You look at what is happening in Malmö, Sweden yes who would have believed this! (1)

Malmö and its suburb Rosengård has ended up famous with a little help from both Trump and the Russian state TV channel.

But let me tell you something that has really been happening ..

we started something exciting.

SWEDENS SOLUTION ARRIVED 

Sweden is in need of 6000 architects and engineers. The persistent inability to fill positions is one of the reasons of the acute housing shortage. 700 000 new homes are needed in the next 10 years as well as large infrastructure projects. (READ MORE HERE)

Luck has it that many of the ‘new’ people who recently settled in Sweden are architects and engineers.But not all newly arrived architects and engineers are being snapped up. There are some loops (thing accreditation, permissions,  etc) and gaps (language, national particularities such as building code and trends)  keeping them from linking.

ALL THE INITIATIVES 

There are many initiatives aiming to get the the job seeking professional closer to the employers.

One such new initiative is a language café for architects and engineers held here in Malmö. The Swedish Associations of Architects including Modan with The Swedish Association of Engineers together with Architects without Borders and Engineers without Borders invited for fika (serious Swedish tradition of drinking a cup of coffee together) with the chance to practice your professional Swedish and network. Not least 50 (that is ALOT for swedish standards)  largely newly arrived in Sweden with the majority jobseeking turned up!

Another initiative was the recently held competition called Opportunity Space. The competition called for a design for a temporary pavilion in a park to hold activities for job seekers this summer. The park, Enskifteshagen, is located between the city center and the now world famous suburb of Rosengård.

Here the BBC report.

Here the Sydney Morning Herald

Here the report from The York Times

….

AN OPPORTUNITY
Modan and I entered the competition and turned the brief on its head.

We did not want to provide for the target group; job seekers and newly arrived like ourselves. Instead, we proposed that we would gather a team of job seekers who would design, plan and construct and manage the pavilion. The prize money would go towards the professional development of the team and the partners of the competition – Malmö Municipality, MKB, SKANSKA, WHITE architects, etc would support us with their knowledge.

We did not win, but the jury saw value in the process we proposed and invited us to become program partners. We agreed because as job seekers trying to integrate yourself in a new country you take the opportunities that come your way

AND TODAY …

The collective of self-organized job seeking, mainly newly arrived, built environment professionals is established. Yesterday we decided on a name:

PLANAS – Platform for network acceleration in Sweden.

We believe that jobs are not (only) found through the formal channels of CVs and portfolios and vacancy announcements. Successful employment matches are far more often based on your level of confidence, informal exchanges, networks and opportunities to demonstrate your skills.

Our approach reflects this. We organized ourselves so that we can be engaged in real projects with the built environment actors of the city. This way we could get closer to employment by

.. showcase what we can do!

… change the images of job seekers and newly arrived from needy to capable

… learn by doing (Swedish professional language, national regulations and procedures etc)

… build a network

… contribute to our home city of Malmö!

At the moment, we are 8 members

• all with different cultural and professional backgrounds
• half of us have a Master from Sweden
• two arrived less than a year ago in Sweden while another 25 years ago
• two of us even live in the world famous Rosengård!

Hopefully, new members will replace the team members as they one by one find work, but in the meantime, we are with a ‘Let’s make our world great (again)! ‘ attitude busy developing our project proposals, receiving guidance from The Swedish Association of Architects Skåne and meetings at Malmö Municipality for a project in Rosengård …

<more about our projects and activities soon>