Thread by @ManneGerell

Tomorrow & day after tomorrow I’m going to try to visit all the vulnerable neighborhoods of Gothenburg to make systematic observations of facilities & services in their centers as part of an evaluation I am doing. I’ll see if I can tweet a bit about it.

Now on the tram towards the northeastern police district of Gothenburg, where six of the vulnerable neighborhoods can be found. The national police list 60 such neighborhoods in all of Sweden, so this police district has the most.

The tram ride is about 20 minutes, but only three of the six neighborhoods in the northeast are reachable by tram. I will be walking or taking a bus to get around.

Starting out in Bersjön, one of the 22 neighborhoods listed as ”especially vulnerable”. At the ”comet square” I find 2 hair dressers, 1 grocery store, 1 tobacco store, 2 restaurants and a school. No cctv here, and reports suggest some displacement from cctv areas to this place.

Bergsjön also have lots of nature, and this nice playground. This is typically the case for vulnerable neighborhoods in Gothenburg.

A ten minute walk takes us to ”space square” of same neighborhood. Some nice art here, with the tram stop wall saying ”welcome to space square”. This square has cctv.

Space square clearly the center of this neighborhood, with lots of services.
Dentist, health care, library, government offices, a pizza restaurant - and a small mall with 10 businesses, including pharmacy, grocery store, fruits & greens and tobacco/gambling. Cctv monitored.

I counted a total of 22 businesses/services at the space square.
Now on the bus towards Angered, and from Angered going to try to get to one of the neighborhoods further north. And, again, plenty of nature to enjoy for those who appreciate that.

Angered is not a ”vulnerable neighborhood”, although it is surrounded by them. It is also a major public transport hub that I’ll use to get around. Now taking a coffe break to warm myself a bit though. Coffe for 22 crowns (~$2) is pretty nice.

The space square in Bergsjön that I just left got a bit infamous when a security guard was ambushed and brutally beaten a few years ago. The situation has improved however, and my job will be to see if some of that improvement can be attributed to the CCTV installment.

Raining now, and I’m on a bus towards Lövgärdet. This is also ranked as among the 22 ”worst” by national police (especially vulnerable), but arguably it is one of the least well known on that list. I have never been there before.

So, I have been here in Lövgärdet before, without remembering. Went around with neighborhood police in the district earlier this year, and remember this location very well as the police spotted a suspucious vehicle right there.

Lövgärdet center has grocery store, two kiosks, health center, mental health, dentist, bakery, pizza, pharmacy, culture association, property manager, church meeting place, school & pre-school. No police cctv, but school has cctv. And nature ofc.

Soaking wet after 20 minute walk to Gårdsten. Which has a ”Gårdsten”-house with health care and social activties, and a big mall with 15 services, including dentist, groceries, money transfer, clothes, fruit, meat, seafood & bakery.

Gårdsten is interesting as it is the only neighborhood to be downgraded from ”especially vulnerable” to ”risk neighborhood”. This happened in may this year. So the national police consider clear improvements to have taken place here.

Most people attribute positive change here to the local property management company, municipal Gårdstensbostäder. Although police and many other actors, not least civil society, have contributed as well.

Trying to warm myself up a bit with a lunch break

Now on the bus towards Rannebergen. This neighborhood is merely classed as ”vulnerable” by the national police, and thus perceived to have less problems than the other neighborhoods I visit today. I dont think I’ve been there, but I might, we’ll see.

Much less services in Rannebergen. A pizza restaurant, office of local property manager, a ”fix it” place, two schools, sports hall, preschool and muni office for schools & children. That’s it. No stores at all. No police cctv, but pre school has its own.

The pizza place was very crowded. And apparently there used to be a grocery store, but it closed a few years ago.

Now on the bus to Angered, where I will take a tram to Hammarkullen.
Hammarkullen is famous for its yearly carnival, and for having a heavy presence of the Ali Khan clan.

Hammarkullen is yet another neighborhood labeled ”especially vulnerable”, and has police operated CCTV since about a year and a half.

And El Sistema of course! A program to use music as a tool for positive development among kids.

Hammarkullen has a lot of services. I’ll start with government stuff: Swimming- & sports buildings, ”parkplay” (playground with people employed to play with/take care of kids), activity house, library, citizens office, seniors meeting place.

There’s no mall like in the other neighborhoods, but a lot of small businesses. Three barbers, one big and two small grocery stores, two kiosks, pizzeria, restaurant, cafe, clothes/cosmetics, phone/money transfer, dentist, medical, candy shop - and office of the carnival

And now today’s finalneighbirhood, Hjällbo, also ”especially vulnerable”. Like Hammarkullen it has police CCTV, and a fairly lively center. It is just a couple minutes on tram from Hanmarkullen.

Hjällbo too has a ton of services. Health, dentist, muni office, church, property manager, library, school, house for voluntary associations (somali, iran, arabic, muslim women etc), and of course money transfer, barber, pizza, grocery, fruit store &several other small businesses

The police station is here as well, but not in the center. Going to head there now to dry up a bit before I go on a ride along tonight.

So, to sum up. With the exception of Rannebergen there’s a lot of services in the vulnerable neighborhoods of northeastern gothenburg. They tend to have multiple government facilities such as health center, dentist & citizens offices. They have offices for voluntary associations

They also have a lot of private businesses, with pizza restaurant, grocery store, fruit store, money transfer smaller kiosks among the most common.

I need to take a look at stats to understand why Rannebergen had so little, but could it partially be a result of being the only neighborhood NOT to have been labeled as ”especially vulnerable” - thus receiving less attention? I dont really think so, but Rannebergen stands out.

Now finished my ridealong on the police afternoon shift, and my very long day in northeastern Gothenburg. Many thanks to the northeastern gothenburg police district, and in particular to the neighborhood police officers for their hospitality - and their good work.

Back in the days the motto for Swedish police was "to help, to protect and to make things right" - this was very much in line with the work I got to follow on this ride along. Good to see. @FredrikLennart2

No live tweeting today, but I did visit the vulnerable neighborhoods in gothenburg south & hisingen districts.
Was very well taken care of by neighborhood police in Hisingen, many thanks for the courtesy and all the effort to get me up to date on the situation! @Arktower