Den självorganiserade staden: : appropriation av offentliga rum i Rinkeby

Sammanfattning: The objective of this dissertation is to analyse and discuss the issue of self-organisation from a spatial point of view. The thesis takes its point of departure firstly from the assumption that self-organisation concerns a process through which subjects aspire to become involved in societal development and decision-making from below, and secondly that self-organisation always takes place in a social and spatial context that establishes its conditions. Two subjects of special concern are the meaning of public space in relation to self-organisation, and the potential of self-organisation to render visible social and cultural identities in public space. The spatial aspects of self-organisation are discussed in relation to the concept of appropriation, as a form of spatial production, applying the theories of Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau and Don Mitchell. The concepts of tactic and strategic appropriation that encompass the spatial and temporal aspects of power relations are introduced and utilized as a theoretical point of departure for the empirical analyses. The thesis presents two examples of self-organisation and appropriation in Rinkeby, a socially marginalised and ethnically diverse modern suburb of Stockholm. In these case studies, the theories on self-organisation and space are further discussed in relation to postcolonial theories on diaspora and cultural identity. The object of the first case study is The Somali week – an annual Somali European football tournament organised by Somali Swedish grass root organisations in Rinkeby. The second case study concerns small-scale businesses, and deals with the corner stores of Rinkeby. Both these examples represent self-organised activities taking place in the context of the segregated and racialised city, and carried out with few material resources and strategic preconditions for appropriation. These self-organised activities nevertheless contribute to the production of new urban social spaces. In the dissertation, these spaces are described with the concept of the self-organised city.