Second homes, legal framework and planning practice according to environmental sustainability in coastal areas: the Swedish setting

Abstract

The aim of this article is to discuss second homes according to legislation, planning practice and effects on environmental sustainability in a Swedish context. The legislation contains special provisions concerning land and water management in certain areas of national interest in their entirety in view of the natural and cultural assets that exist there. Subject to resource conservation regulations, new vacation housing will be limited to infill, with no new land development. There is no such restriction for permanent housing. Spatial theory according to Lefebvre is used to discuss ideas in legislation and spatial planning versus actual development of vacation housing in coastal areas over time. Documents have been analyzed from a discourse analytic perspective inspired by Laclau and Mouffe. The legal ambition to separate dwelling forms seems to be unstable and ambiguous. An alternative pragmatic attitude within planning practice has developed and seems to increase according to the study.