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Selling a place in the sun: International property mediation as production of lifestyle mobility
Karlstad University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (starting 2013), Department of Geography, Media and Communication (from 2013). Umeå universitet.
2012 (English)In: Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, ISSN 1303-2917, E-ISSN 2156-6909, Vol. 23, no 2, p. 251-267Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Buying property abroad is not a new phenomenon, but academic research into the complexities of international property mediation is underdeveloped. This paper adopts a wide perspective on lifestyle-driven mobilities, including the semi-permanent relocation of Swedes to warmer destinations in the Mediterranean and other regions, and explores the functions of international property mediation. On the basis of data gathered from interviews with property agents, the objectives are to describe the organization of the international property sector, to understand the mediating roles of property agents, and position property mediation as production of lifestyle mobility. Property agents are understood to play a crucial role as intermediaries, influencing the client’s decisions by combining instrumental, interactionary, communicative, and social functions of mediation. Because of their superior expertise on property transaction procedures and regulations, area characteristics and contact networks, agents may influence clients’ decisions; however this also depends on their skills in interpreting client expectations and experiences, and the ability of the client to manage the process themselves.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2012. Vol. 23, no 2, p. 251-267
Keywords [en]
lifestyle mobility, multiple dwelling, property mediation, international migration, intermediaries
National Category
Human Geography
Research subject
Human Geography
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-70763DOI: 10.1080/13032917.2012.687691OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kau-70763DiVA, id: diva2:1281336
Available from: 2019-01-22 Created: 2019-01-22 Last updated: 2019-01-28Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. The Best of Both Worlds: Aspirations, Drivers and Practices of Swedish Lifestyle Movers in Malta
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The Best of Both Worlds: Aspirations, Drivers and Practices of Swedish Lifestyle Movers in Malta
2013 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

It has often been claimed that contemporary societies are shaped by globalization; the rapid interconnections of societies, economies, markets, flows and information potentially linking all places in the world to each other. In search for experiences, variation, escape or comfort, individuals are travelling, circulating, and migrating between places, challenging the notions of ‘home’ and ‘away’, ‘everyday’ and ‘extraordinary’. This thesis addresses the ways lifestyle-led mobilities are produced and performed, by studying the mobility trajectories and experiences of Swedes dividing their time seasonally between Sweden and Malta. It explores how movers are faced with a structural framework that both facilitates and directs their choices concerning mobility, and how they interpret and respond to these structures. It also explores the imaginaries, meanings, and feelings for place, identity, and lifestyle that the movers negotiate through their mobility practices and through the links they create and sustain in places. Thus, this thesis is situated in an evolving field of research on lifestyle mobilities. Lifestyle mobilities are here defined as those mobility practices undertaken by individuals based on their freedom of choice, of a temporal or more permanent duration, with or without any significant ‘home base(s)’, that are primarily driven by aspirations to increase ‘quality of life’, and that are primarily related to the individuals’ lifestyle values. The thesis is based on four individual papers exploring different aspects lifestyle mobility. The aim is to understand how production and performance aspects of lifestyle mobilities are related, and how notions of identity and belonging are negotiated in relation to lifestyle mobility practices. The production aspect relates to those structures and frameworks that create, facilitate, or sometimes delimit opportunities for lifestyle mobility while the performance aspect focuses on individual agency and meaning of lifestyle mobility practices. The studies are based on in-depth interviews with Swedish movers in Malta, and focus on how structural frameworks and mediations influence the ways that movers manoeuvre, manipulate or adapt to structures and influences in order to arrange their life context to achieve ‘quality of life’. A second aim focuses on the ways that movers reflect upon their identities and belongings as they travel routinely between two (or more) significant places, and how this may influence mobility practices. It is concluded that structures and mediations are both facilitating and delimiting movers’ space of choice regarding mobility decisions. Through their agency, movers negotiate their space of choice by allocating resources and experience, accessing supportive networks and tailoring their access to entitlements. The production and performance aspects of lifestyle mobility practices are interlinked in complex ways.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Umeå: Umeå universitet, 2013. p. 69
Series
GERUM, ISSN 1402-5205 ; 2013:2
Keywords
lifestyle mobilities, multiple dwelling, lifestyle management, transnationalism, place imaginaries, identity and belonging
National Category
Human Geography
Research subject
Human Geography
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-70765 (URN)978-91-7459-766-0 (ISBN)
Public defence
(English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2019-01-22 Created: 2019-01-22 Last updated: 2019-01-28

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