Envisioning sustainable lifestyles in Stockholm’s urban development

The urban development in Stockholm, Sweden is an obvious example of the materialisation of the idea of a compact and traditional city as the sustainable city. This paper develops on this theme using the ongoing planning and development of the area Årstafältet in the south of Stockholm as example. With the central planning documents as empirical material, this paper investigates urban discourses that construct and give meaning to an area as urban/suburban, including the role of green space. The city and the urban are today better understood as ideological constructions than descriptions of a place or lifestyle. However, the city/country (or urban/suburban) division still lives on in planning. Årstafältet, on the edge of the inner city is interesting in this context, since it is currently being transformed from a typical Swedish post-war suburb into a post-modern 'urban area'. Its green space is also being re-conceptualised as a "world class park". At the same time as the urban has been coined the "quintessential floating signifier", urban densification and functional mix are considered the solutions to almost all problems. Certain constructions of the city and the urban lifestyle have an undisputed status, and others are given the role of the problem to be solved. In Swedish cities the problems to be solved are often found, or located, in the periphery. The suburb that used to represent the most modern in welfare state urban planning now represents its failure. This paper investigates how planning practice responds discursively to these representations

Urban Planning through Exhibition and Experimentation in Stockholm

In this paper we discuss findings of our case study on the making and implementation of the exhibition 'Experiment Stockholm' in 2015, which, based on artistic exhibits as well as a number of forums, aimed at generating creative narratives for the sustainable urban future in the Swedish capital city-region. Our analytical framework is informed by the emerging notion of 'urban living labs' across Europe as well as 'communicative' and 'actor-relational' planning theory', which is discussed in another paper within the poceedings of this conference (cf. Schmitt et al. 2016). We argue that the exhibition 'Experiment Stockholm' and the activities around it can be characterised as a soft mode of urban governance that can help to unlock creativity and to open up avenues for experimentation and alternative solutions in urban planning. However, caution must be taken to not overvalue such approaches, as our example implies a rather exclusive expert forum instead of a a mode of governance that might be associated with openness and wider engagement. In addition, our example illustrates the significance of suitable and unconventional methods, which otherwise considerably limits the innovative capacity of the participating stakeholders and their search for alternative solutions

Positioning urban labs – a new form of smart governance?

In the current era, in which cities are considered key arenas for coping with a number of societal challenges, there is also renewed interest in the mobilisation of experimental practices within urban planning. A growing interest in innovative intiatives emphasising co-creation, exploration, experimentation, and evaluation, such as urban living labs must also be understood in relation to the uncertatinity regarding the modern growth paradigm and its institutional arrangements: “the pragmatist heritage of urban laboratories gains renewed strength in the current era in which the belief in modernity, progress and development is in crisis” (Karvonen & van Heur, 2014, p. 387). This paper provides a sympathetic critique of the notion of urban living labs and related expeimental practices from an urban planning and governance persepective. In this light, we argue that the core principels of urban living labs (i.e. co-creation, exploration, experimentation, and evaluation) offer a useful theortical frame to understand and position different informal self-organizing initiatives in contemporary urban development. Furthermore, we assert that, considered as a planning practice (or methodology), urban living labs can be construed as a temporary mode of soft governance which include a number of merits in terms of definig new innovative pathways for urban planning beyond business as usual thinking. However, caution must be taken due to the urban living lab’s inherent shortcomings in terms of demorcractic legitimacy, tendencies towards exclusiveness, and extreme temporality. In conclusion, we argue that urban living labs can be an environment for exploring new forms of smart urban governance through critical engagments with communicative planning theory and an explict focus on actor-relations

Can planning combat segregation and strengthen social sustainability?

Within Nordic cities, residential segregation is high on the agenda and a hotly debated topic, often discussed alongside concerns relating to socioeconomic inequality, welfare provision, immigration, and integration. Social sustainability is another recurrent ‘buzzword’, but what does it actually mean and imply in practice? This policy brief presents Nordic perspectives on segregated cities and planning for social sustainability

In search of the good city : constructions of ideals and problems in Swedish urban planning discussion

In this dissertation constructions of contemporary urban ideals are in focus, starting from the understanding that they are constructed in relation to both an idea of an urban renaissance and one ofa dissolving, or sprawling, city. The aim of the dissertation is to investigate and analyse how the city and the urban are discursively constructed in contemporary Swedish urban planning discussion. This is done by analysing articles from the Swedish Journal of Planning (Plan) and publications from the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket) and the Urban Environment Council (Stadsmiljörådet). The main research topics are: How is the city and its history constructed? What norms are constructed about the city and the urban? How is planning and the role of the planner constructed, and what kind of knowledge and practices are emphasised? Methodologically, the dissertation is inspired by social constructivist methods, and mainly discourse theory. Applying this to the urban context means understanding urbanity and cities as constantly constructed and reconstructed discursively, even if both appear to be defined, absolute and recognisable. The analysis investigates these appearances and the meanings they are given – in this case in an urban planning context.  The analysis shows that history plays an important part in both the construction of ideals and problems. Both contemporary planning and the urban ideals are conceptualised in the light of a modernist planning era, which is emphasised as the period when the “real” city was dissolved or even destroyed. An “original”, pre-modern city is constructed and guarded as the norm, and the categorisation of places appear as important. Concepts both open and defined appear as central, such as diversity, variation, identity and urbanity. The planning practice that supposedly creates the good city is ideally a sensitive and emotional practice and practitioner, in line with communicative planning theory. Binary conceptual couples structure the discourse to a high degree, resulting in polarisations such as compact/sparse, city/countryside or inner city/suburb. The problematic or contradictory, such as the suburb, is marked off from the “real” city, and an inside and outside of the good city is created. The importance of a holistic and comprehensive planning perspective is emphasized, but at the same time the urban ideal that comes out appear as a strongly normative outlook from the traditional inner city. An inner city “we” is constructed, and the suburb, the suburban and its inhabitants are seen as an Other.  The dissertation also discusses some openings and contrary voices in the discourse and in other urban research indicative of an attempt to move beyond the polarisations. By questioning hierarchies and polarisations, and opening up for influence from outside of the discourse, concepts such as diversity and urbanity could be given alternative meanings instead of being used to mourn the loss of a “real”, original city or urban public space.QC 20130204</p

Livability på svenska

Syftet med arbetet som denna rapport resulterat i var att genom att undersöka begreppet livability, och identifiera behov av kunskapsutveckling i relation till det, lägga grunden för ett nyanserat språkbruk kring transporters sociala aspekter och konsekvenser. Detta har gjorts genom att dels studera begreppet "livability" i den amerikanska transportpolicykontexten, relaterad forskning och liknande förhållningssätt i den svenska kontexten

In search of the good city : constructions of ideals and problems in Swedish urban planning discussion

In this dissertation constructions of contemporary urban ideals are in focus, starting from the understanding that they are constructed in relation to both an idea of an urban renaissance and one ofa dissolving, or sprawling, city. The aim of the dissertation is to investigate and analyse how the city and the urban are discursively constructed in contemporary Swedish urban planning discussion. This is done by analysing articles from the Swedish Journal of Planning (Plan) and publications from the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket) and the Urban Environment Council (Stadsmiljörådet). The main research topics are: How is the city and its history constructed? What norms are constructed about the city and the urban? How is planning and the role of the planner constructed, and what kind of knowledge and practices are emphasised? Methodologically, the dissertation is inspired by social constructivist methods, and mainly discourse theory. Applying this to the urban context means understanding urbanity and cities as constantly constructed and reconstructed discursively, even if both appear to be defined, absolute and recognisable. The analysis investigates these appearances and the meanings they are given – in this case in an urban planning context.  The analysis shows that history plays an important part in both the construction of ideals and problems. Both contemporary planning and the urban ideals are conceptualised in the light of a modernist planning era, which is emphasised as the period when the “real” city was dissolved or even destroyed. An “original”, pre-modern city is constructed and guarded as the norm, and the categorisation of places appear as important. Concepts both open and defined appear as central, such as diversity, variation, identity and urbanity. The planning practice that supposedly creates the good city is ideally a sensitive and emotional practice and practitioner, in line with communicative planning theory. Binary conceptual couples structure the discourse to a high degree, resulting in polarisations such as compact/sparse, city/countryside or inner city/suburb. The problematic or contradictory, such as the suburb, is marked off from the “real” city, and an inside and outside of the good city is created. The importance of a holistic and comprehensive planning perspective is emphasized, but at the same time the urban ideal that comes out appear as a strongly normative outlook from the traditional inner city. An inner city “we” is constructed, and the suburb, the suburban and its inhabitants are seen as an Other.  The dissertation also discusses some openings and contrary voices in the discourse and in other urban research indicative of an attempt to move beyond the polarisations. By questioning hierarchies and polarisations, and opening up for influence from outside of the discourse, concepts such as diversity and urbanity could be given alternative meanings instead of being used to mourn the loss of a “real”, original city or urban public space.QC 20130204</p

Can planning combat segregation and strengthen social sustainability?

Within Nordic cities, residential segregation is high on the agenda and a hotly debated topic, often discussed alongside concerns relating to socioeconomic inequality, welfare provision, immigration, and integration. Social sustainability is another recurrent ‘buzzword’, but what does it actually mean and imply in practice? This policy brief presents Nordic perspectives on segregated cities and planning for social sustainability

Searching for the dialogue in Swedish planning

In Sweden, citizen participation in municipal planning through dialogue is often brought forwardas key to sustainable transformation, with emphasis on social sustainability, local governanceand everyday life perspectives in planning. There are high expectations on new methods andtools for citizen dialogues in planning, and the mandatory public consultation procedure is notalways considered sufficient. However, there is a lack of overview on what is actually done in thename of dialogue in Swedish municipalities. This lack of overview is due both to lack ofcomprehensive research beyond case studies, and lack of documentation in the municipalplanning offices. This paper addresses these lacks by presenting results of a comprehensivemapping approach to citizen dialogues in eleven Swedish municipalities 2000-2015, a mappingthat makes it possible to discuss both what is done in the name of dialogue regarding methods,and the varying documentation of these practices. The result indicates that what goes on in the name of citizen dialogue is a diverse practice, and perhaps more traditional than innovativewhen it comes to method. It is often not about explicit dialogue or citizen influence, but insteadthe purpose is e.g. to spread or collect knowledge without an explicit connection to the planningand decision-making process. This paper further argues that the absence of a standard fordocumentation of dialogue processes can hinder the municipalities’ institutional learningregarding participatory methods and in the end hinder a developed democratic consultation procedure in planning

In search of the good city : constructions of ideals and problems in Swedish urban planning discussion

In this dissertation constructions of contemporary urban ideals are in focus, starting from the understanding that they are constructed in relation to both an idea of an urban renaissance and one ofa dissolving, or sprawling, city. The aim of the dissertation is to investigate and analyse how the city and the urban are discursively constructed in contemporary Swedish urban planning discussion. This is done by analysing articles from the Swedish Journal of Planning (Plan) and publications from the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket) and the Urban Environment Council (Stadsmiljörådet). The main research topics are: How is the city and its history constructed? What norms are constructed about the city and the urban? How is planning and the role of the planner constructed, and what kind of knowledge and practices are emphasised? Methodologically, the dissertation is inspired by social constructivist methods, and mainly discourse theory. Applying this to the urban context means understanding urbanity and cities as constantly constructed and reconstructed discursively, even if both appear to be defined, absolute and recognisable. The analysis investigates these appearances and the meanings they are given – in this case in an urban planning context.  The analysis shows that history plays an important part in both the construction of ideals and problems. Both contemporary planning and the urban ideals are conceptualised in the light of a modernist planning era, which is emphasised as the period when the “real” city was dissolved or even destroyed. An “original”, pre-modern city is constructed and guarded as the norm, and the categorisation of places appear as important. Concepts both open and defined appear as central, such as diversity, variation, identity and urbanity. The planning practice that supposedly creates the good city is ideally a sensitive and emotional practice and practitioner, in line with communicative planning theory. Binary conceptual couples structure the discourse to a high degree, resulting in polarisations such as compact/sparse, city/countryside or inner city/suburb. The problematic or contradictory, such as the suburb, is marked off from the “real” city, and an inside and outside of the good city is created. The importance of a holistic and comprehensive planning perspective is emphasized, but at the same time the urban ideal that comes out appear as a strongly normative outlook from the traditional inner city. An inner city “we” is constructed, and the suburb, the suburban and its inhabitants are seen as an Other.  The dissertation also discusses some openings and contrary voices in the discourse and in other urban research indicative of an attempt to move beyond the polarisations. By questioning hierarchies and polarisations, and opening up for influence from outside of the discourse, concepts such as diversity and urbanity could be given alternative meanings instead of being used to mourn the loss of a “real”, original city or urban public space