Sökandet efter en småstadsidentitet : En fallstudie om Hudiksvalls stadskärna och dess relation till identitet och marknadsföring

Sammanfattning: The city and its planning are dynamic products of permanent change, which is influenced by a myriadof different actors with different wills and opinions. During the last century, urban planning has gonefrom being a steering process to a more mediating role between prominent and relevant actors. Duringthe last decades, a growing internationalisation has weakened traditional institutions and thrown citiesinto a global competition of attention and development. This has led to a bigger need for marketing,which provoked development of varying models such as Business Improvement District, BID forshort. With common financing and goals, actors can come together and improve the public places ofthe city. Though, this can lead to a greater requirement of consumption in these places, which in turndisfavour groups without economic power. The town of Hudiksvall is one of several urban areas that is to begin a BID process, in which the goalis to increase the attractiveness and be crowned as the city centre of 2024. The area in focus is the citycentre, whose identity is made up of all its users and their perception of the place. The goal of thisstudy is therefore to investigate the perceived identity of the city centre of Hudiksvall among thoseusing it and among those who are in charge of the development, as well as how the city centre isaffected by design based on an idea of economic gain. A case study was instigated with the city centre of Hudiksvall as primary focus, which was dividedinto several methods; a document study to gather data about Hudiksvall and the BID, a surveyfollowed by interviews of the steering group of the project as well as a survey for the inhabitants andvisitors of the city centre. The results from these methods were analysed in harmony with a theoreticalframework grounded in research and expertise about socio-urban theories, identity and BID. The study shows that the steering group and the users of the city centre had similar perceptions aboutthe extent and usage of the city centre. Though, there existed three areas in which the differentperceptions did not coincide regarding them belonging to the centre or not, which is recommended tolook more into. According to inhabitants and visitors, there existed three especially interesting areaswhich are characterized by commerce and restaurant business. The city centre also had a dynamiccharacteristic due to it moving along the day and night, an aspect worth attention. Finally, it wasbrought into attention that traditionally economically weak social groups, which are especiallyvulnerable to the commercialization of public space, were poorly represented in the survey. It istherefore recommended that these groups get some attention in urban planning and that they areincluded in the planning process.