Till Örebro universitet

This paper takes its starting point in a local village in Bergslagen, Sweden and discusses how industrial transitions and external economic and political forces shape the local social relations and the potential for social sustainability over time. The focus in the chapter is on the different waves of visitors to the village, such as tourists, refugee migrants and socially displaced citizens looking for housing, and how these visitors are welcomed, cared for or coped with by local actors. Sustainable visits, we argue, is a concept dependent on how we perceive those who visit and those who get visited in specific places. How do so called hosts and guests interact and relate and how are practices of hospitality and care developed or contested when the well-being of the residents is put under pressure? Through interviews ,observations and analysis of media documents we investigate and unpack the social dynamics in Fredriksberg shaped by materialities and mobilities related to its peripheral location in both economic, social and geographical terms. The results show how local actors reflect on their possibilities and obligations to contribute to a more socially sustainable local community.