| Summary: | Focusing on the town of Malmberget in northern Sweden, this study addresses the relationship between place, identity formation and social transformation among mining communities. Due to an expanding mining area, the town is being gradually demolished and remaining inhabitants will eventually have to be relocated. Concurrently, urban expansion plans are underway in the neighboring town of Gällivare. The aim of the study is to examine whether and how collective forms of identity are constructed in relation to Malmberget as place. What are the main values underlying such collective identity and are they being taken into considerations in the expansion plans? The study also examines if and how any attempts to preservation have been made in response to the demolition and redevelopment. The study is primarily based on interviews with inhabitants of Malmberget. It also draws on qualitative content analysis of documents on the expansions plans. As the study focuses on notions of place and collective identity, in its theoretical framework Lefebvre’s spatial triad is combined with a phenomenological approach of place and Jenkins’ conceptualisation of collective identity. The findings suggest that there exists a collective ‘Malmberget identity’ consisting of certain values connected to place relations and community history. Some aspects of these values have implicitly been taken into considerations in the expansion plans in Gällivare, but far from all of them. The study also shows how interviewees have enacted preservation strategies as a way to cope with the urban transformation and to protect their shared collective identity.
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