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Carl-Johan Sommar

Postdoc

Sustainability and Agenda 2030 are crucial for continued societal development. My research concerns the social dimension of sustainability and its implications for the welfare society.

My research

A scholar in Political Science, Dr. Sommar’s research focuses on the ramifications of implementing public sector sustainability and digitalization initiatives.

Experiences

  • Teaching students at bachelor, master and executive level.
  • Director of Studies at the Department of Political Science at LiU.
  • coordinating and managing various issues related to higher education.

 

Dr. Sommar specializes in how public administration can tackle and govern wicked problems. His research is motivated by a desire to translate theoretical tools into practical knowledge and is closely aligned with the needs of public sector professionals. He has written on topical issues such as sustainable healthcare systems, food poverty, and pandemic governance. Currently Sommar is editor of Linköping studies in Social Policy.

 Research groups that Dr. Sommar is part of

Legitimacy of soft policy tools - the case of Climate Change Declarations

Currently, Dr. Sommar is involved in a research project concerning the legitimacy of climate change declarations as a soft form of policy tool. The Swedish Parliament introduced climate declarations for buildings starting from January 1, 2022, applicable to new buildings for which building permits have been applied for after this date. These declarations complement existing energy declarations and certification systems in the market, aiming to enhance their legitimacy among stakeholders. Together with Dr. Fredrik von Malmborg, Dr. Patrik Rohdin, and Dr. Lina La Fleur, Sommar investigates the effectiveness of this new regulatory tool in comparison to other systems, aiming to provide insights beneficial for researchers, policymakers, and companies in their work with climate declarations for buildings.

Read more here.

Crisis Management in a Polycentric Nordic Local Democracy: Different Governance Structures - Different Results?

POLYGOV compares the local and regional coordination and management strategies employed as the pandemic has unfolded. The primary objective of POLYGOV is to identify differences in the Nordic countries’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the outcomes thereof, comparing and analyzing these differences with legal arrangements, public governance, and organization.

Together with CO-PI Dr. Elin Wihlborg, Dr. Johan Nordensvärd, and MPhil Fredrik Garcia, Dr. Sommar oversees the Swedish part of POLYGOV. As a research team, they examine political and administrative leadership and citizens' experiences of management, as well as the legitimacy of crisis measures in the Swedish local public sector. Additionally, they shine an organizational lens on how Swedish local government handled the crisis.

Read more here.

Food for Urban Lives and Localities (FULL)

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed large cities worldwide to unprecedented challenges. It has also strained access to food among vulnerable urban groups such as older people, people with disabilities or underlying health conditions, single parents, low-income households, ethnic minorities, and migrants. Together scholars from with University College London, National University of Singapore, Stockholm University, The Swedish Royal Institute of Technology, and University of New South Wales, Dr. Sommar focuses on the role of digital technology and social adaptation in assuring food security and how community initiatives, and municipalities have responded towards rising food poverty. Here, we examine urban community responses to prepare global cities for issues that challenge local access to food.

Read more here.

Publications

2024

Johan Nordensvärd, Carl-Johan Sommar, Elin Wihlborg (2024) The communicative climate: municipal leaders' experiences Crisis Management, Governance and COVID-19: Pandemic Policy and Local Government in the Nordic Countries, p. 132-141 (Chapter in book)
Fredrik Garcia, Erik Järnland, Johan Nordensvärd, Carl-Johan Sommar, Elin Wihlborg (2024) Sweden: relaxed crisis management Crisis Management, Governance and COVID-19: Pandemic Policy and Local Government in the Nordic Countries, p. 68-76 (Chapter in book)
Carl-Johan Sommar, Johan Nordensvärd, Elin Wihlborg, Fredrik Garcia (2024) Autonomy and paternalism - framing Swedish COVID-19 restriction policy Critical Policy Studies (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2023

Johan Nordensvärd, Martina Rotolo, Carl-Johan Sommar, Yiran Li, Catalina Turcu, Bingqin Li, Young-hwan Byun, Jiwei Qian (2023) Technological and social adaptation to COVID-19: Food for Vulnerable Urban Groups in Six Global Cities
Johan Nordensvärd, Bingqin Li, Catalina Turcu, Jiwei Qian, Young-hwan Byun, Yiran Li, Carl-Johan Sommar, Martina Rotolo (2023) State and communities in urban food governance: lessons from COVID and insights for the future Urban Governance, Vol. 3, p. 93-96 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

Research at Department of Management and Engineering (IEI) 

Books and server hall.

20 November 2024

Computational Text Analysis

Computational analysis offers new ways to derive meaning from text. We use large corpora of text as social sensors to measure what people feel, think, and talk about, which allows us to track the emergence of shared social understandings.
A women is doing computed tomography.

19 November 2024

JEDI-lab

We at JEDI lab at Linköping University conduct research on intuition, reflection, and emotion in economic decision-making. The aim of our research is to understand everyday decision-making and its underlying processes.
The image illustrates the brain as a renewable energy source, symbolizing its potential for continuous innovation and creativity.

11 November 2024

Research on cognition in design for sustainability

We aim to explore the cognitive and neurocognitive aspects of sustainable design to support current and future practitioners in creating more sustainable products, services, and systems.

Research at Political Science (STATSV)

Map of world

01 July 2024

New governance and processes

New complex problems and challenges such as climate change, finance and migration crises can not be resolved within the traditional political organizations. They demand new forms of governance at local, regional and global levels.

01 July 2024

Digital public administration – new technology, organization, values and learning

The research on digital public administration is about how new forms of public services affect relationships with citizens and how citizens are using digital services in their daily lives.
Two rows of book shelves in a library. In the space between them, a person sitting at a table in seen at a distance.

01 July 2024

Digital Norrköping

A digital Norrköping for all! The project aims to map and analyze digital exclusion and how libraries and their staff work and develop strategies to increase inclusion and participation.

My workplaces

A-building in autumn

Department of Management and Engineering (IEI)

The Department of Management and Engineering (IEI) strengthens and develops tomorrow’s industry, business world and society by ground-breaking research, education and innovation.
Bild från europaparlamentet vid en omröstning.

Political Science (STATSV)

The division of Political Science conducts research and offers education at the basic and advanced level. Political Science is about politics, power and democracy.

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