Nudging - ett användbart planeringsverktyg?

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to describe how nudging is viewed and used as a planning tool within Swedish urban planning, and more specifically, within the urban planning of Swedish municipalities. The aim is also to examine what possibilities and challenges that arises when using nudging as a planning tool within the urban planning of Swedish municipalities. The study has been executed by gathering empirical data through five semistructured interviews. Four of the interviewees are currently working with urban planning in Swedish municipalities (i.e. as state officials). The fifth interviewee was previously working with urban planning as a state official and was therefore a relevant interviewee as well. The empirical data from the interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Braun and Clarke (2006) write that thematic analysis is used to identify patterns in the empirical data. In addition, they believe that thematization is a good method of analysis for understanding different aspects of the data. Thus, thematic analysis was an appropriate analytical method for treating the empirical material and for achieving the aim of the study. The result of the completed analysis were five different themes: The use of nudging, Possibilities with nudging, Problems with nudging, Internal conditions for effective nudging and External conditions for effective nudging. These themesdescribe different aspects of the empirical data from the interviews, which are presented in the thesis's results chapter. The study indicates that there is a consensus that nudging is about behavioral changes - a way to steer people to make sustainable choices. At the same time, there are variations among the interviewees and the municipalities regarding the perception and use of nudging. The study also indicates that the potential possibilities of using nudging in urban planning are many, but that the challenges are at least as many.