Det nya kontorslandskapet bland fjällvidderna : Kan distansarbete bli glesbygdens räddning?

• Main Author: Johansson, Matilda
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Umeå universitet, Institutionen för geografi 2021
• Subjects: Fritidshus; Glesbygd; Distansarbete; Migration; Mobilitet; Landsbygdsutveckling; Human Geography; Kulturgeografi; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-184117

The rural municipalities in the mountain areas of northern Sweden has for a many years experienced an out-migration of people in working age witch have led to an older populationand a smaller source of taxes. In addition of these municipalities with a lot of tourists and second home tourists have periods of the year when they have a population that is a lot larger then they have capacity for. This is a case study that examines whether or not flexible working (like working from home) is a possible solution for this problem. This is done by a survey among second home residents in Kultsjödalen, a mountain area in the municipality of Vilhelmina, to see if they have spent more time in their second homes during the Covid-19 pandemic due to flexible working. Moreover this paper examines how infrastructure and local service affect the second home residents ability to work from their second homes. Lastley the study investigates whether or not second home residents wish to spend more time in Kultsjödalen or to consider becomingpermanent residents in the future provided they have the option to continue working from home. The theoretical framework is based on previous studies concerning mobility, migrationand second homes, flexible working and the time-space compression. The survey had in total 271 respondents in its beginning and it showed that there is no way to tell generally whether or not second home residents have spend mor or less time in their cabins since the respondents was quite divided. Only those who had worked from home in their second homes (138 respondents) moved on to the latter parts of the survey. In terms of infrastructure and service the respondents was also quite divided in their opinions. Some of them were really pleased with the current quality whilst some experienced a lot of problems. The most common problem was about broadband, mobile broadband, the telephone networkand the roads. Overall the respondents where a bit more pleased with the local service than the infrastructure although some wished ...