Resource deserts, village hierarchies and de-growth in sparsely populated areas : The case of Southern Lapland, Sweden
Small villages in northern Sweden have seen a continuing removal of key services, such as schools, shops and public transport, since the 1970s. Disinvestment in public services has not been strategically planned but has happened in response to population loss and increased costs on a case-by-case ba...
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Umeå universitet, Institutionen för epidemiologi och global hälsa
2022
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Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-204609 https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.120788 |
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ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-204609 2023-10-09T21:54:32+02:00 Resource deserts, village hierarchies and de-growth in sparsely populated areas : The case of Southern Lapland, Sweden Carson, Dean B. Carson, Doris A. Lundmark, Linda Hurtig, Anna-Karin 2022 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-204609 https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.120788 eng eng Umeå universitet, Institutionen för epidemiologi och global hälsa Umeå universitet, Institutionen för geografi Geographical Society of Finland Fennia, 2022, 200:2, s. 210-227 orcid:0000-0001-8143-123x orcid:0000-0002-8439-2640 orcid:0000-0002-3026-1477 orcid:0000-0001-7087-1467 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-204609 doi:10.11143/fennia.120788 Scopus 2-s2.0-85149036762 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess resource desert service decline village hierarchies rural planning sparsely populated areas northern Sweden Social and Economic Geography Social och ekonomisk geografi Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2022 ftumeauniv https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.120788 2023-09-22T13:57:08Z Small villages in northern Sweden have seen a continuing removal of key services, such as schools, shops and public transport, since the 1970s. Disinvestment in public services has not been strategically planned but has happened in response to population loss and increased costs on a case-by-case basis. More recently, there has been a shift in policy thinking to what might be termed a ‘de-growth’ approach where digitalisation and increased personal mobility are used to provide new ways of delivering services. The purpose of this paper is to examine the existence of ‘resource deserts’ in Southern Lapland and the emergence (or consolidation) of village hierarchies in allocating public services. We map out the distribution of neighbourhood services (grocery stores, pre-/schools and petrol pumps) among villages, and explore the lived experiences in accessing these resources in different villages. Our results show that resource deserts clearly exist in the south and east of the region, while villages in the more sparsely populated western mountain areas were generally in a better position to retain resources. We identify a lack of consistent and transparent service planning at the village level as a key shortcoming in municipal and regional service strategies. There appear to be unofficial settlement hierarchies in the differential treatment of villages that are otherwise similar in population size, population change and distance to central places. We find that political decisions on service allocations are likely influenced by several factors. These include legacy effects relating to historic settlement status, the location of villages in relation to key transport or mobility corridors, as well as ideological factors favouring villages with more ‘exotic’ features and development potential in line with the municipalities’ economic, social and political priorities. We finally argue that a shift to de-growth needs to be more strategically planned if it is to eliminate resource deserts and promote equity of service ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Sweden Lapland Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) Fennia - International Journal of Geography 200 2 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftumeauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
resource desert service decline village hierarchies rural planning sparsely populated areas northern Sweden Social and Economic Geography Social och ekonomisk geografi |
spellingShingle |
resource desert service decline village hierarchies rural planning sparsely populated areas northern Sweden Social and Economic Geography Social och ekonomisk geografi Carson, Dean B. Carson, Doris A. Lundmark, Linda Hurtig, Anna-Karin Resource deserts, village hierarchies and de-growth in sparsely populated areas : The case of Southern Lapland, Sweden |
topic_facet |
resource desert service decline village hierarchies rural planning sparsely populated areas northern Sweden Social and Economic Geography Social och ekonomisk geografi |
description |
Small villages in northern Sweden have seen a continuing removal of key services, such as schools, shops and public transport, since the 1970s. Disinvestment in public services has not been strategically planned but has happened in response to population loss and increased costs on a case-by-case basis. More recently, there has been a shift in policy thinking to what might be termed a ‘de-growth’ approach where digitalisation and increased personal mobility are used to provide new ways of delivering services. The purpose of this paper is to examine the existence of ‘resource deserts’ in Southern Lapland and the emergence (or consolidation) of village hierarchies in allocating public services. We map out the distribution of neighbourhood services (grocery stores, pre-/schools and petrol pumps) among villages, and explore the lived experiences in accessing these resources in different villages. Our results show that resource deserts clearly exist in the south and east of the region, while villages in the more sparsely populated western mountain areas were generally in a better position to retain resources. We identify a lack of consistent and transparent service planning at the village level as a key shortcoming in municipal and regional service strategies. There appear to be unofficial settlement hierarchies in the differential treatment of villages that are otherwise similar in population size, population change and distance to central places. We find that political decisions on service allocations are likely influenced by several factors. These include legacy effects relating to historic settlement status, the location of villages in relation to key transport or mobility corridors, as well as ideological factors favouring villages with more ‘exotic’ features and development potential in line with the municipalities’ economic, social and political priorities. We finally argue that a shift to de-growth needs to be more strategically planned if it is to eliminate resource deserts and promote equity of service ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Carson, Dean B. Carson, Doris A. Lundmark, Linda Hurtig, Anna-Karin |
author_facet |
Carson, Dean B. Carson, Doris A. Lundmark, Linda Hurtig, Anna-Karin |
author_sort |
Carson, Dean B. |
title |
Resource deserts, village hierarchies and de-growth in sparsely populated areas : The case of Southern Lapland, Sweden |
title_short |
Resource deserts, village hierarchies and de-growth in sparsely populated areas : The case of Southern Lapland, Sweden |
title_full |
Resource deserts, village hierarchies and de-growth in sparsely populated areas : The case of Southern Lapland, Sweden |
title_fullStr |
Resource deserts, village hierarchies and de-growth in sparsely populated areas : The case of Southern Lapland, Sweden |
title_full_unstemmed |
Resource deserts, village hierarchies and de-growth in sparsely populated areas : The case of Southern Lapland, Sweden |
title_sort |
resource deserts, village hierarchies and de-growth in sparsely populated areas : the case of southern lapland, sweden |
publisher |
Umeå universitet, Institutionen för epidemiologi och global hälsa |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-204609 https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.120788 |
genre |
Northern Sweden Lapland |
genre_facet |
Northern Sweden Lapland |
op_relation |
Fennia, 2022, 200:2, s. 210-227 orcid:0000-0001-8143-123x orcid:0000-0002-8439-2640 orcid:0000-0002-3026-1477 orcid:0000-0001-7087-1467 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-204609 doi:10.11143/fennia.120788 Scopus 2-s2.0-85149036762 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.120788 |
container_title |
Fennia - International Journal of Geography |
container_volume |
200 |
container_issue |
2 |
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1779318125937819648 |