In this article, I discuss how families living in remote rural settings of northwestern Sweden construct and maintain a sense of place through different ways of relating to time in their everyday lives. The study introduces ‘time-richness’ as a timescape, describing the balance between calm rhythms and fast-paced activities that enhance participants’ perceptions of ‘being in the right place’. It is suggested that there is a resistance among rural inhabitants against temporal hierarchies in society that are based on urban norms. This paper contributes to discussions on spatial justice, place identity, and the temporal aspects of rural childhoods. It highlights the interconnections between time, space, and place in shaping rural experiences, with a focus on the distinct challenges and opportunities offered by specific locations.

This thesis is centered on the everyday life of families with children living in sparsely populated rural areas in northwestern Sweden. The thesis explores how families experience and negotiate their everyday lives, particularly at the intersection of local conditions and global processes and with a focus on the living conditions of children and young people. It examines the social and geographical conditions, as well as perceptions of rural life, that shape the narratives and daily practices of family members. Special attention is given to how time and space are utilized as resources, strategic tools, or even forms of resistance in the everyday lives of families. Furthermore, the study investigates the role of intergenerational exchanges in shaping a sense of place, belonging, and the perception of future opportunities, highlighting how such interactions contribute to the sustainability and identity of rural communities.

The thesis is theoretically grounded in a relational rural epistemology, understood as an interplay between material, affective, and discursive dimensions. This approach seeks to anchor experiences of living in sparsely populated areas in relationships and practices. Childhood is approached as a plural and context-dependent phenomenon, with a focus on its spatial and temporal dimensions. Time and space are understood as relational and interconnected, drawing on Massey’s (2005) conceptualization of place and Adams’ (2004, 2008) understanding of time. 

This theoretical framework, along with the aim to explore how families navigate everyday life in remote rural areas, guided the methodological choices. A qualitative multi-method approach was used to capture the complexity of daily life, including home visits, interviews, informal conversations, participatory observation, house tours, play, and children's activities. Mobile methods, such as walks and car rides were also employed. Eight families living in remote villages in northwest Sweden participated, comprising 35 individuals. Families were recruited via community websites, social media, and snowball sampling. All lived in villages with 10 to 800 residents, often in mountainous regions, offering recreational opportunities like skiing and hiking, which shape both daily routines and connections to place.

The thesis includes three empirical articles. A central focus across the articles is on sense of place and everyday negotiations around time, space, and generation. Drawing on a relational understanding of rurality, the thesis challenges static views of rural areas, instead presenting them as dynamic and globally connected. The findings portray rural life as adaptive and future-oriented, as spaces of ongoing negotiation and places where viable and meaningful futures are actively created. The first article (I) examines how families navigate spatial and infrastructural challenges through daily routines. The second article (II) explores alternative temporalities, highlighting how time richness fosters meaning and attachment. The third article (III) focuses on intergenerational exchanges of values, hope, and knowledge as anchors of belonging. Altogether, children and youth appear active in rural transformation both shaped by and shaping their environments. Parents’ strategies, including care-related travel (I), time use (II), and long-term place commitments (III), reflect deeply engaged rural parenting. Across all articles, forms of everyday resistance emerge, challenging dominant societal and urban norms through practical adaptations, alternative temporalities, and visions for rural life.

Hur ser vardagslivet ut för barnfamiljer på den glesa landsbygden? Det är en fråga Linda Fridén Syrjäpalo utforskar i sitt kapitel. Hon utgår från att den plats vi bor på blir till genom hur vi beskriver och använder den, där invånare både formar platsen och formas av den. För de familjer hon har intervjuat har de senaste årens ökade bensinpriser och avregleringar när det gäller grundläggande service som post varit avgörande för deras resandepraktiker. Familjerna väljer noggrant vilka resor de ska göra eller avstå från för att hålla ner priserna för vardagsresorna och som Fridén Syrjäpalo uttrycker det: ”pressa avstånd”. I kapitlet beskrivs strategier som att koordinera aktiviteter, skapa lokala initiativ och samarbeta med grannar för att dela på de resurser som finns. Även om många familjer ser barnens aktiviteter som viktiga att upprätthålla, har framförallt ungdomar som umgås med jämnåriga genom att ”åka runt” med a-traktorer, bilar, mopeder och snöskotrar tvingats till nya rutiner. Fridén Syrjäpalo argumenterar för att familjernas upplevelser kan beskrivas i termer av transportfattigdom. Hon uppmanar läsarna till att uppmärksamma vilka villkor boende på den glesa landsbygden navigerar i innan de beskriver dem som bakåtsträvande och ungdomarna med deras A-traktorer som störande.

This article focuses on the everyday mobilities of families living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in Sweden. Through the use of interview material from two ongoing qualitative research projects on families’ apartment living, and on everyday mobility in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, we analyse how families account for the organization of collective family mobilities in order to enable and support children’s play and movement. Departing from a relational understanding of mobility, the article contributes to research on children’s everyday mobilities by focusing on how these are enmeshed with collective family mobilities as well as entangled with the neighbourhood context. The findings show how family play outings to parks, playgrounds and commercial play centres are a way for families to handle risk as well as to do and display ‘togetherness’, through the creation of ‘safe family spaces’ on the move for children’s play and movement. 

Dieser Artikel befasst sich mit der Alltagsmobilität von Familien, die in einem benachteiligten Viertel in Schweden leben. Anhand von Interviewmaterial aus zwei laufenden qualitativen Forschungsprojekten zum Wohnen von Familien und zur alltäglichen Mobilität in benachteiligten Stadtvierteln wird analysiert, wie Familien kollektive Familienmobilität gestalten, um Spiel und Bewegung der Kinder zu ermöglichen und zu unterstützen. Ausgehend von einem relationalen Verständnis von Mobilität trägt der Artikel zur Erforschung der Alltagsmobilität von Kindern und Familien bei, indem herausgearbeitet wird, wie diese miteinander sowie dem sozialräumlichen Kontext des Viertels verwoben sind. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, wie Familienausflüge in Parks, auf Spielplätze und in kommerzielle Spielzentren eine Möglichkeit für Familien darstellen, mit Risiken umzugehen und "Zusammengehörigkeit" zu zeigen, indem sie unterwegs "sichere Familienräume" für das Spiel und die Bewegung der Kinder schaffen. 

Syftet med rapporten är att förstå vad social hållbarhet betyder i relation till resande, transporter och vardagliga förflyttningar. Av särskilt intresse är det resande som präglar vardagslivet för familjer i socialt utsatta områden. Till grund för rapporten ligger en forsknings- och kunskapsöversikt som berör befintlig forskning om vilken roll resande och transporter spelar i människors liv och hur det kan kopplas till makt, rättvisa och samhällsplanering. Rapporten visar att den tidigare forskningen om transporter, resande och resvanor inte tillräckligt belyser hur urbana områden med en hög andel låginkomsttagare med svag arbetsmarknadsanknytning organiserar och hanterar sin vardagsmobilitet. Forskning om ”transportfattigdom” belyser dock hur tillgång till och möjligheten att utnyttja befintliga transporter leder till ojämlikhet för personer med låg inkomst. Vardagslivets organisering där jobb, familjeliv, restid, och interaktion med institutioner kräver att familjer med en eller flera yrkesarbetande vuxna kan kontrollera sin tid. De studier som specifikt intresserat sig för familjers, barns och ungas resandepraktiker och vad det innebär för att kunna uppnå social hållbarhet, betonar närhet, trygghet och självständighet som viktiga faktorer för samhällsplaneringen. Begreppet mobilitetsrättvisa presenteras slutligen som ett fruktbart sammanhållet ramverk att arbeta med i kommande studier om familjers vardagliga mobilitet i socialt utsatta områden.

The purpose of this report is to understand what social sustainability means in relation to travel, transport and everyday mobility. Of particular interest is the travel that characterizes everyday life for families in socially disadvantaged areas. The report is based on a research and knowledge overview that concerns existing research on the role of travel and transport in people's lives, and how it can be linked to power, justice and urban planning. The previous research on transport, travel and travel habits thus does not shed sufficient light on how urban areas with a high proportion of low-income earners with weak labor market connections organize and manage their everyday mobility. However, research on “transport poverty” highlights how access to and the opportunity to use existing transport leads to inequality for people with low incomes. The organization of everyday life where work, family life, travel time, and interaction with institutions requires that families with one or more working adults can control their time. The studies that are specifically interested in the travel practices of families, children and young people and what it means to be able to achieve social sustainability emphasize proximity, security and independence as important factors for urban planning. The concept mobility justice is presented as a fruitfully cohesive framework for working with in future studies on families' everyday mobility in socially vulnerable areas.

This paper discusses how families living in remote, and highly car dependent, rural areas in Sweden cope with increasing fuel prices. Using qualitative methods including interviews, home visits and mobile methods such as walks and car drives, we show how families have changed the time-spatial organization of their everyday lives, and still are in the process of change, particularly in terms of how they organize their everyday mobilities in order to be able to stay in the region. We show how families deal with high fuel costs through engaging in a much more rigid planning of family life in time and space, and by using mobile strategies. This involves family negotiations and a shift towards more local activities, clustering activities, collectivizing time-spatial organization and sharing culture to reduce their overall car driving. We argue that families engage in practices of squeezing the distance. Some trips have proven to be non-negotiable and these are always connected to practices of care.