1. People in a painted landscape Gunnar Malmberg Department of Social and Economic Geography, Umeå University, Sweden The Project: “Away from the periphery” Place making, place discourses and migration in Swedish peripheries. Peripheries have been in focus in public debates Focus on the North This Study Migration and place making in an area in Southern Sweden Illustrate interrelations between mobility and place representations Back-ward area  Periphery  Unique idyll Migration and representations of rurality The role of the painters The making of “Österlen” John Jörgensson EugenFrans Lindberg

2. Empirical analyses Analyses of different populations and their mobility –Permanent residents –Temporary and permanent migrants –Second home owners –Tourists Analyses of their different relations to places Analyses of the representations of places –Paintings –Films –Literature –Advertisement –Geographical and ethnographical studies

3. Densely and highly urbanised western Skåne 840.000 inhabitants Peripheral south-eastern Skåne 35.000 inhabitants Skåne; the densely populated South, 0 km 80 km

4. Stigmatised as a back-ward area –“People are slow to adjust” –“People are keen to follow the traditions of their ancestors” Modernization and industry came late No regional identity “Österlen” used by outsiders A “backward” rural area Frans Lindberg

5. Making the Periphery Centre – periphery was created by the urbanisation and industrialisation But also by geographers, planners and others who conceptualised this process. Hägerstrand’s migration study from 1949 “the flight from the small town” The stereotyped periphery Self-peripherization, local politicians and local population Source: Hägerstrand (1949)

6. Population decline in the peripheral region

7. The periphery of south-east Skåne Higher share of elderly than in other parts of southern Sweden High out-migration rates High unemployment rate But the area is known to most Swedes as.. ”Österlen” An attractive rural idyll Home and second home of many intellectuals and artists

8. The making of the “Österlen” as unique idyll Major actors: –The local elite –Intellectual inmigrants –The naming process, initiated by the local elite Reintroduced the name “Österlen” and delimited the area Used by the outsiders - “painters” and second home owners –“Österlen” was represented as an rural idyll

9. The Painters Pioneer painters already in the late 1800s “The light in Österlen” The “continental” landscape in Sweden The pioneers attracted other to follow A colony of temporary or permanent painters was established in 1950s These painters were important place-makers Gummeson Wihlborg

10. The landscape represented in the paintings was an attractive rural idyll The rural idyll was located to a specific place, “Österlen”

11. When painted in oil and exhibited in the galleries, the peripheral landscape, of large plains, hamlets and fishing villages, was converted into an attractive idyll The artists and intellectuals had the symbolic capital and social capital to define the attractive place Eugen

12. Other “painters” followed Filmmakers Authors Composers Rock stars who reproduced the idyllic landscape and became and attraction that triggered others to come to Österlen

13. Reproducing the idyllic landscape Art exhibitions Invasion of art galleries and cafés Summer theatres Music festivals “Painting” and renovating houses in the old style

14. The residents of Österlen found themselves living in a painted landscape - in a rural idyll, as reproducers of the rural idyll or as exotic inhabitants in that idyll. “They say it’s a beautiful area, but we cannot see it” local rural worker Eugen John Jörgensson

15. The unique idyll attracted new populations Second home owners –High share of houses are second homes (36 %) –High share owned by non-residents (85 %) –High share of second home owners from Stockholm (25%) Inmigration of permanent residents –Still quite low –High share coming from Stockholm Tourism –Increasing tourism over the years

16. Two place discourses: South East Skåne – the stereotyped periphery Österlen - the unique idyll Part of the everyday life Influence values and behaviour Structure people’s life opportunities More for the locally tied residents Less for the mobile Eugen

17. Some conclusions Planners, geographers and others formed the discourse about the periphery “The painters” and the local elite formed the discourse about the unique idyll They had the symbolic capital to influence the place discourses While most permanent residents were less powerful to influence it However, both these discourses could also be in the interests of the permanent resident population