METROPOLIS INTER CONFERENCE -
International Conference on Divided Cities and Strategies for Undivided Cities,
Göteborg, Sweden, May 25 - 26, 1998

Evaluating "Blomman" Projects in Göteborg, Sweden

Introduction

Present urban policy with regard to the suburbs of Göteborg (Göteborg) has to deal with a rather disparate and, at the same time, interconnected set of problems.

There are at least three distinct complexes of social problems involved - each with its own rhythm and time-pattern.

First, these suburbs are regarded as unattractive to live in and have been unattractive ever since they were built, (i.e., since the late 1950s - early 1970s). To say that they are "unattractive" is not primarily a value judgement but a description of their position on the housing market: On these estates it is very easy to get access to apartments and people living there have a strong propensity to move to other areas.

Of course, in the long run both the owners of the buildings and the residents have a strong desire to make their estates more attractive. From the point of view of the whole region there ought to be political considerations taking into account how extensive local differences of the "attractiveness of estates" should be accepted.

Second, there is the problem of ethnic segregation and its consequences. The suburbs are segregated and their low level of attractiveness has led to a strong overrepresentation of immigrants. This is partly a long run phenomenon and related to long run integration problems in Swedish society. But it's partly a rather short run set of problems related to quite dramatic changes on some local estates in the early 90s when Sweden received considerable groups of new refugees. In just a few years, the ethnic composition of the population changed dramatically.

Third, between 1991 and 1993, Sweden had a dramatic rise in unemployment. This mostly affected the least attractive districts in town. At the same time, the composition of unemployment in these areas changed. Since the suburbs were crowded with newly arrived immigrants they became prime victims of unemployment.

The "Blomman" Fund and "Blomman" Projects

This combination of long run and short run mechanisms created a rapidly deteriorating situation in some suburbs which may be regarded as the background of the so called "Blomman Fund".

The purpose of this money is, in short, to:

• increase the ability of immigrants on the labour market,
• support local initiative and local development
• support language learning among immigrants
• create meeting places for immigrants and Swedes

In Göteborg, the money has been divided between four city districts in the north-eastern end of town. Bergsjön received SEK 4 million, Lärjedalen and Gunnared received SEK 5 million, each, and Kortedala received roughly SEK 3 million. The Board of Recreation was granted SEK 600,000 to enhance special projects involving sports clubs in the areas under consideration.

In order to understand the local background it may be appropriate to describe the organization and structure of the town.

Göteborg is located on the Swedish west coast and is the second largest city in Sweden, (see Map 1). Göteborg has around 450,000 inhabitants. 79,000 are pensioners, (age 65 and over) 275,000 are adults, (age 20-64), 130,000 are youth and children, (age 0-20).

Since 1990, Göteborg has been divided into 21 different geographical areas. (see Map 2). Each one of them is "governed" by a City District Committee. Each committee has 11 regular members and 6 deputies. They are elected by the City Council. The number of members from each political party is proportional to the party’s representation in the City Council. These are all local politicians. Within their geographical boundaries, the City District Committees are responsible for compulsory schooling, cultural and recreation activities, public libraries, the care of people with functional impairments, childcare services, caring services for the elderly and individual and family care. In a number of specialized fields, many of the committees also have the task of providing services for the others.

Map 1: The 21 city district committee areas in Göteborg. The marked areas are the city districts for the case studies.

The District Committees have the responsibility of carrying out their tasks through continuing development and a consolidation of activities from a local perspective and with a holistic approach to public services for the individual. The purpose of establishing City District Committees has not only been to be able to relate resolutions to the local needs of inhabitants, thereby, increasing their involvement in the political process, but also to save money by co-ordinating different activities in the same local environment.

The City District Administrations organize the activities within the boundaries in accordance with their main responsibilities. The co-ordination of different activities, above all, in schools and childcare is important. This can, for example, mean using facilities more efficiently or co-ordinating the actual activities. Development and experimentation have been continued - with a view to strengthening local civic participation - by establishing open-house activities, debate evenings, hotlines to politicians, information in loose leaf publications, local Agenda 21 boards, local school boards, local pensioners´ boards, local public health boards, etc. These are all examples of activities which are being tested as a means of involving members of the City in issues relating to municipal services in their locality.

The Blomman projects were intended to be directed to urban areas with high proportions of immigrants and severe ethnical segregation. As in most cities in Sweden, the location of immigrants is highly segregated in Göteborg. In the following table, we have divided the town into 190 residential areas, of which 46 are classified as areas with a high proportion of immigrant population (immigrant estates) and 45 areas are classified as non-immigrant estates. On the immigrant estates, more than 1/3 of the population are immigrants and on the non-immigrant estates 1/10 or less of the population are immigrants.

The situation looks very different in different parts of Göteborg. The table shows, however, that the Blomman fund was allocated to city districts in Göteborg where the proportion of immigrants are high. At the same time, it should be remembered that one other city district with high proportions of immigrants, Biskopsgården, has been excluded. Apart from that, small immigrant estates appear in different parts of the city.

Source: Board of Statistics, Göteborg
*Due to our division.

The Case Study Areas

In our research, we are studying the situation in three City Districts (Bergsjön, Gunnared and Lärejedalen) and one sub-area (Gamlestaden located in the Kortedala City District). The three first areas are typical for the housing construction policy for 1955-1973: large-scale dormitory suburbs on the fringe of Göteborg. The sub-area, Gamlestaden (approximately 7,000 inhabitants) was built in the early part of 1900 in close connection to one of the most important factories in Göteborg. In the last decade, the area has undergone a great change and is now facing the same problems as the rest of the study areas. All these areas can be described as having both social and economic problems. The household income level is low, unemployment high, the rate of households with immigrant origin are high, there is social unrest and conflicts between different ethnic groups, unlet flats and other problems.

Our paper will ultimately focus on three complexes of problems of the evaluation. They can be listed in the form av three propositions:

Projects are always small and cover very disparate fields. Almost all projects may be constructive but few of them can have a more substantial effect in the area. Even if a project fails to fulfil its purposes it is not necessarily without importance. The idea of a project involves the possibility of failure

Let’s illustrate the problem of evaluating these projects by giving a short description of two of the projects. They are situated in different City Districts. In some respects, they show similarities, in others differences. They represent two of the most interesting projects, in our view. In a certain sense, they have both proven to be successful since both, during this past year, have been integrated into the regular programs of the local authorities but in very different ways.

The Base House of Youth (Ungdomens bashus) in Gunnared

This project deals exclusively with youth recruited from the Bureau of Social Assistance in Lärjedalen and in Gunnared. The aim is to teach the youth how to improve their behavior and to make them aware of the possibilities on the labour market and ultimately to get a job or to start an education. Activities concern job seeking, courses, work and time discipline and related subjects.

It is remarkable that the Base House had problems recruiting youth in 1997. The scale of the activities have actually been smaller than was intended because of problems recruiting young people to the courses despite the fact that unemployment was high. The results of the activities, however, are seemingly good in the sense that the period at the Base House terminated a period of unemployment for 3 out of 4 youngsters.

The project does not appear to be much related to other projects in the area. Its activity is located at Angered Centrum and those involved seem to be working mostly within the project: Their main contacts appear to be with the Social Services Office in recruiting youth and with educational centres in purchasing courses.

The cost of the project has amounted to SEK 1 million, excluding rental costs since the premises are provided by the public housing company Poseidon. The cost of the office is said to be SEK 1 million each year. In that case, the total cost of the project amounts to SEK 2 million.

The Recycling House (Returhuset) in Bergsjön

This project is located at Siriusgatan in Bergsjön. It is also a project aimed at increasing the participants' abilities and possibilities on the labour market and at enhancing their self-confidence. However, its profile differs substantially from the former project. Most apparently because the Recycling House organizes their activities around a specific theme: ecology, recycling and Agenda 21.

The participants are recruited partly from the Social Services Office and partly from labour market authorities. They vary in age and background but rather many seem to have profound problems in getting a permanent job. Most of the participants are recruited from the surrounding neighbourhood, but not all.

The activities are organized into five different workshops

• a textile workshop
• a construction/environment workshop
• a garden workshop
• a food and kitchen workshop
• an information workshop

The activities take the form of study circles related to the interest of the participant even if the production at the House is varied and substantial.

The project has been in progress for some years and its efficiency in terms of how many of the participants have got jobs or gone on to an education appears to be rather stable. Around 50% leave the Recycling House for a job or education.

However, the function of the project is broader and must be viewed in relation to other projects in the area and activities performed by other actors.

The Recycling House is situated on an estate which, just some years ago, had an extremely problematic situation. Its reputation was bad and in terms of social statistics the street was one of the poorest, most segregated in Göteborg. During the nineties it's fair to say that there have been substantial changes in the area. In terms of social statistics, Siriusgatan is almost the only example in the town where the relative position among all housing estates in the town has improved substantially. Representatives of the local housing company have informed us that according to their own investigations, people living in Siriusgatan are among the most satisfied renters the company has.

Presumably this is basically due to actions taken by the housing company, itself. Blocks of flats have been painted and steps have been taken to increase security in the area. The composition of the inhabitants has partly been changed, (for example, students have been invited to live there at a reduced rate). The housing company has also been engaged in improving the local environment. The Recycling House is a part of the change on Siriusgatan: It is located there. They run a small-scale, second-hand shop and a repair shop for bicycles, and some local associations and clubs are allowed to use the rooms in the evenings. Finally, the Recycling House takes an active part in the creation of allotment-garden plots in the surrounding area.

The importance of these actions should perhaps not be exaggerated. After all, rather few people seem to be involved of the 2,000 inhabitants on Siriusgatan. The point is rather that the Recycling House ought to be regarded as an integrated part of a whole range of projects and activities.

Another dimension of co-operation in activities is the one between different projects in Bergsjön. The Recycling House organizes activities together with three other "Blomman" projects and a forth project which is financed by other means.

The cost of the Recycling House amounts to SEK 2 million. Most of the costs are costs for wages, (roughly 60%) while the costs for premises are comparatively low, (20%). However, there are uncalculated work efforts made by the housing company and study organizations.

How can we compare the importance of these rather disparate projects?

To begin with, the size of these projects should be considered. The above projects each had around 60 participants in 1997. The number of openly unemployed persons in the areas covered by each one of the projects amounts to roughly 1,500-2,000 persons at each point of time and during any year the number of persons considered for interventions are, estimably, many more.

On the one hand, this means that the projects are very small and interact with lots of other projects and activities. Their impact is hard to interpret in isolation without taking into consideration the institutional and social context.

On the other hand, even if they were comparable it is hard to see what kind of criteria would be relevant for evaluating success and failure. The projects themselves appear to estimate their efficiency in terms of the future labour market performance of the participants. It is common to argue that the projects save more money than they cost since the participants perform better on the labour market which, consequently, saves social assistance money.

First, this is not a very easy equation since we don’t actually know very much about either the participants' future labour market performance or about what would have been the costs if the project hadn’t existed.

Second, this is a simplistic criterion. Even if the short run gains of the project are small there may be long run gains in terms of labour market participation. The opposite may well also be the case.

Third, there may be other than truly labour market related effects of the project. The participants may have learnt something that makes their lives better, they may have got new important friends, they may have taken the decision to move, and so on.

Fourth, there may be effects for people not involved in the project. There may be all kinds of effects on the surrounding area. For example: some youth who WERE sent to the Base house in Angered never showed up. They apparently found other ways to get an income.

Another perspective of the Blomman projects is the focus on how different City Districts have chosen to direct their efforts. What does the project profile look like in the different districts?

It is not difficult to find differences between the city districts. Gunnared has a rather clear approach to projects which concern children, women with small children and youth. Lärjedalen has a somewhat similar profile but more concentrated on youth and labour market qualification. Bergsjön has proclaimed itself to be an ecological district which is clearly visible in the choice of projects. Finally, Kortedala has totally concentrated their project on creating a board of co-operation for the inhabitants in Gamlestaden in order to increase democratic participation.

However, it is hard to evaluate whether these differences in approach are a result of differences in the priorities of subjects in the city districts or if the projects have been constructed as substitutes for regular local authority activities.

Our impression is that a systematic discussion concerning which problems and subjects should be given highest priority and which should be regarded as secondary is, if not totally absent, at least insufficient and fragmentary. Our view of the sum of the projects as a whole is that they lack conformity and point in very different and disparate directions. Hopefully, the initiatives taking place in Gårdsten, Hjällbo and, soon, Bergsjön that are based on a profound analysis of the local situation and co-operation between important actors, will have the opportunity to integrate present and futures initiatives and projects into a common strategy. We believe this is an important task.

That which becomes projects appears sometimes to be the result of the existence of other resources or the result of older projects. In some cases, it looks like the personnel preconditions have been of conclusive importance. Staff with experience of project work or in taking initiatives have, in some cases, been an important factor. Another factor of great importance is the public housing companies and their policies, initiatives, resources and willingness to give their support.

Concerning finances it was decided that the local authority would mobilize the same amount of resources as they received from the state. In reality, this has been interpreted rather vaguely and it is rare that the local resources take the form of real money.

We have been surprised by how many projects that concern leisure time and recreational subjects and are assumed to attract children and youth. At the same time, few projects are related to schools, education and language training. Rather few projects concern adults and especially women. It is known that immigrant women have special difficulties gaining access to public social life in Sweden. They seldom have the opportunity to speak Swedish and to meet people from other ethnic groups. Two projects - "Kulturhuset" (Culture House) in Bergsjön and Caritas in Hjällbo - have raised these issues. Their experience supports the idea that this kind of initiative is deeply needed and may have had substantial effects on the areas.

Another question concerns who arranges the projects. Who gets access to the state financed project allowances. Mostly, the answer is local authorities. Maybe that’s not strange since the local authorities have faced cut-backs in their finances and may find it natural to give priority to their own activities. The local authorities may also gain access to finances easier by collaborating with public housing companies. Other potential actors may find it more difficult to raise their own resources. Still, remarkably few projects have " the third sector" as an organizer. The volume of voluntary work is very small in almost all of the projects.

Concerning the participation in organizing projects, it is also noticeable that labour market authorities are absent from the organizers of projects and very little engaged in any collaborative efforts. This is worth noting since, after all, a primary task of the Blomman projects is to improve the unemployment situation. In some projects, they have also complained about difficulties in co-operating with labour market authorities and having weak contacts with them.

The "Blomman" projects are an example of one kind of organization that has come to be more common in public activities: what we call the project form. The advantage of projects is that the form presents the potential to test new ideas and activities that don't fit into regular public programs. They create a basis for innovation and development. Projects have become more common in several City Districts also depending on diminishing funding for regular programs.

One of the problems with projects is the insecurity about the future and the lack of continuity in the processes. This is also true in the case of "Blomman" projects. Project leaders are insecure about whether or not the project will continue, whether the project will be funded or if lack of funding will cause a stop. Sometimes this has led to problems in recruiting personnel and also to personnel mobility that hurts the project. It is self-evident that projects of this kind are greatly dependant on the persons working in the projects and too much mobility may lead to failures and bad performance. The insecure situation has, in some cases, also resulted in that the project depends on people activated in labour market programs are not always well suited for the tasks and purposes of the projects.