Contradictions of Transit-Oriented Development in Low-Income Neighborhoods: The Case Study of Rosengård in Malmö, Sweden

Abstract

Transit-oriented development (TOD) has become a leading model of urban planning worldwide that promises to meet a broad range of local and regional objectives: improving mobility, expanding ridership, attracting investment, reducing urban poverty, improving quality of life, making affordable housing and fostering urban integration. At the same time, the implementation of TOD in many cities has raised concerns about gentrification, displacement, re-segregation, and more polarization. This article aims to shed light on these issues by bringing together previously disparate literature that mentions these contradictions and discusses policymakers’ hopes and critics’ concern for the implementation of a newly started TOD project in a universal housing system in Rosengård—a segregated, low-income neighborhood in Malmö, Sweden. Although policy advocates view the project as a significant development strategy for a more sustainable Malmö, there are also real concerns about gentrification and the potential displacement of low-income residents. Furthermore, the mixed-methods study showes how integration might be achieved, but concerns have arisen about the possible exclusion of the current low-income residents, which brings up issues of inequality, representation of poverty, and marginalization.

1. Introduction

Rosengård, a city district in East Central Malmö, is currently implementating a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) project named Culture Casbah. In the project, physical planning- with the new train station as the focus is paired with the vision of integration at every level [1]. It also aims at improved living conditions in the area and for the whole of Malmö in the longer term. The district of Rosengård is the result of powerful action in the mid-1960s on behalf of the government, parliament, and local municipalities to build a million homes in ten years [2]. Shortly after its completion, it was stigmatized and despite numerous attempts at urban transformation, during the 50 years since Rosengård was built, this stigma has prevailed [3]. The area is also a multi-ethnic district with high unemployment rate and is infamous for its low socio-economic status and vulnerability. Listerborn (2019) explains, “the problems of Rosengård are partly related to housing conditions, but also more structural problems such as income inequalities and quality of schools”. In November 2016, after a lengthy debate about several replicas, the City Council approved the proposal for Culture Casbah, which is a space between the new train station and the center of Rosengård. This subarea is currently home to 5069 people living in 1660 apartments served by 126 stairwells [1]. Driven by the motivation of social integration, the development is pursuing the goal of social sustainability, which has been lauded by the well-founded conclusions of the 2016 Commission for a Socially Sustainable Malmö. The redevelopment process in Rosengård concludes a new train station, renovation of 1660 apartments as well as construction of a 22-story tower, 200 new homes, and 30 premises with the name of Culture Casbah project. The mayor of Malmö claimed that Culture Casbah will help more people both work in and visit Rosengård thus creating the living conditions that characterize an attractive district [4]. Policymakers hope that by giving Rosengård a station, they will create an area with good accessibility that can serve as an active meeting place for trade, culture, and social interaction. Furthermore, by extension, the now-planned investments will lead to further investments, which in turn will contribute to continued housing construction, increased growth, and development, and consequently, the area can become a mixed district.

In recent years, there has been a growing debate on contradictory consequences of transit-led investments in low-income urban districts. Since Calthorpe [5], codified TOD as a neo-traditional guide to sustainable community design as well as a community design theory that promises to address a myriad of social issues, there have been many scholars praising the positive socio-economic achivements due to TODs. At the same time, specifically in the last ten years, some researchers have criticized this way of urban development. Rayle claimed that whereas public transit is often seen as benefiting low-income and minority populations, in many cities, the threat of displacement has motivated equity advocates to challenge TOD and other transit-investment initiatives [6]. Dawkins and Moeckel [7] call this phenomenon transit-induced gentrification. At the same time, empirical research has so far found little evidence that gentrification leads to displacement, and some studies even suggest that gentrification reduces residential mobility. Others such as Hamnett [8], also failed to find substantial evidence of displacement leading some to suggest that gentrification can sometimes generate benefits with minimal displacement [9].

Rosengård’s TOD has met with occasional disagreement by equity advocates and certain politicians as well as some Malmö residents. One example is when one hundred Malmö residents protested against the plan to sell public housing in Rosengård to finance the massive Culture Casbah construction project [9]. Equity advocates argue that the resident’s risk becomes worse with a private landlord, as this would not include the municipally owned MKB’s social remit. They also claim that Rosengård is home to many low-income residents, and the possible rent increase may lead to displacement. Some politicians are concerned about rising rent levels and also criticize the municipality’s decision to hand over a 75 percent stake in the apartments just a year before the new train station is scheduled to open, which could see these same apartments rise in value [10]. For example, the Sweden Democrats criticized the plan and argued that a physical building will not solve the problems there and that Rosengård needs security and proper schooling, not risky projects.

These contradictory issues regarding the massive investment in this immigrant disadvantaged neighborhood allowed us to discuss the possible consequences of this neighborhood’s change process. We aimed to discuss the issue by bringing together previously disparate literature on these contradictions and discuss policymakers’ “hopes” and critics’ “concerns” using empirical evidence from the area. The central hypothesis of this article is that TOD in Rosengård may result in gentrification, the current low-income resident’s displacement, and polarization. This research discusses three apparent debates: (1) the gentrification–displacement debate, (2) the affordability paradox of TOD, and (3) the segregation–integration debate. These debates bring up some main questions: (1) What evidence can be found of gentrification and displacement in the target area? How do residents interpret the new investments as a positive change and an economic-opportunity generator or a threat for their specific atmosphere? (2) What evidence of the affordability paradox can be found? Do the residents believe that the new train station has/may have a significant role in their cost of living? What do people think of a potential rent increase? and (3) What are the locals’ and participants’ perspectives on the current level of segregation? What do they think about integration? To what extent do the participants hope that the area will integrate into the rest of the city, both physically and socially? The study aims are to problematize and deepen the understanding of the implementation of TOD as a redevelopment strategy in low-income neighborhoods. With a critical approach, the study aims at contextualizing the contradictions of TOD and problematize the hope for newly TOD as self-evident within physical planning.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Transit-Induced Gentrification

Many scholars claim that rail transit is a useful tool for accomplishing redevelopment—while some studies have linked the possible negetive consequences to gentrification; for example, researchers have shown that TOD initiatives have, in many cases, increased housing prices [6]. As Rayle stated, TOD has also been associated with gentrification measured in terms of demographic change, as people who choose to live in TODs are likely to be childless singles and couples, and while TODs do contain households with different incomes, working professionals are overrepresented [6]. Pollack et al. studied the neighborhood-level change in 12 U.S. cities with new rail transit [11]. They found that from 1990 to 2000, census block groups near the transit experienced faster increases in housing prices, monthly rents, and median household income compared with the larger metropolitan area. Kahn used a statistical model that accounted for the indigeneity of transit expansion to study 14 U.S. cities that expanded their transit systems between 1970 and 1990 [12]. He found that census tracts within one mile of the transit stations were significantly more likely to increase their share of college graduates, compared with tracts without transit. Citing the findings of Bartholomew and Ewing; Debrezion, Pels, and Rietveld; Duncan and Kilpatrick, Throupe, Carruthers, and Krause, Ryle argues that because people value accessibility [6,12,13,14,15,16]; transit investments can increase housing prices in surrounding neighborhoods, potentially causing gentrification or more specifically, a phenomenon which Dawkins and Moeckel [7] call Transit-Induced Gentrification.

2.2. Gentrification and Displacement

Since the term was first coined by Glass in 1964, social and political concerns with so-called gentrification have grown to describe the movement of middle-class families into former low-income neighborhoods. Today, the general term of gentrification is subject to numerous interpretations and presents a process highly dependent on an entire spectrum of factors, such as the spatial, social, political, economic, contextual, historical, cultural, etcetera [17]. Referring to geographer Ipsita Chatterjee’s term, Stein states that this process is “the theft of space from labor and its conversion into spaces of profit” [18]. He notes that this change is generally known as gentrification, the process by which capital is reinvested in urban neighborhoods, and poorer residents and their cultural products are displaced and replaced by wealthier people and their preferred aesthetics and amenities. The gentrification process, however, does not just happen on its own [18]. According to Stein, it requires investors, developers, and landlords, the “producers” of gentrification who buy and sell land and buildings at ever-higher costs [18]. It also requires wealthier homebuyers, renters, and shoppers—the “consumers” of gentrification—to valorize areas they would have previously ignored. Planners in this process work to ensure that both sides of the relationship are present by luring gentrification’s producers with land use and tax incentives. Here the state is a central actor, marshaling investment and chasing away threats to profits [18].

The most controversial aspect of gentrification has been its relation to displacement. Many scholars argue that any definition of gentrification must include displacement as the former cannot be understood without the latter [6]. Considering Marcuse [19] and Slater [20], Rayle claims that a broad critique holds that a narrow focus on physical displacement neglects other types of pressure that constitute experiences of gentrification [6]. In response to those empirical studies which have operationally defined displacement as the physical movement of households into or out of a neighborhood, she argues that the processes of displacement have shifted from direct, visible forms like tenant evictions to more diffuse and less obvious forms, such as continuous economic pressure or the slow erosion of the residents’ sense of belonging in their neighborhood. This broader definition encompasses the social, cultural, and political dimensions of the neighborhood. It also considers indirect, less visible processes of physical displacement not easily captured in quantitative studies. The prevalence of these less observable forms of displacement may help explain the gap between displacement studies and community activism. Marcuse [19] splits the concept of displacement into a myriad of categories including direct last-resident displacement, in which the landlord attempts to force the renter to move by cutting off necessities or dramatically increasing the rent; direct chain displacement, in which households move over time because of slower rent increases or the physical decline of buildings; exclusionary displacement, which includes both high-end development that is unaffordable for the community members and the decline of housing into abandonment which similarly precludes residence; and displacement pressure, in which residents see changes to the economiy and the community around them and move even though they do not yet feel direct pressure to do so [21].

This theory underpins a debate about the way displacement happens in practice. A particularly sharp back-and-forth between Slater [22] and Hamnett [8] captures what is almost described as a normative struggle. Slater argues that the study of gentrification should center around critical perspectives and particularly around displacement. He harshly criticizes what he calls “the decade-long preoccupation with researching the consumer preferences of middle-class gentrifiers.” He argues that gentrification is closely related to Lefebvre’s Right to the City. Hamnett’s approach takes the opposite tack and is mainly complementary to gentrification. In response to Slater [22], Hamnett [23] responds sharply to the critique of his work, arguing that gentrification does not necessarily include displacement (using examples of old factory buildings converted into lofts). He argues that defining any improvement—such as new commercial establishments in a community as “displacement pressure” makes the discussion about displacement “meaningless” [21]. In addition to Hamnett, several empirical studies of gentrification have failed to find substantial evidence of displacement, leading some to suggest that gentrification can sometimes generate benefits with minimal displacement. Former industrial areas and very depopulated residential areas could have sufficient space for new housing to accommodate new residents without displacing existing ones [6]. They claim that even studies that find some evidence that gentrification and displacement are linked, such as Freeman [24], found only a modest relationship at best, and did not find evidence that poor renters are particularly vulnerable to displacement or elevated mobility rates from gentrification [6].

Indirect forms of displacement, however, often escape measurement in quantitative studies. Marcuse’s notion of exclusionary displacement helps explain why the process of neighborhood transformation is often much more perceptible to residents than when one looks at the statistics [25]. Exclusionary displacement occurs when changes in a dwelling unit or neighborhood, particularly increasing housing costs, prevent a household from moving to a unit into which they might otherwise move. In this case, the average residential turnover results in neighborhood change by differentially selecting higher-status residents. Studies show that those moving to gentrified neighborhoods have a higher socio-economic status than current residents, which is consistent with exclusionary displacement [6]. Baeten et al. [25], in their valuable research, analyzed displacement pressure in the wake of contemporary large-scale renovation processes in Swedish cities. They found that there are anxieties, uncertainties, insecurities, and temporalities that arise from possible displacement due to significant rent increases after renovation and from the course of events preceding the actual rent increase. They also illustrated how seemingly unremarkable measures and tactics deployed in the renovation processes of Swedish housing have far-reaching consequences for tenants exposed to actual or potential displacement. Moreover, some authors define displacement more broadly to encompass loss of place, a conceptualization that includes the erosion of neighborhood-based social networks, community resources, and political power. For Marcuse [19], residents experience displacement pressure when property values rise, old neighbors move away, long-time businesses are replaced by new ones oriented toward a different clientele, and public services become less supportive—making it clear that displacement is “only a matter of time.” Similarly, Chernoff [26] describes “social displacement” as a loss of political control in one’s neighborhood, which can lead to “demoralization, or a sense of one’s lifestyle being threatened” [6].

2.3. TOD and Affordability

While Calthorpe argued that TOD would be more affordable for working families because they would not have to rely on automobile transportation as much [5], for the above reasons, a significant impact of TOD is its effect on housing and development within cities. Studies worldwide [7,27,28] claim that proximity to transit stations increases land and property values, which in turn decreases housing options for lower-income populations. As a result, TOD can cause gentrification that prices out moderate and low-income families. Transportation investment is inherently spatial and inevitably yields costs and benefits that vary across different neighborhoods [28]. Though the impacts of rail transit on travel and land development are well documented, Dong [28] claims that a limited number of existing studies have yielded mixed or even contradictory findings; on one hand, there is evidence that transit-served neighborhoods are more attractive to lower-income households who own fewer vehicles. Low-income households living close to rail transit stations can take the cost-saving benefit of transit by spending less on owning and using private cars [29]. Obviously, this result is based on the assumption that people with low-economic status usually have fewer vehicles, and their daily movement depends on public transit more than in wealthier households; therefore, rail transit and related facilities may have the effects of attracting and retaining low-income households in nearby neighborhoods. On the other hand, as Dong [28] argues many scholars claim that transit-related neighborhoods usually attract middle-class people. For instance, Giuliano [30] argues that the provision of rail transit, especially in suburban areas, aims at recapturing middle-class, car-owning travelers as a means of fulfilling broad social and environmental goals. It is argued that alternative neighborhoods that feature transit service and new urbanist design are undersupplied in U.S. metropolitan areas due to regulatory barriers. Transit-oriented neighborhoods are thus expected to attract the middle-class households who prefer to drive less and live in a compact, mixed-use neighborhood. Numerous studies show that better transit service leads to quicker housing appreciation in nearby neighborhoods [28].

2.4. Public Transit and Social Inclusion

Due to the many years of Rosengård’s segregation, stigmatization, and separation from Swedish society, the authorities, like those in many other cities around the world, have always tried to prioritize social aims such as social inclusion in their practices in their development attempts in the city. By definition, social inclusion relates to people’s ability to participate adequately in society, including education, employment, public services, and social and recreational activities [31]. International research has shown that social inclusion can lead to greater social cohesiveness, and a better standard of health as well as designing facilities to encourage meetings and social interaction in communities can improve mental health [32]. Research shows that there is a clear and significant association between trip/activity levels and risk of social exclusion, allowing for other factors that also influence this risk. Therefore, improving mobility is likely to reduce the risks of social exclusion [33].

According to The International Association of Public Transport (UITP), Public transport is a critical factor in revitalizing, regenerating, and supporting growth in deprived areas. Urban regeneration means closing the gap between the wealthiest and poorest populations by improving the physical structure of a deprived place and increasing access for people living in deprived areas to the opportunities of city life to tackle social exclusion and support the local economy. However, for low- and moderate-income (LMI) and minority communities, the outcomes of transportation policy and planning over much of the past 50 years have mainly been about isolation rather than access. Arguably, in many places, transportation policy and planning have served to exacerbate the challenges that the community development field seeks to confront, such as socioeconomic segregation and limited economic development opportunities [34].

2.5. A Debate on Physical Planning and Social Mix

The idea of the social mix has been a planning ideal for a long time, and it has been revived again at the beginning of the 21st century’s urban planning [35]. The idea that residential areas should be mixed is based on the assumption that social mix policies can counteract the supposed negative effects of segregation. However, it is a concept that has become broad with multiple and vague uses [36]. By reffering to Van Kempen and Bolt [37], Bachs [36] indicate that even if the social mix is a policy goal, it seems that there is no clear idea of the supposed positive effects: “Why social mix is a ‘good thing’ is, in many instances, not clear. Social mix has become a kind of mantra and policy-makers seem averse to questioning it”. By stressing on the issue that the term is interchangeably used to refer to housing tenure mix and socioeconomic mix, Arthurson [35] claims that it is not always clear what stakeholders mean when talking about social mix. Bachs [36] points to widespread use of the term “Social mix” and attracts our attention to the fact that “Social mix” has been considered an urban planning theory, a neighborhood economic–demographic condition, a set of urban transformation strategies, and (ironically) both a neo-liberal and socialist ideology, as Gakster and Friedrichs [38] stated. She concludes that social mix strategies can have variated objectives ranging from fighting social exclusion to stabilizing a municipal tax base.

While often couched in terms of enhancing social inclusion or reducing social stigma for social housing tenants, Arthurson [35] argues that the impetus to “enhance” social mix through the incorporation of owner-occupied housing into social housing communities has typically been driven by cost considerations. According to Arthurson [35],under neoliberal orthodoxy, governments and housing agencies must become entrepreneurial in raising funds and taking advantage of the talents of the private sector. The idea is then that social housing communities can better “pay for themselves” rather than rely on the old welfare-state model of income redistribution to build houses for the poor. Therefore, when the infrastructure and buildings in a social housing community reach the end of their life span, the redevelopment plan now invariably involves bringing in private-sector developers to re-build the community, typically with the most desirable lands given to them for building owner-occupied housing (which is then sold, allowing the developers to realize a profit). Arthurson’s analysis and conclusions are thoughtful and nuanced. Those who know the scholarly literature in the field, including Arthurson’s rigorous work, will not be surprised that she finds that many of the assumptions practitioners have of the social mix ideal do not pan out on the ground. For instance, the assumptions that home-owners and social housing tenants will socialize together; that physical proximity will automatically produce respect, understanding, and community cohesion; that the kids of home-owners will attend and in turn enhance local public schools; or that having higher-income home-owning households living nearby will somehow raise the living standards of the poor or act as “role models” are all found wanting. Instead, in some places, community conflict increased, there remained limited social interaction between different classes, and many wealthier kids went to private schools, post redevelopment. However, Arthurson [35] also finds that the ways that both social housing tenants and new home-owners see their redeveloped communities and the levels of forms of social mix produced within them are not set in stone and vary with circumstance.

3. The Plan

The project in which the city has waited for more than twenty years concludes a new train station and many significant transit-led investments called Culture Casbah. Culture Casbah includes a 22-story tower, 200 new homes, and 30 commercial and communal units, which are supposed to be built in a mix of new construction and redevelopment close to the new station. Furthermore, over the longer term, the developer company is planning to build a further 300 residential apartments. Rosengård’s train station was built on the continental line of Malmö. This new rail line links the somewhat deprived districts of Östervärn, Rosengård, and Persborg to Malmö Central Station in one direction and to the out-of-town shopping areas of Svågertorp and Hyllie in the other (see Figure 1). Malmö plans to use the reopened station of Östervärn as the center of a new residential area, with up to 5000 houses and seven new schools. The station at Rosengård, meanwhile, will form the center of Admiralsstaden, with new buildings planned to fill in spaces between the Törnrosen apartment blocks and perhaps even a high-rise apartment building called Culture Casbah [39].

Culture Casbah was approved by Malmö City Council in late 2016. To finance the project, municipal housing company MKB sold 1660 public apartments within less than 600 meters radius from the new train station to Rosengård Fastigheter, the newly formed private housing company. The company, which in fact was formed in 2017, is a joint company based on an equal cooperation of MKB Fastighets AB with three private housing companies, Fastighets AB Balder, Heimstaden, and Victoria Park AB [39]. This new company is part of the realization of Culture Casbah. Since 2018, the company started to assess the needs to improve the area and plan the neighborhood [1]. The new train station was established in December 2018, and currently, the company is working on preparing a land-use plan for the neighborhood. As Figure 2 shows, the company plans to start building the project from 2020.

Basically, the project is a part of a more important strategy for city development. According to Malmö municipality, “it’s a mobility project, it’s a social project and it’s also part of a bigger strategy”. Their idea is to combine this ring with other investments in cultural buildings and welfare buildings, so you will have a destination close to the railway station [39]. Geographically, the target area includes Törnrosen and half Örtagarden, two subareas of Rosengård (see Figure 3), with 5069 (mostly) low-income residents who live in the 1660 apartments that recently changed over to the private system (see Figure 4).

The aim of the project is to transform Rosengård into a revitalized and dynamic urban neighborhood is rooted in the desire to activate the district’s social potential through the concentration and integration of new building forms, urban rooms, and landscapes into the existing monolithic urban structure [1]. The tower is supposed to be a signal building that connects with neighboring areas and should be publicly accessible from base to top through a vertical “street” and also include a “social staircase” and other publicly open spaces. The tower will contain a mix of homes, offices, commerce, and cultural activities. However, in contrast to Malmö city council, the developer, and TOD planners’ hope that the project will revitalize the area and break segregation, there are many local politicians and equity advocates who have challenged the project. In the next section, I will analyze this debate broadly using some evidence from the area in order to discuss to what extent the critics’ concerns are real and policy makers’ hope are fragile.

4. Methodology

The main focus and overall emphasis in this article is inspired by critical urban theory, which involves a rejection of instrumental approaches of social scientific knowledge [41]. The inspiration helps this research to be conducted in the way that TODs are not just accepted as an effective policy. The project is still under the detailed planning and thus, the implementation process of Culture Casbah and renovation of the apartments has not started yet. This study will discuss the policy advocate’s hope and the critic’s concern within three mentioned debates.

The research has been based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Official municipal documents, people who are living in the area, as well as other related actors (see

Table 1. Respondents

Respondents	Description	Interview Date
Residents	Including two groups in two local mosques and nine individual respondents, most of whom were key persons in the neighborhood.	May
Four city professionals	Four interviewees selected with basis on their field of work and professional experience relating to Rosengård. M1 and M2 are professors in Urban Planning at the Department of Urban Studies at Malmö University. M3 is a local reporter, who has reported all Rosengård’s main issues, specifically the train and Culture Casbah in the last five years, and M4 is a researcher who has written debate articles on Malmö, mainly on cultural and integration issues for decades.	June
Two activists	M5 is a sociologist and educator active against approving the Culture Casbah on November 2016, and M6 is an artist, originally from Middle East trying to make a better Malmö.	May–June
People working within Malmö municipality	Three respondents who work with physical planning within Malmö municipality in different positions and have worked on the Rosengård TOD plan.	March–June
The developer/owner of the area	There were many useful email contacts as well as a semistructured interview with the representative of the company.	February–June

) were three types of selection in this case study. Statistical-demographic data, documents of the project, institutional planning documents from Malmö municipality, as well as media contents are used to provide an understanding of the project and neighborhood redevelopment strategy.

To do the quantitative survey, a questionnaire was prepared in English, Swedish, and Arabic. The target population is 5069 people and 1542 housholds [42]. The sample size (108 households) was estimated based on Cochran’s formula. Among various forms of questionnaire surveys, a paper survey as well as an online questionnaire were conducted. The questionnaire was divided into four sections. The first section focused on the size and structure of the household, their occupational and income status, the year when they moved into the current apartment, their previous place of living, as well as about the reasons and counter-reasons that influenced them to move to Rosengård or to continue to live there (Demographic questions 1–6). The next set of questions asked for information concerning the possible rent increase and household’s possible move-out/displacement (multiple choice questions 7 and 8). Questions 9–12 were about their trip pattern regarding the new train station, the use pattern of the new train station, new possible housing applications, and the possible benefits of the train for respondents. The final section (Likert scale questions 13–16) have focused on their attitudes about Culture Casbah, economic opportunities and economic resources, the current rent level, their concern regarding possible rent increase, and their perspective of Rosengård in coming years.

To find suitable respondents, authors to stayed and walked between Törnrosen and Örtagården buildings every day to find respondents who were currently living in the target area. Moreover, local mosques, Bennet’s Bazar, the Centrum, as well as the new train station were the main places where authors conducted the questionnaire survey. To achieve a rather high return rate of the questionnaires and thus a reasonably representative result, every respondent was asked beforehand whether he or she was willing to take part in the survey. For each respondent, there was a short description of the research; then, they filled out the questionnaire. Most of the time, respondents needed more explanation for some questions. Out of a hundred printed questionnaires, the authors could find 41 fully answered. Due to residents’ low-connection with smartphones and social media, the online questionnaire was not successful. Women were in a worse condition in this regard. Excepting young people, most residents did not have connection to the internet; they mostly had no email address or Facebook or telegram accounts. The survey was conducted during May 2019.

Qualitative interviews were done with four groups (Table 1). There was a semi-structured interview conducted in the target area with 22 local residents overall (including two groups and nine residents). Interviews with local groups were conducted in two different areas; the first interview conducted in Bennet’s Bazzar with around 8 participants and the other took place in a local prayer room in Tornrosen district with 5 local participants. Interviews were conducted in English, Farsi, Turkish, and Kurdish. Each interview took 30 minutes on average. The next target group was city professionals and four interviewees selected based on their field of work and professional experience relating to Rosengård. We also had an interview with three respondents who work in physical planning within Malmö municipality in different positions and have worked on the Rosengård TOD plan. The conversations revolved around their concern about some determining factors of the Rosengård redevelopment process, new private owners, gentrification, possible displacement, affordable housing, and segregation.

In addition to interviews, the research made some findings through unsystematic observation. Observing alighting and boarding onto the train was done on two working days as well as a weekand. The aim was to observe the usage pattern of residents of the new train station. The neighborhood is a low-mobile district due to high unemployed tenants, and historically the area’s daily movement has been based on cycling and bus. Establishing the new station has been a new, cheaper and faster accessibility choice but still has not been a predominant mode of transportation in the region. The maximum number of persons boarding in each working day was less than 50 passengers, much more than total boarding at weekends. The second aim of the observation was to know about the mobility of residence specifically their connection with other parts of the city. Therefore, during long hours of unsystematic observation between buildings of Törnrosen and Örtagården and participating in religious events, it was declared that there are many prayers who do not live in Rosengård. During the interviews, it was also declared that residents of Rosengård used to go to mosques in other parts of the city. Furthermore, the observation helped authors to know that there are many customers who come to the area from small towns around Malmö such as Landskrona as well as other parts of Malmö to shop in Rosengård and visit their friends and relatives.

5. Results

5.1. Transit-Induced Gentrification: An Emerging Process in Rosengård

5.1.1. Rosengård and the Vulnerable Dwellers

Big size household is one of the most apparent characteristics of the target area. According to the questionnaire, around half of the respondents (48%) have four other members in their households due to the high number of children. Around 42 % of respondents declared that they are living in a two or three-member household. In contrast, only 10% of respondents mentioned they are alone. Demographic statistics, of course, show that at least 33% of Rosengård residents and around 36.5% of residents of the survey area are under 18, compared to 23.17% of Malmö residents.

Foreign-born is another highlighted characteristic of the area, which sharply distinguishes the area from the rest of the city. Statistics illustrate that nearly 88% of tenants in the target area have a different background [43]. The distribution of backgrounds for the target areas is Nordic countries (2%), Europe (25%), and rest of the world (73%), mainly from the Middle East and North Africa. Poverty is the other vivid characteristic of the target area, which is enhanced by low-education. Currently, of all 26–64 years old of residents, nearly 36% are primary educated, only 38% of adults are secondary educated, just 22% have gotten diplomas, and only 4% of adults are graduates [43]. At least 74% of adults in the target area are categorized as “low purchasing power”, compared to 33% for Malmö [43]. This economic condition indicates a poverty status that reminds of the residents’ vulnerable position in the face of every rising cost in rent or general living costs.

Theoretically, gentrification’s winners and losers are not random. This study reveals that the gains of the new transit line are probably not for existent low-income dwellers. The mentioned socio-economic characteristics of the area highlight the high vulnerability rate to the gentrification. Many residents in the target area often live on small, fixed incomes, which makes it hard for them to survive in housing shocks. Additionally, more than 60% of respondents mentioned that they cannot pick up an extra shift to cover the rent as they have no other financial sources except what they currently have.

5.1.2. From the Public-Owned to the Private Housing System

The central part of the reinvestment strategy is to transform 1650 apartments from a public-owned housing to a market-led housing, a process which is known as housing commodification, which has attracted the attention of equity advocates to challenge the whole redevelopment plan of the target area. As of today, the investor has come into the target area and purchased 75 percent of 1650 public housing stock from municipality owned housing company MKB. Furthermore, the gentrifying potential of this area and investment motivation can be explained more through the rent gap mechanism: The existing rent in the area is at the lowest rate; all sold apartments located between the new train station and the Rosengård Centrum are within walking distance and within less than 600 meters’ radius from the station. Moreover, there are many open spaces between the existing apartments, which are supposed to be used to build at least 200 new homes close to the (Törnrosen) Tower to make the area denser; but more importantly, all of these advantages are in addition to the area’s location near the city center. Overall, these indicates that the area is in the early stages of the gentrification process.

5.1.3. Culture Casbah, Designing for the One Percent

Culture Casbah has itself provided a new focus for the signature architecture debate in the area as it is an essential part of the plan as it plays a symbolic role in the urban redevelopment process and will be the commercial core of the target area. According to the CEO of MKB, this tall house symbolizes the will to unite Malmö, Turning Torso in the west, and Törnrosen Tower in the east [10]. An analysis of the residents’ sense of the project and their hope for the future of Rosengård shows a strong distrust in their relation with the project. Despite the idea that the word ‘Casbah’ basically comes from the culture of the Middle East and planners aim to attract the resident’s participation through a similar identical symbol, the survey declared that residents have not a positive view of the project. The gap between the resident’s concern and policymakers hope originates from the fact that there has not been significant participation by local tenants in the project. In order to understand more of the people’s perception of the TOD plan and the future of Rosengård, they were asked three questions regarding their views on the new changes and future investments. In contrast to 27% of the respondents (mostly young people and businessmen) who welcome the new “change” and are hopeful for positive outcomes, there are local respondents’ perspectives which are that Culture Casbah will not be built to improve their living conditions.

5.1.4. The Concern of Low-Income Displacement and Displacement Pressure

Protests by activists and Malmö residents in late 2016 when the city council approved the TOD plan was due to their concern about the possible rent increase. The private landlord has recently started managing the target area, but as the renovation has not started yet, there has been no significant rent increase so far. At the same time, though Rosengård is one of the more low-cost neighborhoods in Malmö, around 20% of respondents claimed to know at least one household that, in the past two years, has moved out of the area to live in a lower-cost place (see Figure 5). Most local tenants (unemployed residents) receive government subsidies to afford their housing costs, and at least 18 percent of the respondents claimed that they can hardly afford the current rent.

In addition to the local dwellers, other participants strongly confirm the concerns of displacement. As M1 states, in other parts of Sweden, the renovation has led to displacement of the original residents and their social networks being dismantled. She claims that, often, those who choose to stay will be in worse economic circumstances due to the higher cost of living. Similarly, M2, M7, and M8 also indicated that displacement is strongly predictable for Rosengård, as most original dwellers may not be able to afford to remain. Moreover, both activists not only confirm the concern regarding displacement but also highlight the previous dislocation of most residents, which they had experienced at an international scale.

Furthermore, there is some evidence of displacement pressure in the area. The results of the survey show that even at this stage, the tenants’ quality of life has declined due to the cutting off of care services. In order to get a response for every request to the new landlord, tenants have to wait for many weeks. This situation has caused much fear and anxiety for them. Cutting off necessities along with growing social push factors are making the neighborhood harder than ever to live in. According to Marcuse [19], there will be a “direct last-resident displacement” when the landlord attempts to force the renter to move by cutting off necessities or dramatically increasing the rent [30]. Another result, which is very helpful when unfolding the indicating factors behind the emerging displacement pressure, is the existing massive distrust in the area. Despite of the Arabic background of the concept of Culture Casbah, local residents feel a weak connection to the project. With the exception of a small group of businesspeople, most dwellers are skeptical about the project. A 50–year-old Somalian man clearly said that “they are building it for themselves. It’s not for us.” This result falls in line with Danley and Weaver’s work [21], which shows that the feeling of distrust will work as the catalyst in the gentrification process and for the displacement pressure.

While many may argue that agreements such as SHIFT may guarantee affordable housing for all low-income residents in Malmö, the research shows that these agreements may not entirely cover the right to housing, particularly in the target area. The research found that, in the resident’s view, Rosengård has a broader meaning than simply being an area to live in, it is a particular space to live close to their relatives and friends, and there are many mosques to pray. It is an environment that accepts their lifestyle, with an atmosphere where they can manage both public and private spaces by their desired ethical codes, such as wearing a hijab. It seems that this status goes even beyond the right to “live in neighborhoods and communities” because, in this area, the matter is not only about a sense of belonging to the neighborhood but also refers to their lifestyle and their specific social networks.

5.2. TOD and the Affordability Paradox

5.2.1. The Low-Mobile Neighborhood

Geographically, Malmö is a southern municipality of Skåne county and the third-largest city in Sweden. Situated 30 km across the Öresund Bridge from the Danish capital of Copenhagen, Malmö serves as a significant transit hub in the Öresund region providing connectivity both across the border and to further regional locations in Skåne, as well as to the larger Swedish cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg via a high-speed rail link [44]. There is a train in each direction once every half an hour during the daytime hours of 06:00 and 22:00. The traffic is made up of the Pågatåg passenger line running from Malmö Central to Kristianstad, and another “pendulum” line between Hyllie and Malmö Central. As part of their long-term strategy, Skånetrafiken hopes to integrate this commuter traffic with the Öresund transit hubs of Lund and Copenhagen and thus enhance connectivity in the region. While conducting the survey, the author had an observation at different hours on both weekdays and weekends. The survey showed that the train was on time, but nevertheless, after six months of establishment, there are not many passengers on the train. Based on the observation, not more than five passengers were seen on each platform of every train leaving, and it is estimated that the number of passengers on each line would approximately be 50 a day, showing that the train still does not play an essential role in the area. The first reason goes back to low mobility, as more than two-thirds of respondents mentioned that they do not use the new train station. Few regular and daily movements from the district to the other parts of the city are due to the high unemployment rate (68%). Although they still need to change trains to get to their destination, approximately 19 percent of respondents who mostly work or study in Copenhagen stated that they use the new train every day. A smaller group of respondents (17%) mentioned that they often use the new train station weekly or monthly, usually to visit with friends and relatives who live outside of Rosengård (see Figure 6). Accordingly, the new transit line has not had a significant effect on reducing the local households’ living cost, and thus, adding the new train station to the area has not led to improving the affordability of the neighborhood.

5.2.2. New Opportunities and Low-Income Resident’s Access

Currently, of the residents who are 26–64 years-old, nearly 36 percent are ”Primary educated”, 38 percent are “Secondary educated”, 22 percent have received diplomas, and only 4 percent have graduated from college [43]. This status points to a massive gap between job skill requirements in Sweden with the skill levels of unemployed residents in the target area and their challenge in benefitting from the potential economic opportunities and new jobs during and after the implementation of TOD in Rosengård. Consequently, the residents are in a vulnerable position if rent increases or general living costs rise in the area. Therefore, it is evident that the resident’s disposable income would not experience a significant improvement due to this transit-led project.

According to the project, all apartments will remain rental after the renovation but at a different rent level, which will be determined through the market system. The study illustrated that even at the current stage, many impoverished households have trouble managing their living costs. Fear was the residents’ obvious response to the rent increase. Approximately, more than 60% of the respondents claim that they would certainly not afford a higher rent level. While the new investment will undoubtedly lead to rising living costs in the target area, low-income residents may not benefit from any potential economic opportunities. Thus, the affordability gap between low-income tenants and the renovated area is rising day by day. In other parts of the world, this gap has formed an international struggle. Recently, there have been many attempts by both equity advocates and some local states in the United States and Berlin, Germany, to act against housing privatization, and as a result, hundreds of residential units changed back from being privately-owned to being public-owned housing. The project in Rosengård is going in a direction that is in contrast to such equity practices that are expanding in the world.

5.3. TOD and Hopes for Breaking Segregation

According to the Malmö municipality, the Rosengård transit-led project is using physical planning to achieve social gains [42]. One of the social aims is mitigating current segregation through a mixed-use development [1], and social mix strategy [42]. They hope the TOD will break segregation and integrate the area into the other parts of the city. The professionals who participated in the interview argue that Malmö is a rather dense city, and the area is quite close to the city center. For instance, M1 claims that the actual means of transport in the area, busses, cycling, and car, may not be outcompeted by the train. By the establishment of the new train station, the area has recently been linked to Central Station in one direction and the Öresund Bridge through Svågertorp and Hyllie in the other direction. When a separate line to Lund is opened in the next few years, the area will be part of the urban and regional transit network. Therefore, even today, Rosengård is physically well connected to the other parts of the city. Other participants (M7 and M8) argue that physical integration may not work to solve Rosengård’s segregation issues. In relation to this study, M4 suggested that what has to be changed in Rosengård is socio-economic segregation.

5.4. Advantages and Disadvantages of Socio-Economic Segregation in Rosengård

Rosengård is not a usual neighborhood; this research illustrates that people in this area have shaped their particular way of living. The survey shows how people have moved in this area from different parts of Sweden and Malmö, and they try to stay. Through the qualitative interview, it has been revealed that the concentration of immigrants does not just happen on its own. More than half (53%) of the respondents mentioned that they have lived in the area for more than five years, some even more than 15 years. Around one-third of the respondents have been living in the area for 3–5 years, and only 15% for less than three years. Relating to the former place of residence, most respondents (46%) stated that they lived in a different district of Malmö before they came to the study area, 29% mentioned they were living outside of Sweden, 14% out of Malmö and 11% “in a different flat in Rosengård (see Figure 7)”. One of the findings is the respondents’reasons for living in the area. It was found that, despite the general perception, economics is not the most important factor. Only 20% of the respondents mentioned that they live in the area just because of low rent; around 45% believe that they are living in Rosengård to live close to their friends and relatives (see Figure 8). As discussed in the following, this factor has a leading role in creating particular advantages for living in the area.

Reasons to live were declared through interviews. Some tenants believe that the area is an excellent place to live, while others, specifically youngers people, claim that they will move out once they can find a better place. Most respondents pointed to the “proximity to their family and friends” as the main reason both to move in and remain in the area. This situation has many benefits for them: It is more critical for those who are unemployed as well as elderly people as they can have their needs met without speaking another language. Nevertheles, after many years of living in Malmö, many still need a translator in some cases. One of the respondents says

“This situation has made us very dependent on each other, specifically women and elderly men; nobody feels strange here.”

The majority of people in all the mentioned groups confirm this idea. A Somali respondent says,

“[…] we are not alone; we see our friends and relatives every day; we are close to each other. If we want help or are sick, there are many to help”.

Socio-economic segregation is a more complicated aspect of Rosengård. Despite M2’s controversial view on the level of segregation in the area due to the cultural diversification, there remains the argument that Rosengård is one of the most segregated districts in Malmö. Segregation is reinforced in the field through both external and internal factors. The media, an external force, based on some evidence, is vigorously reinforcing the advice to “avoid Rosengård” on a daily basis. On the other hand, the “poverty cycle” and “cultural norms” have led the community to create a self-support system with particular benefit for the residents. Their interest in concentration, comes from the language barrier, lifestyle, and cultural preferences that have shaped a desired social atmosphere thatdistinguishes itself from the rest of the city. For most respondents, the social and cultural atmosphere of whereby they live is more important than the area’s economic status. In other words, they prefer to live next to each other in a low-quality neighborhood than to live in a high-level neighborhood and be lonely.

There is controversial in regard to an aspect of segregation, which is that the area is not only segregated from the rest of the city but also segregated from Swedish society. However, contrary to the popular notion of it being cut off, through observation and interviews, authors found that there are many cultural interconnections between Rosengård and other parts of the city far from Rosengård. These connections are shaped by cultural similarity, and Mosques play an essential role in this regard. The second socio-economic integration aspect in the area centers around shopping. This type of connection is seen within a broader geography than the former, and many immigrants (Middle Eastern and North African) from other parts of Malmö as well as other small towns near Malmö often come to Rosengård to purchase specific goods that they cannot find in other shopping centers. These two integration examples illustrate that Rosengård has chosen its way of connecting to the city of Malmö based on certain socio-economic preferences. It is evident that there are two different perceptions of the current segregation: In one view, there are thousands of residents who have shaped their way of living and a kind of self-segregated system, while the other view sees a transit-oriented strategy as a worthwile aim to integrate the area with others-a disproportionate policy.

Consequently, the results illustrate the inability of TOD as physical planning in mitigating the existing segregation in Rosengård as the TOD plan does not meet the residents’ needs. Of course, this claim is limited to the existing low-income residents in the area. In the process of gentrification, the area will gradually accommodate the new wealthier residents, and most of the current low-income tenants may be displaced from the district. Perhaps then, Rosengård maybe considered an integrated part of the city but with its new gentrification consumers and the absence of the original low-income residents. The concerns point to the cost of this way of integration as it neglects most of its original dwellers, who are priced out and may be forced into living in even less desirable conditions.

6. Discussion

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is a compact, mixed-use development within an easy walk of a transit station. Today, TOD has become a predominant model of urban planning [6] based on the idea that there will be both social and economic benefits of implementation, e.g., reduction of CO2 emissions and urban poverty [7], slow growth in vehicle emissions, revitalize declining urban areas, improve quality of life, and serve equity goals by increasing accessibility for the transit-dependent [6]. However, whereas public transit is often seen as benefiting low-income and minority populations, in many cities the threat of displacement has motivated equity advocates to challenge TOD and transit investment initiatives. In many cases, advocacy groups have criticized TOD plans for exacerbating housing affordability problems and potentially displacing residents [6]. Indeed, because people value accessibility, transit investments can increase housing prices in surrounding neighborhoods, potentially causing gentrification [12] a phenomenon which Dawkins and Moeckel [7] call Transit-Induced Gentrification.

These worldwide current debates on Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) were a departure point of this study. This research has tried to illustrate how the TOD plan in Rosengård district enhance the current duality of urban development in both local and national scale. As Holgersen and Baeten [45] claimed, the development of Malmö over the past twenty years or so has been highly contradictory. On the one hand, the city has gained an international reputation for environmentally friendly planning, cutting-edge architecture, and high-end living in the Western Harbour waterfront development, and on the other hand, it is infamous for its high levels of poverty, with riots and violence often dominating the media coverage of the city [45]. While local policy makers claim that Rosengårds’ TOD will revitalize the area, reduce poverty, and make Malmö more equal and integrated, there are many residents, city professionals, scholars, and activists who have challenged the plan regarding the risk of gentrification, displacement of low-income tenants, and more polarization and marginalization. Furthermore, as mentioned, Rosengård was established as a symbol of welfare system and currently is one of the biggest residential districts with a public housing system. Implementation of TOD strategy for such fully subsidized area is itself a controversial component. In this context, this research adapted current debates at international level to the Malmö scale and developed the apparent disagreements relating to Rosengård’s TOD and criticized the plan by discussing three mentioned debates.

Regarding the evidence/signal of the gentrification process in the district, the results indicate that the area has gradually entered into a transit-induced gentrification process; a historical background review declared that the area was built as a part of the ‘Million Home’ program in the 1960s and 1970s, then it has been a disinvestment neighborhood for many decades and the recent big reinvestment project Culture Casbah represents the third stage of the long process of capital flow. According to the literature, gentrification is the third stage of capital flow [18]. Furthermore, the area has recently experienced a transformation from the public housing area to a market-led housing system, indicating a kind of ‘housing commodification,’ as what Madden and Marcuse [46]) claim.Moreover, the spectacular high-rise building (Culture Casbah) with unique architecture in this disadvantaged are aims at more place branding, improving the rent gap, and facilitating the gentrification through a ‘starchitecture’ strategy. By referring to Justin McGuirk’s book, [18] and Cocotas [47], we can argue that this type of architecture is usually more for elites than improving ordinary people’s lives.

How these changes can be interpreted; as an urban revitalizing project and redevelopment process of a disadvantaged neighborhood or a kind of dispossession the space for profit? As discussed before, the mentioned gentrification process does not just happen on its own. According to Stein [18], it requires investors, developers, and landlords, the “producers” of gentrification, to buy and sell land and buildings at ever-higher costs. It also requires wealthier homebuyers, renters and shoppers—the “consumers” of gentrification—to valorize areas they would have previously ignored. Planners in this process work to ensure that both sides of the relationship are present by luring gentrification’s producers with land use and tax incentives. The state in the current TOD has a central actor, marshaling investment, and chasing away threats to profits [18]. As it is seen, the poor residents have no specific place in such urban redevelopment strategy. It is evident that the process that is currently run by TOD advocates in the area may be interpreted as a process of facilitating the gentrification than a redevelopment work to promote livability, growth, and sustainability.

In this emerging gentrifying district, the concern of displacement is real, and it has unfolded through this research in a broad meaning. Following the establishment of the new train station, one of the next main steps to realization of TOD is renovation the existing apartments. Törnrosen is the only district in Rosengård that has witnessed a reduction in population in some years since 2010. The results showed that even without renovation, there are households that moved out of the area in order to live in a lower cost house and more secure area. While some people (20%) are favorable to the new building as they may bring in some new services and make the area more attractive, others sense that the changes are aiming at attracting others than the ones living there. While for nearly half of tenants paying the existing rent level is hard, most respondents indicated that they certainly cannot not afford an increased rent level; the question arises “What will be the fate of this people?” Of course, there has been no convincing response from policymakers or the new landlord to this question.

To discuss the concern of displacement in the target area, it is evident that in this gentrifying district, the concern of displacement is real. As of today, the renovation process has not started so far, and thus, there has not been actual displacement due to the significant rent increase; however, there is some evidence of displacement pressure in the target area; tenants’ quality of life has declined due to cutting off care services. According to the local respondents, unlike previous years, tenants have to wait for weeks in order to get a response for every request to the new housing company. This situation has caused fear and anxiety in people. Cutting off necessities along with growing criminality are making the neighborhood harder to live in than ever. The survey has also shown that for nearly half of tenants paying the current rent level is hard, and most respondents indicated that they certainly could not afford an increased rent level. According to Marcuse [19], there will be a “direct last-resident displacement” when a landlord attempts to force the renter to move by cutting off necessities or dramatically increase the rent [21].

The next explanation is the affordability paradox of TOD in low-income neighborhoods. While it is argued that TOD improves low-income residents’ economy and helps them make their disposable income more because of reduced transportation costs, the result of this research shows that due to the high unemployment rate and little daily trips, transportation costs have no significant place in reducing the local households’ living costs. Furthermore, it is said that transit systems provide users with a ladder to economic opportunity, connecting individuals to home, work, education, healthcare, and myriad destinations. However, this ladder is most critical to low-income, transit-reliant households with little means to afford auto-oriented lifestyles [48]. Similarly, Rojas [49] claims that attracting a new major employer to a community is a great opportunity, but low-income residents’ access to that employer’s or other jobs requires more work. In many gentrifying areas, incumbent residents experience meaningful job losses within their home census tract, even while jobs overall increase [50]. Regarding our case there is an enormous gap between the requirements of the potential job with the level of resident’s skills and their education status. This situation helps us to conclude that the planned TOD has no specific role in cost reduction in Rosengård, and it seems there would not be a significant improvement in low-income resident’s economy.

This kind of housing commodification in such projects has always led to a vast political struggle. “There is a conflict between housing as lived, social space and housing as an instrument for profit-making” [46]. While the project was approved through the cooperation of Social Democrats and right-wing parties, the left parties were against the project due to their concern about rising rent level. According to M1, housing should be seen as a fundamental part of welfare, such as healthcare and education. David Harvey traces our changing relationship to housing through the city of use-value, the city of exchange value, and the city of speculative gain. He underlines that “use value” should be prioritized. As discussed above, TOD is a redevelopment profit-driven strategy which speeds up the transformation of my case from the “city of use-value” to a city of “speculative gain”. It seems that this way of urban development is ripping communities’ apart, reinforcing socio-economic segregation. Does the Swedish “circumscribed neo-liberalism” system [51] remain a chance for those very low-income residents to have an option to maintain their current level of living? Can democratic associations like the Swedish Union of Tenants take an effective step through negotiation in this regard or their hands are tied back due to the neoliberal condition of the economy today. Moreover, it will remain unanswered whether “The Shift”, a global initiative on the right to housing, which was signed by the City of Malmö, will make sure that Rosengård’s low-income residents will benefit from the welfare values without experiencing displacement.

“New tall house symbolizes the will to unite Malmö”; this is the basic approach by MKB in the design and implementation of the Culture Casbah. To what extent may the Tower be able to unite people too? Segregation is reinforced in the field through both external and internal factors. Media, an external force, based on some evidence, is vigorously strengthening ‘Avoid Rosengård’ day by day. On the other hand, ‘poverty cycle’ and ‘cultural norms’ has led the community to make a kind of self-supportive system with specific beneficiaries for residents. Islamic cultural places function as an integrating place and have built an interconnected cultural network, has helped locals quite distinguish themselves from the others and shape a high privacy atmosphere for most local residents who prefer to maintain this paradise through their self-segregated behaviors. This study shows that the local residents may not bargain on these achievements as the TOD, of course, has not a secure alternative for them. The fact that this community has identified its specific own way to continue to live and mixing income will tear up this system leading in two possible ways; resisting or abandonment.

Moreover, the results illustrate the inability of TOD as physical planning to mitigate the current socio-economic segregation in Rosengård, as the TOD plan does not meet the residents’ need. One of the well-known aspects of segregation in Rosengård is spatial segregation. As the research showed Malmö is a rather dense city, and the area is quite close to the city center. Moreover, by the establishment of the new train station, then the area has recently linked to Central Station in one direction and the Öresund bridge through Svågertorp and Hyllie in the other. Therefore, even at the moment, Rosengård has physically well connected to the other parts of the city. The study concludes the participants’ concern of that physical integration does not fit to Rosengård’s segregationally issues and the city should pay a special attention to the current socio-economic segregation. Segregation is reinforced in the field through both external and internal factors; Media, an external force, based on some evidence, is vigorously strengthening ‘Avoid Rosengård’ day by day. On the other hand, the ‘poverty cycle’ and ‘cultural norms’ have led the community to make a kind of self-supportive system with particular beneficiaries for residents. Their interest in concentration, in fact, comes from the language barrier, lifestyle, and cultural preferences that have shaped a desired social atmosphere distinguished from the rest of the city. For most respondents, the social and cultural atmosphere is more important than the level of economic status. In other words, they prefer to live next to each other in a low-quality neighborhood than to live in a high-level neighborhood lonely. It is evident that there are two different perceptions of the current segregation; on the one hand, there are thousands of residents who have shaped their way of living and a kind of self-segregated system, and on the other hand, a transit-oriented strategy which aims at integrating this area with others; a disproportionate policy.

7. Conclusions

The purpose of this research was to discuss and deepen the understanding of the contradictions of transit-oriented development in low-income urban neighborhoods. The case study of Rosengård district was used to discuss three contradictions: transit-induced gentrification-displacement, the affordability paradox of TOD, and the segregation-integration debate. Through a mixed qualitative-quantitative method, the research aimed to develop a critical discussion about this type of urban redevelopment planning based on the residents’ perceptions and other actors’ opinions relating to the recently started TOD in Rosengård.

The study illustrated that the area has gradually entered into a transit-induced gentrification process; this process has started by privatisation of 1660 public housing and a detailed land-use to build new houses in the districts’ vacant land to concentrate the area. Furthermore, according to the plan, the renovation process will start soon and the rent for both commercial and residential properties is determined through the market system. Accordingly, the living cost in district will rise and most current low-income tenants will not be able to afford to stay in their home. In other words, they will be pushed-out and have to choose a cheaper district to live.

The study has also shown some evidence of the affordability paradox of TOD in the target area. The results indicate that the new train station has had not a significant decisive role in the resident’s income and hence it has not a significant impact on mobility costs due to the residents’ low-mobility and low ridership and the enormous gap between the requirements of the potential job with the level of resident’s skills and their education status. Therefore, it is evident that the resident’s disposable income may not experience a significant improvement.

Finally, the results challenge the ability of TOD as physical planning in mitigating the current socio-economic segregation in Rosengård. One of the well-known aspects of segregation in Rosengård is spatial segregation. As the research showed Malmö is a rather dense city, and the area is quite close to the city center. The study concludes the participants’ concern of that physical integration does not fit with Rosengård’s segregationally issues, and the city should pay a special attention to the current socio-economic segregation. It is evident that there are two different perceptions of the current segregation; on the one hand, there are thousands of residents who have shaped their way of living and a kind of self-segregated system, and on the other hand, a transit-oriented strategy which aims at integrating this area with others; a disproportionate policy.

8. Limitations and Further Research

The results of discussion in this research indicate that there is no conclusive orientation to whether running TOD projects in low-income neighborhoods leads to actual displacement and more marginalization or not. Based on a critical approach within the context of neoliberal urbanism this study aimed to open up to a dialogue on contradictory achievements of the current way of redevelopment processes in disadvantaged neghborhoods in Malmö.

Next studies can be conducted with less limitations than this paper has faced. Dealing with people in different cultures and different languages in the area, which in many cases created a barrier to having an active interaction was the first limitation. Moreover, finding the right respondent (living in the target area, being able to write his/her opinion and being conscious of new changes in the area) and interested in answering the questions responsively was challenging and needs much more time to survey. The next limitation is related to those people who could speak Swedish or their original language but could not write their own ideas on the paper. Furthermore, to develop the discussion, active politicians’ participation is crucial. In this research, authors were interested in getting policymakers and politicians’ opinions directly through an interview, but due to some reasons (the European election 2019, the specificity of the case, unwillingness to participate in the research), it did not happen.

This work has been done at the time of the first phase of the TOD project of Rosengård, and it is too soon to judge the project in practice; hence, rigid studies and more scientific evidence are needed to trace the reality of this duality in this neighborhood. Finally, discussing the contradictions of TOD in low-income neighborhoods in Sweden revealed that this form of urban redevelopment maybe a way of re-using the space for more profit and a strategy for reproduction the space by the capital, which basically is in contrast to the goals of TOD, the right to housing as well as the goast of the Swedish welfare system. More profound research is needed to respond to two categories of unknowns; rigid research is needed to measure changes in Rosengård in the next few years and evaluate to what extent the current concerns may be realized, how will the area experience gentrification and displacement, and what factors may enhance or slowdown this process. Comparative studies are also needed to investigate the similarities between the cautionary neoliberalism experience in Swedish urbanization and the other western experiences of transit-induced gentrification, housing commodification, and displacement.