A remedy for segregation? conviviality and the question of sustainable city development : the case of Malmö

Malmö is a city undergoing rapid change: growing, modernizing and gaining in attractiveness. It is a city with an unusually high percentage of immigrants, and of immigrants from all parts of the world. It is, however, also a city with major social inequalities. The latter features of the city have been highlighted by the Commission for a Socially Sustainable Malmö, the focal point of which is the observation of immense differences in health between different groups among Malmö’s population. However, the studies it conducts also cover the assumed reasons behind these differences: problems regarding work, housing, education and a lack of economic and social resources. The study here presented relates strongly to the questions the Commission is investigating, but focuses specifically on the role of conviviality – the “living together” (in the sense of social interaction between people of different ethnic backgrounds) which, according to Paul Gilroy (2004), has “made multiculture an ordinary feature of social life in /…/ postcolonial cities”. The study aims to investigate what examples of conviviality there actually exist in the city, the possible benefits conviviality produces (for its development) and what factors in the life of the city that provide obstacles to the realization of conviviality