Enacting safe places – a study of (im)balancing acts in everyday city centre management

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study is to outline a practice approach towards safety in public places whereby safety and place is understood as simultaneously produced in everyday work practice. Hence, the focus is shifted from place safety as a manageable asset to safe places as ongoing accomplishments. Design/methodology/approach This study focuses on practices of enacting safe places on the municipal level in Sweden. Thus, the focus of analysis is on the meanings of safety. The empirical material was collected during the period 2017–2019 in the Swedish cities of Stockholm, Helsingborg and Malmö. In different ways, these cities struggle with navigating safety issues in public places. Findings The study demonstrates how urban places are enacted as safe in and through practice. The findings include some of the ways in which safe places are accomplished, such as maintaining and caring for places, countering negative rumours and news reports and forming collaboration across sectors and actors. To gain a better understanding of safety in city centres, the study illuminates competing meaning-making processes in management work practice whereby places are negotiated as safe. Originality/value The existing research on safety in public places is scattered across disciplinary fields and dominated by a fortress approach to safe places. By contrast to the top-down view of safety as a measure of control, this study generates knowledge of how safe places are continuously construed in the junction of management practices and practices of everyday life.

Benchmarking urban competitiveness for economic recovery: an application to Porto and Lisbon

“…The third and last component is instead related to the environmental and social degradation, as it presents high loadings for the variables “Urban waste”, “Domestic electric energy consumption” and “Crime”. All in all, the formation of components combining different variables of an economic, social and environmental nature confirm the heightened complexity and multiple interrelations among the contemporary determinants of urban competitiveness, which is in line with recent studies on place attractiveness and city management (Wisuchat and Taecharungroj, 2022; Cassinger and Thufvesson, 2023).…”

“…Specifically, assuming as a main hypothesis that urban competitiveness is a multidimensional and complex phenomenon, we refer to the following three dimensions: “Green Transition”, referring to dimensions within the roadmap towards sustainable development, diversification of energy resources, improvement of environmental quality, safety and environmental management (Jiang and Shen, 2010; Hammer et al , 2011; Papa et al , 2016; Van Den Berg et al , 2016; Komasi et al , 2022; Cassinger and Thufvesson, 2023); “Digital Transition” referring to digitalization across the economy and society at large (education, business, public sector) along with the spread of skills and the diffusion of technologies (Filo, 2007; Van Winden and Carvalho, 2008; Dmitrieva and Guseva, 2019; Penco et al , 2020); and “Economic and Social Resilience”, including dimensions related to the level of equity and inclusion, social provisions and salaries, employment, and touristic resources (Williams et al , 2013; Martin and Sunley, 2017; Säumel et al , 2019; UNESCO, and World Bank, 2021).…”

Communicating a sense of safety: the public experience of Swedish Police Instagram communication

“…The entanglement of risk, fear and safety influences a change in and interpretation of cultural and societal communication across media (Furedi, 2019). Furthermore, fear and a sense of safety involve more than being in control because it relates to how we experience and become aware of our surroundings (Cassinger and Thufvesson, 2022). Eizenberg and Jabareen (2017) argue that to prevent fear and foster a sense of safety in the public sphere, we need to confront associated risks, uncertainties and social concerns.…”

“…The entanglement of risk, fear and safety influences a change in and interpretation of cultural and societal communication across media (Furedi, 2019). Furthermore, fear and a sense of safety involve more than being in control because it relates to how we experience and become aware of our surroundings (Cassinger and Thufvesson , 2022).…”

The Relationship Between Strategic Management Performance and Safety: Bibliometric Review Analysis

“…The safety field of study is more on the constructing outline of which a practical approach that can be used by the employee to stay safe in their line of work in their daily life (Cassinger & Thufvesson, 2022), moreover study about safety is related to the workplace safety depending to the environmental circumstances that they face in performing their task and their response on the protocol used by the company to make sure safety of their employee od guaranteed (Mayer et al, 2022). From this, we can conclude that the safety field of study is mainly the study of the safety of the employee and establishing a protocol that needs to be followed by the employee within the organization.…”