Jessie Svensson

CRAFTED CARE

Exploring the notion of care and belonging to a spatial context through the phenomena of temporary residences of rural southern Sweden.

Jessie Svensson

Crafted care:

Exploring the notion of care and belonging to a spatial context through the phenomena of temporary residences of rural southern Sweden A master thesis project by Jessie Svensson

Umeå, Sweden 2016

Master’s Programme

Laboratory of Immediate Architectural Intervention, LiAi Umeå School of Architecture (UMA)

Umeå University Coordinator:

Johannes Samuelsson UMA examiner:

Sara Thor Guest critic:

Pablo de Soto Supervisors:

Torange Khonsari Andreas Lang Andrew Bedfield Tom Dobson

For the purpose of this essay, ~ is defined as follows, as described in the oxford dictionary:

event noun

1 a thing that happens or takes place, especially one of importance: the mo- mentous political

~ of the late 1980s

ORGIN. late 16th century: from Latin eventus, from evenire ’result, happen’, from e- (variant of ex-) ’out of’ + venire ’come’.

care noun

1 The provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something: the ~ of the elderly

2 Serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk: he planned his departure with great ~

verb

1 Feel concern or intrest; attach importance to something: they don’t ~ about human life

2 Look after and provide for the needs of: he has numerous animals to ~ for ORGIN, Old English caru (noun), carian (verb), of Germanic orgin; related to Old High German chara ’grief, lament’, Charon ’greieve’, and Old Norse kor

’sickbed’.

(Oxforddictionaries.com, 2016)

ON MY WAY HOME

”It’s the stupid girls who remain”, states Clara Bodén about her home county in the documentary APT. + CAR + ALL I HAVE AND OWN (Lgh + bil + allt jag har och äger, 2016). It is about the place to where I moved from my home when I was 16, where I lived during high school and the quote origins from an interview made at my high school the year after finished and moved to the city (Umeå).

I can identify with this quote, coming from a small village, and it expresses something that I have never been able to put into words; fundamentally what it means to grow up outside the urban context and what it means to escape to the city. The process of realising your position in society and discovering how ugly the green colour of the living room at home is, but also about starting to appreciate it again. The last eight years I have lived 1100 kilometres away from home. A necessary choice, as I wanted “something more” than what was offered, and this is something I never really questioned. Still, of course, I have kept a strong attachment to my background/home throughout this time.

Having been torn between two places, I have had a feeling that something, whether it being norms or territorial distances has been preventing me from being fully present in more than one.

The feeling of being a part of something and belonging is a game of give and take. It is fragile and it needs to be maintained. I have always questioned if what I am doing for my native place is enough, or whether I should do more to improve and nurture the relations with my family, grandparents and with the place itself. Throughout this project, however, I have discovered the value of returning and of reconnecting. Presence is not necessarily physical but can sometimes be felt more actively when not actually living in a place. The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate the phenomena of returning in society and examine how architecture can work to facilitate, strengthen and form relations and create meaning for people returning from exile as well as for those who stayed.

Prologue

“This is an architecture of spontaneity and movement … it made a bubble in time in which, a part from the sheer pleasure of it, it was possible to glimpse a modified version of London, one more festive and dreamlike then usual.”

–Rowan Moore on the Cineroleum by Assemble studios (Moore, 2012) Architecture forms and facilitates events, which in turn bring us together, forming and sustaining relations and community by creating memories and attachment. In this project I explore the notion of events as an architectural tool and how it can be used to ground projects in a context and in the users to create a meaning and encourage acts of generosity and care.

The project emerges from issues of social isolation in society, particularly of older people but also as a wider, inter-generational problem. In correlation to this I deal with the issue of depopulation of the countryside, the notion of young people escaping and my own pursuit to feel a belonging in this context, having moved away myself. Based on the idea of care and its development in current society, I wonder if there is a potential to reconnect young people to their native places to create an infrastructure of care and a sense of belonging. The project aims to create spaces where these events of exchange can occur.

Abstract

Verse 18 from the book Aniara by Nobel prize winner 1974 Harry Martinsson (Martinsson, 1956). “Aniara is intended as a warning to mankind, urging us to accept responsibility and guilt of our collective sins. It was inspired by the events of WW II and by news of the hydrogen bomb in 1953.” And illustrate

“A future war is ranging on Earth, and people are fleeing to Mars. One of the space ship, Aniara carries 8,000 emigrants” (Harry Martinsson-sällskapet, 2016). Harry Martinsson have illustrated current political and scientific situations but also been tied tie more personal issues and human destinies, that have illustrated and rooted in the birthplace we both share.

Försök till räddning genom andeflykt och överglidningar från dröm till dröm blev ofta vår metod.

Med ena benet dränkt i känslovall det andra med sitt stöd i känslodöd vi ofta stod.

Jag frågade mig själv men glömde svara.

Jag drömde mig ett liv men glömde vara.

Jag reste alltet runt men glömde fara - ty jag satt fånge i Aniara.

Attempts to rescue through spiritual escape and by wandering from dream to dream often became our method.

With one leg drenched in emotions

the second with the support of emotionless we often stood.

I asked myself but forgot to answer.

I dreamed my life but forgot to be.

I traveled around the universe but forgot to leave – because I was a prisoner in Aniara.

Translated by Jessie Svensson

Amount

18 35+ Age

of moving people

A fundamental principal for our current development (Resten av Sverige, 2016)

A fundamental pricipal for our current development

(Resten av Sverige, 2016)

The aging population in Sweden not only rearranges the demographics but also puts a pressure on our systems for care. As we know; the population is getting older and there will be less people to support them in relation to the growing aging population. In 2050 the amount of people in the age of 65 and over will be one fourth of the population and the percentage of people over 80 is growing even faster (Nordin and Wilén, 2016) The composition of a population depends on birth rates, death rates and migration. A high level of international migration leads to a low percentage of elders and vice versa and has, together with urbanization and national migration patterns caused an imbalance in the distribution of people; a territorial rearrangement.

Our ability to meet these demographic changes differs depending on our way of life and social structure. A reduced role of the family is one of the most im- portant influences of modern society, with the transition from a generational family constellation to the nuclear family and now into the disintegration of the family structure, altering our way of life as the generations became econo- mical and social independent (detached) from each other. This pattern was especially clear in the Nordic countries where the state came to have a great influence over care and financial support. The act of caring for one another was partly transferred from the immediate context of friends and family to society at large in the Swedish model of “folkhemmet”. Today we often choo- se our relations, extending the social network outside the family oriented system into a bigger but also weaker structure (Fors and Olofsson, 2016).

Introduction to a conflict between the go-

vernmental social security and social support

Zygmunt Bauman, Sociologist on independency as an individual (The Swedish Theory of Love, 2016);

“You have everything. You have enough provision to keep you away from hunger, misery, and poverty. One thing you don’t have, one thing which can not be provided by the state which are provide by the policies from the top, is to be among other people. To be with other people, to be one of a compa- ny. That you have to do yourself.

People who are trained in independence are losing the ability to negotiate, cohabitation with other people. Because you are already deprived of the skills of socialize.

We are now dividing our lives into two different worlds, online and offline.

Connecting and disconnecting. The online life is to very high extent cleaned of risks. Risks of life. That is so easy to make internet network friends, you are never really felling your loneliness. If you don’t like attitudes represen- ted by some other users, you just stop communicating with them.

When you are offline, what you inevitably see the reality diversity of human race, people are diversity, people passes by, who you meet strangers.

The more you are independent the less able you are to stop you independency and replace it with very pleasurable interdependence. So at the end of independence is not happiness, the end of independence there is emptiness of life, meaning- less of life and utter utter unimaginable bore- dom.

Today older people tend to be separated from society, surrounding context and social relations either at home or in an institution. People close to you tend to disappear with age wheb friend from the same generation passes on and friends move away. Further, the ability or possibility to take part or be included or represented diminishes. Even caretakers employed to help you are limited by their professionalism. Involuntary loneliness and social iso- lation is a growing health problem in today’s society, especially for elderlies who experience a higher risk for isolation and exclusion. There is an extended research from 2012-2013 that shows the positive effects of good social rela- tions to both relatives and friends. 4% of the population (290 000 people) is considered to be socially isolated (meaning that they live alone and meet relatives or friends less than once a week) and 48% of those people are over 75 years old (Nordström, 2016).

In modern society we value our independency and tend to forget the respon- sibility we have to care for our relations, for maintian good relation require a effort. Thus we become disconnected from each other and we feel lonely.

In this context both the constellation of the social network and its physical/

territorial distance are of importance. Young people from the countryside tend to emigrate to urban centres, the social network being an important factor in the decision to move, stay or return (social relations are one of the main reasons for people returning (Niedomysl and Amcoff, 2011)) in order to expand, escape or exchange the social setting and connections. But this mobility has a price of course. As we move from our native places and family, we also live on our own to a high extent and we will do so increasingly with an aging population.

2,21 - 4,30 Change of average age

-1,8 - 0,8 0,81 - 1,30 1,31 - 1,80 1,81 - 2,20

The amount of people over 100 per 100 000 onhabitants (average is 21)

41 or more 31-40 Upp to 30

The lack of accessible housing is a consequence of the isolation and loneliness experienced by many - because we tend to live alone to a larger extent than before - as well as a lack of circulation in the market, where the discussion focuses on cheap student housing while the rest of the market is jammed by unaffordable family homes, often owned by elderly who remains there as elderly are now healthier and live longer. Elders often struggle to care for their home but remain there anyways because it is not affordable or attractive enough to move elsewhere (Boverket, 2016). A move is for them a potential risk of becoming disconnected from the context they know and are used to.

The lack of accessible housing is not just an urban issue but also a rural one, where because of the value decreases it is not considered profitable to invest in new development but more realistic to buy something already existing (Persson, 2016) The issue then is that existing houses are rarely for sale but occupied either by elders or used as summer homes and left empty most of the year, preventing a good circulation and a more collective approach to living together.

One of the major challenges in dealing with this crisis is to get people to adapt their living situation to their changing needs, for example moving to a smaller home when their children move out. The state is taking on a major task, if they expect to meet the population growth with tenancy for all phases in life as people with decent incomes who should be able to stand on their own are caught in a difficult situation and struggle to find a place to settle.

Questions we need to answer in response to this crisis are;

How do we support the fragility of social networks on the countryside in a time of territorial mobility where they are widely spread and how it effects the sense of context and belonging in a place.

Can the notion of care be reimagined outside the governmental support, to regain some of the informal caring structures through a spatial solution that establish or strengthen the dialouge between its actors by creating space and time for it to occur? How can we through architecture meet the needs of an agining population and deal with the issues of loneliness and lack of support from the govermental and informal care support networks?

RELATIONAL INTIMACY

Scene 1: Local community as a form of care or

the act of caring for eachother

My grandmother’s grandmother, Elin ”Bomb-Elna’n” Nilsson was born 1859. She became a widow at a young age and gave birth to her sixth child outside wedlock, my grandmother’s mother Edith Carlsson, born in July 1903. The father of the child asked for her hand in marriage but was rejected; she did not want to get remarried. Elin was a well-known worker on the farms in the area and other farmers generously helped her built a small cabin for her and her child where she lived the rest of her life, grew old and died. Elin’s son Olof came back to live with her after emigrating to America and her daughter Ida returned in elderly days from her work as a maid in Västergötland. Like there mother they grew old and died there.

BENGTSBODA July, 1903

- 1 km (from my home)

“Olof of Bengtsboa”

Elin’s son Olof came back to live with her after emigrating to America and her daughter Ida returned in elderly days from her work as a maid in Västergötland. Like her, they grew old and died there. Here is the window where he was once sitting as in the image above. Until recently the cabin has stayed within the family and has been used as a summer house outside the village in the ownerships of one of Edith’s grandchildren.

Due to the isolated nature of the region, tradition has a strong presence, it creates a certain sociability and there is a tradition of returning back to ones birthplace. Home is a geographical place but it also has a spiritual character.

Traditionally, as in the case of Elin, there is also a strong sense of community and collective responsibility to care for each other (which I will argue as a quality in the rural life). A setting where a historical identity is reflected on you, you may know where your relatives’ actual lived, where your cultural heritage may be present and therefor can be passed on to the next generation which can create a relational closeness over centuries. With the depopulation of the area however, these qualities are slowly dissolving.

Wilhem Moberg describes this type community in Min Svenska Historia (Moberg, 1973) as follows;

“Bondebyalagets själva bärande idé om männsklig samverkan och gemenskap syns mig så pass tidlö, att den skulle kunna förerkligas även i sentida miljöer. Kanske kan den en gång återuppstå i ett annat samhälle än det nuvarande – en samhällsform, där människan intar den centrala platsen.”

“The farmers village community’s

fundamental idea of human interaction and community seem to me so timeless that it could be realized even in recent environments. Perhaps it once again can resurrect in another society than the

current – a new form of society, where the

human occupies the central space. “

May, 2016 May, 1920

EDITH SVENSSON, BJÖRKEFALLA 1989 My grandmother’s mother Edith Carlsson, married Svensson lived and grew old in her husband Emil Svensson familly home in Björkefalla where his parents Sven Åkesson and Elsa Åkesson had lived and died, a kilometer form her bithplace Bengtsboda.

2,5 km

BjörkefallMe and my familly

- 5 km, Brännarebygden

Grandparents Berta & Kurt

- 1,8 km, S. Väghultsvägen 4-2

Grandparents

Mai-Britt & Bengt-Åke

My father Lars Ola’s

and grandfather Kurt’s childhood home

Mine, my grandmother Berta’s and her father Emil’s childhood home

My mother’s childhood home and where her grandfather lived.

- 1,8 km, S. Väghultsvägen 4-4

Grandmother’s mother Rut

My grandmother’s and her father’s childhood home

- 5 km, Fridafors

Grandfather’s parents Maja & Arne

My grandfathers childhood home

- 1,2 km, S. Väghultsvägen

Uncle Urban

- 4,5 km, Mörbohult

Aunt Elna

& cousines

- 5 km, Kyrkhult

Aunt Sussanne

& cousines

- 5,1 km, Kyrkhult

Uncle Jonas

& cousines

- 15 km, Biskopsmåla

Uncle Ulf-Christer

2,5 km 5 min 30 min 4,5 km 8 min 56 min

1:25 000

0 250 m

Familly Tree

Me (10 years old), 2002 Svensson’s

Actual location

DISTANCE CONTEXT

Scene 2: Exploring elders situation and

cnetralisation

London

Paris

Berlin Copenhagen

St. Petersburg Oslo

Amsterdam Brussels

Strömsund Umeå

Kyrkhult Gothenburg

Stockholm

Malmö

For over eight years I have lived at least 110 Swedish miles away from my home, I am still longing for it, I am not longing for going back but for the emotional security and the care. Nobody talked to me about home as a privilege. Currently I am a visitor to my old or own life. Distance is both a vice and a virtue. Once there its like you have never been away yet it’s a distanced memory. Movement is privilege yet that privilege should be shown to others. The memories social ties, one key for forming community and bonds.

August, 2008

- 1100 km (from my home)

Aging often includes a territorial move a disconnection from our home to an apartment or a care home. The state act’s in a way where it tend to disconect us from the care institution.

Taxes The state Care home

Today elderly care tends to be polarized. Either you are in or out. Generally, elders tend to become isolated in their home or at an institution after their pension. Sweden has a deeply rooted policy called “kvarboendeprincipen”

there is an common idea that elderly should not live at an institution, that elderly wants to stay and should stay in their home as long as they can, in the municipality of my home, Olofström 15,4% of the elderly over 80 live in a care home listed 39/80 and the percentage varies between 5-20% (Enström and Widell, 2016). This idea is true to a certain extent, you can always reflect on to what price, how suitable it is and if it always is the best choice, but there are also reports that conflicts this idea. Recent report concludes that most of the future elderlies prefer care homes before home care and that people today rather worry about getting a place in time when they need it rather than about being forced into an institution (Widell, 2016). Today we also have a rising amount of cases of dementia, an illness that tend to take up a lot of places at the care homes, leaving people with a clear mind and more physical disabilities stuck in their own homes. There is a risk that people are in such bad condition when they get a place in a care home that they can’t enjoy the possibilities a care home provide especially socially. The system has created a status qou, home to any price.

Until 2045 the amount of people over 80 will be doubled to one million and until 2025 is 19 000 new places in special care needed. At the same time, there has been a decline of places in special care, since 2000 every fourth place (32 000) in elder care have disappeared while the amount of people over 80 have increased with 41 846 people. Eldercare today cost around 100 billion and is expected to be 200 billion around 2045 (Enström and Widell, 2016). Together with an increasing individuality within this group which changed the demands on eldercare, we need to a higher extent consider that we are different and have created an urge for more alternatives.

The basic situation of elderly

Chapter 1. Introductory provisions 1 § This law ctains provisions on the plannning of land, water and construction. The provisions aim to consider the freedom of the in- dividual, to promote communi- ty development with equal and

good social living conditions as well as a good and long-term

Social isolation is defined as without contact with a close friend or family less than once a week (Nordström, 2016). In relation to elderly people we can examine one of the extremes, what it means to be “standing still” or be local (site specific) in an institution or at home. It means to relay on specific situation which are very individual where for ex. the relation to caretaker or family becomes a security factor. A situation where you become dependent but can also a way of gain independency through a level of assistance. This on way of illustrating the conflict of independency sets at many levels in society but it also exposes a value in dependency. It can also be questioned if you become more or less dependent when you relay on your family relations in relations or an institution. Elderly can due to distance become totally dependent on the institution which a consequence of the action of my generation, we move and settles later in life. We expect the state to take care of us and care for elders and geographical distance has lost its value when we easily can keep in contact or be present through new ways of communicating and travelling (but maybe not every week), we can always be there online but are not as available as a person and for interaction anymore which has created a risk for social isolation a lack of presence, to be close and in contact with eachother.

Today, core values for care aim to preserve the elderlies’ independency and individuality, which conflicts the financial demands of the institutional structure. A place at a special care home is expensive for both the

municipality and the individual; the budget is strict and what you get is basic (Enström and Widell, 2016). According to The Social Service Law (LSS) elderly have the right to a reasonable living standard, in relation to good when it considers kids. The law is supposed to protect the elderlies’ interests and considers a minimum level of care and supportbut often constitute a maximum in relation to financial demands and is open for interpretation (Widell, 2016). We can expect our primary needs; food, shelter, sannitation and our aliments to be satisfied, stimulation is secondary. I will question what constitute reasonable living, can stimulation and social security be ignored which per Marslow’s hierarchy of need is one of our basic needs as humans together with our physiological needs.

50+

60+

70+

Elderly profiles

1644 people over 18 Average age 51

Björkefallsvägen. 116

My home

S. Väghultsvägen 2-4

My grandparents

Garvaregården, 1991

A elderly care home and where my grandmother Berta lived since 2016

Solbacken

Safety home

Brännarbygden

The house where my grandmother Berta used to live

Hasselvägen 8

A apartment to where my grandmother Berta moved, 2010

Fattiggården (Alms-house)

The previous care home (1910), where poor, elderly and people with disabilities lived toegther 2,5 km

5 min 30 min

4,5 km 8 min 56 min

1:25 000

0 250 m

1 out of 7 elder homes in Olofström’s municipality Special care: 16 places (expected to be 24, 2017) Social safety: 16 places

Rent: 3210 kr / mounth Food: 107 kr / day Care: 1772 kr / mounth (Olofström.se, 2016)

From 2010 until 2014 the inhabitants over 75 in Olofströms municipality have increased with 192 people to 1653 and inhabitants over 80 years with 80 to 915 in a municipality of 13 196. Locally an expansion of the place in special care homes was expected during 2015 including 24 permanent and 16 modules (Lodge, 2015). In December 2016, the building process for a new department of eight places at Garvaregården still haven’t started.

2015 the municipality was accused for being governed from the top, when they rejected private initiative to invest money (20 million) in social safety housing by referring that a smaller part of the planned construction considers protected land which should not be built on. A prescription the building board could choose to ignore if it is of a smaller character or consistence with the purpose of the plan. In November 2016 after a process of two years, the social safety home was approved after a judgment from the environmental court. (Wahlberg, 2016)

GARVAREGÅRDEN

Institution care, 1994

- 5,2 km (from my home)

15 17 22 24

81 4814 12 25227 52 325 128

2 5 15 50 100 250

Garvarevägen 1 Olofström 500 1000

Malmö Stockholm

Mother

Children Grandchildren Grandchildrens children

Friends Siblings Partner

85 79 90

Private

Corridors Common

2 km (1:20000)

> 1/year

> 1/3 months

< 1/year

> 1/months

> 1/2 week

> 1/week

> 2/week

> Everyday

CENTRALISED CARE

Exploring relational closeness in relation to distance and presence

BERTA LINNÉA SVENSSON 80, born 1936

To my farmor “Famoa” from Jessie;

Yoy gave me emptiness and quietness, desolation, a lake, and winding small roads

beetroot soup, nettle soup, brussels sprouts, brown beans, and cherries 6os, old and unknown things and people, their smell and boredom

smoke from a pipe, a hot wood stove, rag rug, board games and an old telephone trolls, secretes and mysteries and the ticking from a clock on the wall

strong connection to my home and roots, dialects but foremost a lot of stories, You flushed the toilet before I got off it and gave me the large kin (being a part of the pack)

I got your naivety, anxiety, strength, hope, curiosity, and care You were the one who showed me humor and the joy of the simple life My father’s mother

”The waiting room for death”

To overmcome the distance between generations

Garvaregården is the special care home for elderlies in my home village, Kyrkhult. I been working there for five years foremost in a department for people with dementia. At the institution, they have two departments with eight places each where there always is staff on site. It is one for people with physical disabilities and another for people with dementia, but the urge for place for people with dementia has made that they tend to overlap.

Here I have seen the longing many of them have for their home and context and one of my colleagues describe this longing like this;

“Many of them have an urge to go home but many of them would not even recognize the place itself because it is no longer the “home” they remember, home is for them a feeling and context in time that no longer exist in that place.”

I often have a personal connection to many of the people I meet there and it has been a way for me to know my own history and relatives that passed better. My grandmother Berta worked at the same institution and people that are working or come to live there generally derive from the immediate surroundings. Today my grandmother Berta live there together with for instance one of her sisters and fifteen years back their brother, Tord lived there as well. There is a funny story about when he lived there that I have been told many times;

“One time when my grandmother and her brother came back to the apartment where he lived at the institution she asked him if he know where he is. He started to look around the room which was filled with furniture that he inherited from his parents and therefor have been seeing his whole life but it was not until he discovered the tray for soda bottles under the sink that he recognized himself. “. I think this describes an importance of the context or rituals we form for ourselves and others and the value it attaches, no matter the actual geographical context or “things” we surround are selves. One woman (91) described her longing for a context like this:

“I am longing for home, my beautiful house. I am longing for my beautiful entrance, it was there on the veranda we use to drink mulled and spiced wine together in the seating I had there. It was lovely.”

The quote “The waiting room to death”, describes a feeling a common attitude towards and the feeling or view of institutional care. It may not be a very cheerful environment; many people are in a very bad condition when they come to live there and can’t make use of the potentials such a place have for them. It creates an atmosphere of acceptance towards the situation it inhabits, a tone where people have accepted their position in life or give up on life.

For a couple of times I met with a woman Karin (75) to just talk, talk about being elderly. She lives in one of the service apartments (Fridaforsvägen) in same building, it considers sixteen ordinary apartments that have access to assistance during day time and who share a larger common space where they can have lunch or other activities together if they like.

I remember her being very pale as many elderly and her mouth made a clear line on her small face, she seemed very small and where sitting in a wheel chair. She seemed curious but her eyes were worried when she told the caretaker to let me in, she said that it was okay for me to stay but she where at the same time very ancient about lunch, if there were enough time and if someone would come for her. The caretaker waves her worries off, it seems like it is something ordinary.

We started introducing ourselves, it never goes wrong introducing yourself through your grandparents in these contexts and immediate we discovered our first relational connection, Karin grew up and lived in a small village (Hemsjö) east of Kyrkhult where my grandmother Berta worked when she was young. It happened to be for Karin’s mother and she told me that she used make them very good pretzels (a recipe I know is coming from my grandmother’s grandmother Elin, it is a favorite we all have in our family and I heard many stories and memories of these pretzels in relation to both Elin and my own grandmother).

It seems like Karin was a tough and independent woman, for a while she was a home wife but started to work at the local factory (Volvo) quite early for being a woman and got her own driving licenses to be able to go there herself. Thou she shows me two sides of herself, she has troubles to acknowledging her contribution or opinions and rather conclude that her husband built them two houses a smaller house on the countryside around the 50s and a villa in the village in the 60. Maybe it is a result of a different time in our society and even when I continue asking about her opinion on the construction that is planned to be made at the institution in near future and what she thinks should be improved, she distanced hearself and it is very hard to get any opinion on what she thinks should be improved. I can just conclude for myself that it has not been a discussion and that they haven’t gotten any information about it or been involved at any stage of it.

By just quickly looking around I see a lot of obvious things that could be improved, there is for example no direct or close access to outside and the distance to the common space is far and through a long corridor. Many of them sits by the window in the kitchen (which we also did during our talks) which face an empty corridor, if you are lucky a caretaker quickly passes by otherwise what you see is a glass wall facing the surface of the building across that distanced by a parking lot.

She often returns to the same discussion or topics during our meetings and often interrupts the conversation to ask me to get something for her, check what it is for lunch, to help her call her brother son (who she describes as her closed relative and who help her out with smaller things, in this case she was asking for globes and look after her) or she is distracted by someone who passes the window. It is a struggle to earn her trust and keep the conversation going, I felt like she was pleased by my presence but sturuggled to handle the situation itself and she gets tired after a while (our conversation often lasted around one hour) and when it got around time for lunch she was very eager for me to ask for a caretaker to come to get her (even if the clock where only half past eleven), she is in a hurry to not be the last or late to the dining hall.

The experience or feeling I have is that the situation and feeling created at such institutions is not only a physical issue of the immediate surrounding, but also related to how we as people relate into that environment and form its (their) position in society. The distance it creates between the general mass and elderly at the institution. Some people have never had a deeper relation with an elderly person and others have never been too an elderly care home before themselves or their parents end up there, which create a difficult emotional situation when personally experience aging. The situation of the institution is rather an issue of what the physical spaces facilitate though how it invites people from the outside or how it brings people together and the social interstice it creates (by the entrance, corridors, or program of common space). The accessibility and availability it has for a person in wheelchair or for the public and how a space works for the specific purpose or individual for example to a person who wander or someone who observers. The process of gaining can distance you from a context physically and socially, the generics in the policies can be a threat towards the individual. The help that is needed can differ from what you like.

Vill ersättas för förlorade intäkter

och att man tidigare inte krävt någon ersättning - vat och då får man inte hugga ned skog hur som helst. Det är inget lagkrav - gänglig, men vi vill få med i yttrandet att vi bör - - ter på skogsbruk. Det har vi tidigare inte gjort, ra minuset ligger delvis inom äldreomsorgen där förvaltningen haft stora - - nal. Men den andra stora minusposten i nämnden är ökade kostnader för personalig assistans och Revisorerna påpekar - hängande risk att ingen - nansiella målen kan nås inom en treårsperiod.

- nen ska se över dessa mål

YVONNE MAGNUSSON, 78 år, pensionär, Kyrkhult:

– Lite fler affärer så att jag inte behöver åka till Olof- ström jämt. Och kommu- nikationer till Karlshamn och Olofström.

KAJ MAGNUSSON, 65 år, säljare, Kyrkhult:

– En levande bygd med bra service. Jag ser gärna att de bygger hus här så att folk kan flytta hit.

ANDREAS HOLM, 34 år, pressmekaniker, Kyrkhult:

– Boende till äldre och även yngre. Men främst till äldre så att de kan bo kvar här där de känner sig hemma.

HÅKAN HENMYR, 58 år, projekt ledare, Olofström:

– Vi måste våga exploatera Brunnsparken. Det är någ- ra stycken som vill ha den för sig själva, men jag tror att det är där folk vill bo.

FRÅGAN

Vad vill du ha i Kyrkhult?

När det var kaffepaus i mötet om Kyrkhults framtid passade BLT på att fråga några av åhörarna vad de vill med orten.

●De är överens om att Kyrkhult behöver utvecklas.

●Frågan är hur. Och när.

KYRKHULT. På torsdags- kvällen hölls ett öppet möte i Folkets hus där Kyrkhultsbor mötte repre- sentanter från kommunen och Olofströmshus, samt politiker. Ämnet som dis- kuterades var Kyrkhults framtid, och då främst boen defrågan.

Som BLT tidigare har be- rättat finns det knappt några lediga lägenheter på orten. Önskemålet om att det ska byggas nytt är stort.

På mötet lade Olof- strömshus vd fram gamla byggförslag som skulle kunna gå att förverkliga.

Det handlar om bostäder på bland annat Knaggs väg, Vilshultsvägen och Tulseboda.

Bland åhörarna märktes det tydligt att de tycker att

det är för mycket snack och för lite verkstad från kommunens och politi- kens sida. Kyrkhultsborna

vill att spaden sätts i mar- ken, medan de som be- stämmer vill att Kyrk- hultsborna först fyller i in- tresseanmälningar.

– De vill ha hängslen och livrem innan de bygger.

Men man måste bygga för att kunna erbjuda något, säger åhöraren Kaj Mag- nusson.

För närvarande finns det 54 tomter i Kyrkhult som är redo att bebyggas.

Detaljplanerna tillåter vil- lor, två- och trevånings- hus, samt parhus.

TEXT TOWE OLSSON towe.olsson@blt.se 0454-30 60 04 Närmare 1 000 personer bor i Kyrkhult, 100 av dem var på mötet. FOTO: TOWE OLSSON

Stort intresse för Kyrkhults framtid

BLT den 24 september.

KYRKHULT. Det är tyst och lite ödsligt på villavägarna i Kyrkhult. Här finns inga barn som cyklar eller leker. Men det är prydligt och trädgårdarna är väl- ansade. – Där bor ett äldre par.

Båda är i 90-årsåldern.

Och på min gata är vi fyra hushåll som är beredda att sälja sina villor, säger 80-årige Arne Karlsson och pekar ut över området vid Kvarnvägen i Kyrk- hult.

Han är medlem i sam- manslutningen Kyrkhult Äger och han menar att de styrande politikerna i Olofström koncentrerar utvecklingen till central- orten och att Kyrkhult ofta blir bortglömd när det pratas utveckling.– Vi har suttit i flera möten med politikerna där bostadsfrågan varit uppe för diskussion. Vi har hört om planer för allt som skulle byggas här, men ingenting har blivit. Politi-

kernas svar är alltid det samma. Det blir för dyrt att bygga och hyrorna blir för dyra.

Men enligt Arne Karlsson är det bara svepskäl. Han vet flera enbart i sitt villa- område som står i kö för att få en marklägenhet i Kyrkhult. Han är också tveksam till svaret att det finns tomter där folk kan bygga villor eftersom han menar det är att börja i fel ände.

– Om kommunen byg- ger de marklägenheter för äldre som vi har pratat om i flera år, kommer det att frigöra villor i byn som barnfamiljer kan flytta in i. För det finns folk som vill flytta hit. Och det är så mycket billigare att köpa en villa här än att bygga en ny. Arne Karlssons stora villa är bara en av poten- tiellt fem-sex villor i om- rådet som kan komma ut på marknaden om ägarna

fick en ny bostad. Han har tidigare lämnat sitt jord- bruk i Hallandsboda för att sonen skulle ta över.

Och det fanns ingen tvekan om var han ville flytta då.– Hem till Kyrkhult, så klart. Och jag vill stanna här. Det är retfullt att kommunen inte kan ord- na bostäder för de två grupper som behöver det, äldre och de helt unga, sä- ger han.

Det finns hyreshus i byn, men lägenheterna räcker inte till. Enligt föreningen, Kyrkhult Äger, står det 18 äldre i kö för en mark- lägenhet. Arne Karlsson

visar runt i byn och vid äldreboendet Garvare- gården står det gamla grannhuset fortfarande kvar trots att kommunen lovade att riva det och bygga bostäder för äldre där. – Det händer ingenting, absolut ingenting. Och det är synd. För Kyrkhult har definitivt möjligheter att utvecklas som boendeort.

TEXT SIMONE HANSEN simone.hansen@blt.se0455-771 50 FOTO BO ÅKESSON bo.akesson@blt.se0454-30 60 07

●80-årige Arne Karlsson vill sälja sin villa och flytta till en mark- lägenhet. Men det finns inga i Kyrkhult.

●– Vi är många som flyttar in direkt om kommunen bygger.

Äldre får inte plats i Kyrkhult

& a lot of intrest

BLT Lördag 24 september 2016

20 / Olofström

Föreningen Kyrkhult Äger

KYRKHULT. Det är en sammanslutning av ideella för- eningar som jobbar för att utveckla Kyrkhult. I dag är åtta föreningar representerade och Kyrkhult äger bildades i bostadsbristens spår.

– Det var missnöjet efter att politikerna svek sitt löfte att bygga lägenheter här som gjorde att vi gick ihop. Men i dag är det inte missnöjet som är vår drivkraft, utan viljan att jobba för Kyrkhults utveck- ling, säger Lars Åkesson, föreningsmedlem.

Och medlemmarna har lyckats med att få en ny ledplats vid skolan, nya gatuskyltar, belysning på slingen vid Tulseboda brunn, informationsportal samt upprustning av badplatsen.

KYRKHULT. Det är tyst och lite ödsligt på villavägarna i Kyrkhult. Här finns inga barn som cyklar eller leker. Men det är prydligt och trädgårdarna är väl- ansade.

– Där bor ett äldre par.

Båda är i 90-årsåldern.

Och på min gata är vi fyra hushåll som är beredda att sälja sina villor, säger 80-årige Arne Karlsson och pekar ut över området vid Kvarnvägen i Kyrk- hult.

Han är medlem i sam- manslutningen Kyrkhult Äger och han menar att de styrande politikerna i Olofström koncentrerar utvecklingen till central- orten och att Kyrkhult ofta blir bortglömd när det pratas utveckling.

– Vi har suttit i flera möten med politikerna där bostadsfrågan varit uppe för diskussion. Vi har hört om planer för allt som skulle byggas här, men ingenting har blivit. Politi-

kernas svar är alltid det samma. Det blir för dyrt att bygga och hyrorna blir för dyra.

Men enligt Arne Karlsson är det bara svepskäl. Han vet flera enbart i sitt villa- område som står i kö för att få en marklägenhet i Kyrkhult. Han är också tveksam till svaret att det finns tomter där folk kan bygga villor eftersom han menar det är att börja i fel ände.

– Om kommunen byg- ger de marklägenheter för äldre som vi har pratat om i flera år, kommer det att frigöra villor i byn som barnfamiljer kan flytta in i. För det finns folk som vill flytta hit. Och det är så mycket billigare att köpa en villa här än att bygga en ny.

Arne Karlssons stora villa är bara en av poten- tiellt fem-sex villor i om- rådet som kan komma ut på marknaden om ägarna

fick en ny bostad. Han har tidigare lämnat sitt jord- bruk i Hallandsboda för att sonen skulle ta över.

Och det fanns ingen tvekan om var han ville flytta då.

– Hem till Kyrkhult, så klart. Och jag vill stanna här. Det är retfullt att kommunen inte kan ord- na bostäder för de två grupper som behöver det, äldre och de helt unga, sä- ger han.

Det finns hyreshus i byn, men lägenheterna räcker inte till. Enligt föreningen, Kyrkhult Äger, står det 18 äldre i kö för en mark- lägenhet. Arne Karlsson

visar runt i byn och vid äldreboendet Garvare- gården står det gamla grannhuset fortfarande kvar trots att kommunen lovade att riva det och bygga bostäder för äldre där.

– Det händer ingenting, absolut ingenting. Och det är synd. För Kyrkhult har definitivt möjligheter att utvecklas som boendeort.

TEXT SIMONE HANSEN simone.hansen@blt.se 0455-771 50

BO ÅKESSONFOTO bo.akesson@blt.se 0454-30 60 07

●80-årige Arne Karlsson vill sälja sin villa och flytta till en mark- lägenhet. Men det finns inga i Kyrkhult.

●– Vi är många som flyttar in direkt om kommunen bygger.

80-årige Arne Karlsson och hans hustru vill sälja sin stora villa och flytta till en mindre marklägenhet. ”Vi har stått i kö i snart tre år. Men de styrande politikerna har glömt bort Kyrkhult”, säger han.

Äldre får inte plats i Kyrkhult

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Kyrkhult har 18 lediga tomter

KYRKHULT. I Kyrkhult finns 18 lediga tomter att bygga på just nu. De flesta, 13 stycken, är strötomter på Båtslyckeområdet bakom skolan, som ställdes i ord- ning på 1980-talet.

Det finns också en ledig tomt kvar på Gårdsjövägen.

Intill Tulseboda brunn finns fyra ej ännu avstycka- de tomter. Detaljplanen där är dock klar.

Olofströmshus har 86 hyresrätter i ordinärt boende i Kyrkhult. Av dessa var i går fem lediga och i omlopp i det hyressystem som bostadsbolaget har. Det be- tyder därför inte att de står tomma för omedelbar inflyttning, utan kan ha blivit uppsagda till ett visst datum och att man kan anmäla sitt intresse.

NO SPA CE!