Petter Ahlström

Organization

Employed at the Department of Business Administration.

Research area

Research interests in housing for elderly and the border between social sciences, spatial planning, surveying, construction management and real estate economics and business administration.

Research interest

Petter Ahlström (Petter) holds a Master of Science in Surveying Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Petter also holds a Licentiate of Economics and a PhD in Economics in the subject of Economic Information Systems from Linköping Institute of Technology at Linköping University. Today he holds a senior lecturer position in surveying technology with a focus on the built environment and community development at University West. Where he is employed at the Division of Business Administration at the Department of Economics and IT.

Petter defended his thesis in 2008 with the thesis "Strategies and control systems for the senior housing market". His research interest is at the intersection of architecture and the built environment, real estate economics, service management, IT, strategy and governance. In a number of studies, Petter has highlighted the impact of the built living environment on strategic and governance decision-making situations, where special interest has been directed towards organizational forms, financing solutions and housing concepts aimed at the target group of seniors and the elderly.

With the company as a starting point, he has had a financial holistic perspective when he has studied the target group's needs and housing preferences (demand) linked to the company's strategy, governance and competitiveness (supply). The outcome of the same has also been highlighted based on a national and international market context.

A strong interest of Petter lies in the new topic "Age Optimaization". Within the framework of this subject area, issues of importance to the elderly's perceived health, quality of life and well-being in the built and organized living environment are studied. The target group of seniors has been a main area of interest in business as in academia, but is one of several age segments of interest in the development of urban environments as well as real estate.

Based on his research, he has come to implement his knowledge through professional advice and self-employment, where he has developed a business concept for lifestyle living based on the implementation of the

Based on his research, he has come to implement his knowledge through professional advice and self-employment, where he has developed a business concept for lifestyle living based on completed preference studies of the target group called ConceptLiving (see www.cla-sweden.se).

Through his involvement in the non-profit platform SeniorVärlden non-profit association, he has been the editor and writer of the recently launched anthology "Good housing for seniors, an anthology" (2023), which has been produced in a collaboration between the association and Svensk Byggtjänst förlag (see www.seniorvarlden.com).

How my research can make a difference

With his research, Petter wants to create knowledge that enables the many people to make active and conscious choices about housing and life as an elderly person. He hopes that the research will be able to lead to a diversity of housing solutions, financing and organisational options. That research can contribute to different alternatives for society's stakeholders to be able to plan and find sustainable solutions to, one of the greatest challenges of our time as a result of demographics. Petter also wants this knowledge to be able to be used to inspire, engage and enlighten people about various exciting solutions and concepts that we can study and learn from, preferably from international influences. Knowledge that allows us to see both the challenge and the opportunities in the tasks that lie ahead of us.  

Missions

Within academia:
• 2021–2023. Programme Council Chair for the Land Surveying Programme in Urban Development and Development (TGSSP) at University West
• 2024-. Member of the Department Board at the Department of Business and IT at University West
• 2024. Assistant examiner in external programme evaluation at the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University with a special focus on the Land Surveying programme specialising in Real Estate Economics and Real Estate Law
• 2024-. Part of the research network Center for Welfare Change at Mälardalen University (https://www.mdu.se/samverkan/plattformar/center-for-valfardsforandring/kontakt)

Outside academia:
• 2013-. CEO and founder of CLA, a part-owned small company that conducts strategic advice in the real estate area as well as project management and implementation of housing concepts aimed at the target group of seniors and the elderly (www.cla-sweden.se).
• 2015-: Founder and board member. The association aims to pursue issues in the built environment, service, health and innovation of housing and environments for the elderly on the theme of ageing (see www.seniorvarlden.com). 

Publications

Link to publications published on SwePub

Keywords

• Housing for the elderly with a perspective on business and real estate economics perspectives
• Strategy and management control with significance for the real estate and housing sector
• Service management with significance for the real estate and housing sector
• IT and smart home solutions of importance for senior housing
• Sustainability issues with a focus on economics in housing construction and design for the elderly.