Urban Development Projects: The Role of Leadership for Social Sustainability in a Multicultural District A Case Study of Drottninghög, Helsingborg Lukas Kirn, Neele Rothfeld, and Judith Schmidt Main field of study – Leadership and Organization Degree of Master of Arts (60 credits) with a Major in Leadership and Organization Master Thesis with a focus on Leadership and Organization for Sustainability (OL646E), 15 credits Spring 2018 Supervisor: Ju Liu Abstract Due to globalization and influx, Sweden is facing the challenge of fostering socially inclusive and non-segregated cities. To tackle this challenge, the implementation of social sustainability in urban development projects is crucial. Therefore, this study examines how leadership is perceived to facilitate this process. For this purpose, the authors propose a leadership approach consisting of three aspects (i.e., Communication of Vision, Stakeholder Engagement, Adaptation to the Transition Process) and a framework that makes social sustainability tangible in an urban context. The context of this descriptive case-study was Drottninghög, a multicultural district in Helsingborg, which was the focus of an ongoing urban development project during the conduction of this thesis. The study made use of a qualitative approach, consisting of semi-structured interviews with leaders and community members in Drottninghög and unobtrusive field observations. The data were analyzed using a directed content analysis. Among the main findings were the importance of the use of diverse communication strategies and channels and continuous information loops, to adequately reach all stakeholders while communicating the vision; the significance of empowering stakeholders to actively engage in the community by offering appropriate and diverse activities and creating a personal atmosphere as well as including stakeholders as early as possible in the processes; and the value of leaders being flexible and adaptive to individual needs through inside knowledge and personal involvement when supporting stakeholders to adapt to the transition process. Keywords: Urban Development; Social Sustainability; Leadership; Stakeholder Engagement; Communication of Vision; Adaptation to Transition Process Table of contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Research problem ......................................................................................... 2 1.2 Purpose and aim ........................................................................................... 2 1.3 Research questions ........................................................................................ 2 1.4 Structure of the thesis...................................................................................... 3 2 Literature review and theoretical framework ......................................................... 4 2.1 Literature review ............................................................................................ 4 2.1.1 The Swedish housing system ............................................................................ 4 2.1.2 Urban development in a multicultural district ........................................................ 5 2.1.3 Urban development approaches to counteract segregation .................................... 6 2.1.4 Gentrification in urban development .................................................................. 7 2.2 Theoretical framework .................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Social Sustainability ....................................................................................... 8 2.2.2 The leadership approach of this research ........................................................... 9 2.2.3 Conceptual model of the current study ............................................................. 12 3 Methods ................................................................................................... 13 3.1 Methodology ............................................................................................. 13 3.2 Research design ......................................................................................... 13 3.3 Data collection ........................................................................................... 13 3.3.1 Participants ................................................................................................ 13 3.3.2 Instruments ................................................................................................. 15 3.3.3 Procedure .................................................................................................. 16 3.4 Data analysis ............................................................................................. 16 3.5 Reliability and validity .................................................................................. 17 3.6 Ethics ....................................................................................................... 17 4 Case selection ........................................................................................... 19 4.1.1 Helsingborg in the Swedish context ................................................................. 19 4.1.2 Drottninghög – a multicultural district ................................................................ 19 4.1.3 DrottningH – An urban development project in a multicultural setting ....................... 22 4.2 Motivation for case selection ......................................................................... 23 5 Empirical data and case analysis .................................................................. 24 5.1 Social Sustainability in Drottninghög ................................................................ 24 5.2 Leadership as implemented in Drottninghög ...................................................... 25 5.2.1 Communication of Visions as implemented in Drottninghög .................................. 26 5.2.2 Stakeholder Engagement as implemented in Drottninghög .................................... 30 5.2.3 Adaptation to the Transition Process as implemented in Drottninghög ...................... 35 5.2.4 Key findings ............................................................................................... 39 6 Discussion ................................................................................................. 41 6.1 Answer to research questions ......................................................................... 41 6.2 Further findings of this study ........................................................................... 42 6.2.1 Trust ......................................................................................................... 42 6.2.2 Governance .............................................................................................. 43 6.2.3 Reputation ................................................................................................. 44 6.3 Leadership implications ................................................................................ 45 6.3.1 Planning phase ........................................................................................... 45 6.3.2 Implementation phase .................................................................................. 45 6.3.3 Post-implementation phase ............................................................................ 46 6.3.4 General considerations ................................................................................ 46 6.4 Contributions .............................................................................................. 46 6.4.1 Theoretical contributions ............................................................................... 46 6.4.2 Practical contributions .................................................................................. 47 7 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 48 7.1 Limitations ................................................................................................. 48 7.2 Future research ........................................................................................... 48 References 50 Appendices ................................................................................................................. i Appendix A – Sustainability factors per aspect .................................................................. i Appendix B – Interview scheme 1 .................................................................................. iv Appendix C – Interview scheme 2 ................................................................................ vii Appendix D – Interview scheme 3 ................................................................................. ix List of tables Table 1 .................................................................................................................................................. 14 Table 2 .................................................................................................................................................. 15 Table 3 .................................................................................................................................................. 24 Table 4 ....................................................................................................................................................