Rumslig socioekonomisk variation i Karlstad : En studie av vattnets roll för socioekonomisk fördelning i Karlstad tätort

Sammanfattning: Where people choose to live is a consequence of a variety of factors, such as housing cost, design, localization and personal considerations. Urban blue spaces provide a range of perceived benefits to nearby inhabitants and is generally seen as attractive traits for an area, influencing housing cost and demographics amongst other things. This has implications for socioeconomic spatial distribution, and thus the city could also be viewed as a map of socioeconomic variation. This paper seeks to examine the socioeconomic spatial variation in the city of Karlstad in relation to urban blue spaces. Using publicly available statistics for 23 different areas of the city, this variation is visualised in a series of maps and tables. Two models, one using average income and one using a proposed local socioeconomic index, are devised and used to estimate the impact of blue spaces on socioeconomic spatial variation in Karlstad. Results show a significant socioeconomic variation between different areas. Certain areas score high and certain areas score low in every category of the socioeconomic index, painting the picture of a socioeconomically divided city. The models used are proven to be inaccurate. Although the four areas with the lowest average income are all located in zones furthest from blue spaces, no evidence indicate that high and medium high average income areas, nor areas with high socioeconomic index, generally are located in closer proximity to blue spaces. Findings imply that socioeconomic spatial variation in Karlstad cannot be reduced to blue spaces and is a complex area of further research.