Grilling Alone; the Dark Side of Social Capital in Malmö

Increasing societal integration and improving the quality of life are among the fundamental themes of urban sustainable development. In defining their vision of a Sustainable City , the municipality of Malmo, Sweden stresses the importance of having an integrated, multi-cultural society. However, as its large immigrant population continues to face issues of non-integration, Malmo still has many obstacles to overcome on its path to sustainability This research examines two facets of Social Capital -- bonding and bridging networks to explore the quality of social relations and ties within Afghan refugees in Malmo by conducting qualitative research focusing on Afghan students between ages of 15-20. While social capital can provide a bridge between immigrants and their inclusion in Swedish society, this research finds that the respondents rely on their high-levels of inter-connectivity among other groups of immigrants . This can act as a substitute for the lack of "bridging" social capital, not being utilized by the respondents, but has consequences for the sustainability of the city as a whole as it also reinforces the reliance on bonding social capital.