Individers upplevelse av att bo och leva i bostadsområdet Kronoparken

This is a qualitative study made to find out individuals experience of life in the residential Kronoparken in Karlstad. The study is a part of a municipality supported project aiming to find points of improvement and work for the area's development. This study is a first step to hear in what way the residents themselves describe their neighborhood and their lives. A total of thirteen people participated in focus groups with semi-structured interviews as data collection and the study was based on an availability sample which in this case meant that citizens of the residential Kronoparken were asked to participate. Data were analyzed through thematic analysis and in the analysis three themes appeared that summed up what the participants talk about and emphasized most: a divided area, anticipation and valuation as well as a comfortable and healthy every day living. The participants describe the area as geographically and ethnically divided. No matter what part of the area the individuals lives in they experienced the people in other areas to have more fellowship. However, the results point out that it might not be any large individual matter in terms of wellbeing or building identity, there seem to be other parameters in life that are equally important or even more important than to feel attached to other parts of ones residential area. The results suggest that individuals base their identity on many different things, where comfort and sense of participation in the residential area is only one of several parameters. Moreover, the participants talk much about the area's reputation, which gives people the expectation of the area before they move there and also gives rise to different values of the area when they have moved and started a life there. The participants testify to the rumor mill which seems to have much do with the press and the results suggest that it might require a certain type of people to neglict bad rumors and invest in something that many other people automatically reject. The last theme is about the experience of a comfortable and healthy living in Kronoparken. The participants finds it easy to get around within the area by walking or cycling, which is considered positive and rhymes with earlier research on the link between fresh air, daily exercise and wellbeing.