Local Economic Sustainability and Development in rural areas in Sweden. - A study of policy development in areas with geographical disadvantages.

Rural areas with declining population bases face many sustainability-related challenges.

Limited access to capital, high dependency ratios and declining tax bases hamper the transition to an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable society.

Previous studies indicate that growth often is a dominant policy goal in local policy and planning in shrinking rural municipalities, characterized by geographical disadvantages.

Sustainability goals tend not to have a prominent position in such policies, and municipalities often fail to link local development policy to the need for demographic adaptation, or to goals of local economic sustainability.

The project described here will broaden and deepen the knowledge of how policies for local economic sustainability emerge under these circumstances.

It will also contribute with an increased understanding of how such policies can contribute to the transition to sustainable and resilient rural areas.

The project will examine (a) how policies for local economic development are framed in rural depopulating areas, (b) how these policies emerge, and how patterns of cross-sectoral and multi-level collaboration impinge on the formulation of such policies.

The project is forward-looking and change-oriented and will look into (c) whether changing patterns of cooperation can contribute to strengthening goals aimed at sustainability and resilience in local development policy. The project links to SDG 8 and 11 in Agenda 2030.