Culture Moving Center Stage: Exploring the potential of Culture in Sustainable Urban Development in the City of Malmö

Sammanfattning: The discussion of a ‘cultural’ dimension of sustainability has been brought forward in sustainable development and in particular sustainable urban development (SUD) in the last three decades. Despite both an advancement of scientific discourse and advocacy through international organisations, empirical examples discussing explicitly leadership and organisation for implementation of culture in SUD are still rare. Through the lens of leadership and organisation, important questions regarding norms, values and behavior are being addressed that provide the foundation for future development. To advance empirical knowledge in the described field, the thesis takes a look at the city of Malmö in the form of a case study. In Malmö, culture has been assigned an important and all-encompassing role in the city’s organisation and sustainable development plan, manifested through a local policy, the so called ‘Culture Strategy’. This in-depth study aims at understanding the practical application of culture in SUD, given a theoretical framework including the possible roles of culture in SUD and the meanings of creative organisation and leadership in a neoliberal urban context. It is followed by a comprehensive analysis of a range of official documents and eight semi- structured interviews. Asking for the communication of visions and actors’ roles and understandings of culture in relation to practices and organisational structures, the thesis shows that the cultural strategy so far has a dual function as a catalyst and representative for the discussion of culture in SUD. Over-departmentalisation and a lack of communication present hinders for organisational change and the potential of development through learning is not given adequate space and time so far. In conclusion, the municipal organisation must detach from the idea to control, and rather enable ‘spaces’ for diverse actors to collectively employ creativity and allow for an experimental process to unfold.