Governing urban transformation: The case of Kiruna in Northern Sweden

This research studies the urban transformation in Kiruna in Northern Sweden and aims to explain how the governance processes in the last thirty years have led to the town’s relocation and economic restructuring to a diverse economy.

After studying theories that explain urban governance and urban transformation, including relocation and economic restructuring and their underlying theories such as transformation paths and (un)related diversification, we assume that transition management theory might offer an explanation to the urban governance leading to transformation. The research is designed as a qualitative embedded-case study, using a three-step analysis method including process tracing, qualitative co-variational analysis, and congruence analysis. The data for this analysis was collected from semi-structured interviews with key-experts and from secondary data. This approach has been used to infer causality between urban governance and transformation.

The results of this study propose that there were three pathways of urban transformation. These pathways have different indications of self-organization, public private partnerships, and network governance, with some overlap in between them. The analysis has indicated that two governance approaches have resulted in two different forms of restructuring; the more networked governance has led to a high-tech economy related by technology and knowledge, while self-organization has led to the growth of the low-tech tourism sector. Analysis showed that the relocation was a result of a public private partnership, with a participatory approach. The findings of the research show that transition management theory does not explain the governance of transitions in Kiruna, although its indicators fit the TM framework. Findings also suggest that the change in Kiruna is more incremental than transformational.

Because this case study is unique and its transformation is dominated by powerful actors, the research concludes by proposing to compare the finding with other context-specific case studies, in order to develop the transition management theory further.