The aim of the thesis is to examine how young people construct – i.e., make meaning about and socially organize – two adjacent residential areas in Malmö. Central to this is understanding how young people organize the public spaces, as well as construct social identities and a sense of belonging in relation to these places. Concepts such as social identities, group identities, local communities and idiocultures are used to understand young people’s relations with the areas, and with other young people residing there. To understand the complexity of place, I develop a multidimensional concept that takes into account five dimensions: localization; events and activities; populations and social relations; physical environment;values and qualities.

My research design employed a combination of methods, drawing primarily on an ethnographic approach. I utilized three different data collection techniques: field observations, focus group interviews,and “go-alongs”. A total of 40 young people, ranging in age from 15 to 25 years, participated in my study.

My empirical findings highlight how the values and qualities attributed to the areas by the young people could be said to constitute two distinct discourses: one describes the areas with an emphasis on safety,belonging, and community, while the other emphasizes fear, distance, and isolation. Both discourses were conveyed by heterogeneous groups in terms of class background, ethnicity, age, and gender. What distinguished the young people expressing safety and belonging from those describing fear and distance was primarily the extent of their local networks and experiences of “hanging out” in the areas. Young people spending a lot of time in the areas imagined themselves belonging to a local community based on place, class, ethnicity, and gender identities, making it difficult to belong for those who did not enact these identities according to local norms. Young people who frequently hung out in the areas, claiming different places and controlling access through language, behaviour, and subtle rules was further complicating placetaking for other groups of young people.