The red parts are the rewritten additions.
Nordost neighborhood– Alexander Khan
Home Away From Home. Syrians in Nordost/Gothenburg.
Sweden is known by many around Europe and the world for its hospitable humanitarian accommodation of asylum seekers. According to the UNHCR the country has accepted 94,873 asylum seekers from Syria in 2023. Making it the second largest accommodator of Syrian asylum seekers in Europe after Germany. Västra Götaland county has the third largest population of people born in Syria after Stockholm and Skåne counties with Nordost area of Gothenburg having the largest share of said population. More than double the urban area with the second largest Syrian population which is Hisingen. The Syrian civil war started in late 2011 and according to data from the government of Gothenburg, Nordost area has always been the preferred place of settlement for Syrian refugees both before and thirteen years after the beginning of the civil war.
Alexander Khan — Nordost urban area-Acquired from Google Maps.
Visualization 1:
Population of people born in Syria in Gothenburg’s Urban Areas in 2023
https://www.datawrapper.de/_/uCISJ
<iframe title=”Syrian Refugee Population in Gothenburg’s Urban Areas in 2023″ aria-label=”Donut Chart” id=”datawrapper-chart-uCISJ” src=”https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/uCISJ/1/” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ style=”width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;” height=”620″ data-external=”1″></iframe><script type=”text/javascript”>!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();</script>
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Visualization 2:
Population of people born in Syria in Gothenburg’s urban areas in 2011
https://www.datawrapper.de/_/JfdZu
<iframe title=”Syrian refugee population in Gothenburg’s urban areas in 2011″ aria-label=”Donut Chart” id=”datawrapper-chart-JfdZu” src=”https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/JfdZu/1/” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ style=”width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;” height=”593″ data-external=”1″></iframe><script type=”text/javascript”>!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();</script>
But why is this?
The European Commision’s report on Syrian refugee reception and integration in Gothenburg identified that shortage of housing was a major challenge in accommodating Syrian refugees. It states that Nordost’s more affordable housing compared to central urban areas of Gothenburg has made this a favored area for supported settlements of Syrian asylum seekers.
In a book by Senior Lecturer Andrea Spehar and expert on Syrian refugee Integration in Sweden from Gothenburg university titled Institutions and Organizations of Refugee Integration she said that many asylum seekers prefer to live in areas near their fellow countrymen. Andrea was unable to comment for this article but has expressed in her earlier articles that Syrian asylum seekers have stated that many have made said choice due to cultural familiarity, and support with bureaucratic, economic and language navigation.
Government building in Nordost Alexander Khan 2024
The OECD’s report on integration of Syrian refugees from 2018 has identified that year that many Syrian refugees chose Nordost to live in due to the government and NGOs language, integration, educational and social support programmes. However, NGOs have been reporting that in recent years, funding for these programmes from the government are drying up. The Swedish Church has been a big contributor of said programmes. Maria Bergius who works with the Swedish parish in Angered states that “We have a responsibility to all people on the land of Sweden, but the parishes in Nordost are poor and have little money and there is a limit to what we can do”.
The NGO Fryshuset’s spokesperson Alexandra Wittgren also shared that “We used to have programmes to help Syrians to move into the community. But the government money hasn’t been coming in anymore, so we had to stop them and let go of a lot of staff. There isn’t enough of us anymore to have the programmes in Gothenburg.”
The European Commission’s report outlined that because of the larger and fast influx of Syrian refugees in Nordost, there has been worrying problems with overcrowding and segregation from the local Swedish community. It further recommends that “deconcentration” and improved funding is suggested to facilitate Syrian refugee integration processes.