Bregje van Veelen
Associate senior lecturer
At the intersection of economic history and contemporary regional development : insights from a Swedish ‘bruksort’
Author
Summary, in English
In this paper, we explore contemporary regional development in a historic industrial region. Specifically, we unpack the influences of industrial history and culture, built up over several centuries, on contemporary regional development dynamics and issues. In doing so, we draw on an evolutionary perspective within economic geography and perspectives from deindustrialization studies to understand how the past shapes the present. We combine these with theories of agency to understand how key actors comprehend the industrial heritage of a place, and how this is incorporated into contemporary regional development efforts. We explore this combination of conceptual lenses through an in-depth case study of Karlskoga, in Sweden, one of the country’s ‘bruksorter’ (mill towns) that grew up around the production of iron and steel, leading to it eventually becoming one of the largest arms manufacturing cities in Europe, home of the well-known Bofors company. However, all has not been plain sailing, and Karlskoga has experienced the challenges of de-population, industrial restructuring, and shocks to the sector upon which the town is reliant. By analysing these mixed fortunes we develop new insights into how regional development is intertwined with structural, institutional, and cultural industrial legacies.
Department/s
- Department of Human Geography
- Innovation
- CIRCLE
- LU Profile Area: Nature-based future solutions
- LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
Publishing year
2024
Language
English
Publication/Series
European Planning Studies
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Topic
- Human Geography
Keywords
- agency
- industrial heritage
- path development
- peripheral regions
- Regional development
Status
Epub
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0965-4313