The Social Services as “Network Organizers”

Abstract

At the Institution for Building Function Analysis at the University of Lund, there is a traditional interest in alternative forms of housing. There are experimental schemes which are intended to create more favourable conditions for the development of a spirit of community and for resident participation (user-influence). We researchers came to take an interest in the “Linköping model” of social services because of the project’s ambitions to help to stimulate social life in the area through an organization which was better adapted to the immediate environment of the housing area. The project has a multi-disciplinary composition and is at present made up of an architect (Karin Palm-Lindén) and two social scientists (Mats Lieberg and Cecilia Henning). The project is being financed by allocations from the Swedisch Council for Building Research.