. The findings suggest that Kiruna’s place identity is primarily represented through the elements of spatial qualities as well as culture and history, which corresponds with existing scholarly literature on planning and place identity.