Place, discourse and vulnerability--a qualitative study of young adults living in a Swedish urban poverty zone.

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of young adults living in a relatively deprived metropolitan area in Sweden. The analysis of interview data yielded four separate types of neighbourhood discourses, each related to a major hegemonic 'discourse of the problematic area'. The discursive model was used to disclose different patterns of vulnerability, at both the individual and the community level. The discourses are suggested to function as mechanisms through which the spatial context, defined in structural and relational terms, could be linked to health and well-being.