AAG Annual Meeting in San Francisco March 29 - April 2 2016
Exhibiting the future of the city: A driver of co-created and creative planning work?
is part of the Paper Session:
Negotiating the 'creative city': Negotiating the 'creative city': A new cultural governance for the 'creative city'?
scheduled on Tuesday, 3/29/2016 at 8:00 AM.
Author(s):
Peter Schmitt* - Nordregio
Moa Tunström - Nordregio
Lukas Smas - Nordregio
Liisa Perjo - Nordregio
Abstract:
In the current era in which cities are increasingly considered as key arenas for coping with a number of societal challenges, we can observe a renewed interest in the mobilisation of creative and experimental practices within urban governance and planning work with the intention to overcome institutional lock-ins and routines by practicing multi-disciplinary collaboration (Karvonen/Van Heur 2014; Evans 2009; Boren and Young 2013, Metzger 2010). In our paper we will present and reflect upon findings from exploring the making and implementation of the exhibition 'Experiment Stockholm' (September to November 2015), which, based on artistic exhibits as well as a number of forums, aims at generating creative narratives for the sustainable urban future in the Swedish capital region. Our analytical framework is informed by the emerging notion of 'urban living labs' across Europe (cf. Bergvall-Kåreborn and Ståhlbröst 2009; Franz 2014; Juujärvi and Pesso 2013) as well as 'communicative' (cf. Healey 1997, 2002) and 'actor-relational' planning theory' (cf. Boelens 2010; Boonstra and Boelens 2011) and collaborative governance theory (cf. Ansell and Gash 2007; Gupta et al, 2015).
We investigate how knowledge acquired through artistic and creative practices are integrated into the prevailing structures. Through highlighting a number of key issues, such as democratic legitimacy, power and transparency, we will discuss the tension between such creative informal initiatives on the one hand and the rather formal procedures and routines within 'regular' governance and planning work on the other.
Keywords:
city exhibition, urban living lab, creative governance, practices of knowing
From a suburban greenfield to an urban park: the case of Årstafältet in Stockholm, Sweden
is part of the Paper Session:
Why Does Everyone Think Cities Can Save the Planet? 3. Green Urban Natures and the Promise of 'Natural' Nature
scheduled on Thursday, 3/31/2016 at 13:20 PM.
Author(s):
Moa Tunström* - Nordregio
Liisa Perjo - Nordregio
Peter Schmitt - Nordregio
Lukas Smas - Nordregio
Abstract:
The urban development in Stockholm, Sweden is an obvious example and materialisation of the idea of the compact and traditional city as the model for 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 the empirical material, it investigates urban discourses that construct and give meaning to an area as urban/suburban, and the role of green space. The city and the urban are today more of 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 postwar suburb into a post-modern 'urban area'. Its green space is also being re-conceptualised to 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 respond discursively to these representations.
Keywords:
discourse, green space, Stockholm, suburban, urban
Neoliberal Politics of Urban Planning Practices in State-led Property Development
is part of the Paper Session:
Practices of Gentrification 1: The micro-politics of gentrification
scheduled on Saturday, 4/2/2016 at 8:00 AM.
Author(s):
Lukas Smas* - Nordregio
Liisa Perjo - Nordregio
Peter Schmitt - Nordregio
Moa Tunström - Nordregio
Abstract:
In this paper we highlight the roles of the local state, municipal planning and politics, in an era of neoliberal urbanism. And question how the state might contribute to gentrification through strategic urban regeneration projects. We do this through an empirical investigation with focus on the intersections between (private) property development and urban (public) planning in Stockholm. But the aim of the paper is also to conceptually contribute to the current debate on urban theory by focusing on the complex governing practices of urban space and the power-relations between different actors and artefacts. In particular our investigation highlights the importance of the use, production and legitimization of knowledge. Stockholm provides an interesting example of the practices of neoliberal urban politics. In the increasingly strategic planning of the city densification and urbanity are stressed alongside diversity and social mixing, but the neighbourhood planning practices could rather be described as state-led property developments. Development issues, real estate values and economics are continuously prioritized and precede other planning needs. Social problems are addressed through material solutions and regeneration project, for example linking socio-economically diverse and segregated neighbourhoods by building expansive apartments. The probable gentrification processes are further complicated by continuous population growth and lack of (affordable) housing causing an increased tension between efficiency and legitimacy. Also within the state-apparatus there are tensions between different policy sectors and political spheres. What is regarded as a legitimate (planning) knowledge becomes a key question in tensions between development as post-political and urban planning as (political) practice.
Keywords:
knowledge production, neoliberal politics, planning practices, property development, Stockholm
AESOP Annual Congress 2015, Prague 13-16 July
Lifestyle planning: investigations of the gap between neoliberal urbanism and everyday neighbourhood practices
In this paper we explore how urban development projects are planned and adapted (or not) to current and future lifestyles in the context of contemporary neoliberal urbanism. It is an investigation into the gap between vision and reality, between dominating planning representations of urban living, and the everyday practices and lifestyles of people and groups living in the neighbourhoods. The paper is based on a case study of the planning of a large scale mixed-use compact development project in Stockholm, including the construction of 6000 new apartments for 15 000 new residents on a green/brown field site. The vision is that the new neighbourhood should become a meeting place connecting the two existing surrounding neighbourhoods with different socioeconomic characteristics. It is thus an opportunity to increase social cohesion through spatial organization, but visions and plans do not only outline and organize the built environment, they are inevitably also representations of how to live in the neighbourhoods. The planning process has been rather participatory including activities beyond the formal requirements such as open space seminars and dialogues with the youth. However, based on analyses of the plans and of the everyday life practices of the inhabitants in the area, it is argued that the dominant representations of the urban planning apparatus do not sufficiently engage with the complex everyday life practices of the inhabitants. Using recent advancements in theories of practice, the paper illustrates and discusses how plans (and planning) and lifestyles are co-produced and re-presented through material and discursive practices.
Keywords: lifestyle practices, neighbourhood planning, neoliberal urbanism, social cohesion, sustainability
Lukas Smas, Liisa Perjo, Schmitt Peter
http://www.aesop2015.eu/congress-programme/tracks/responsibility-for-social-cohesion-in-housing-cohousing-and-neighbourhood-planning/
Exhibiting the futures of the city: a driver for self-organised, participative and co-created planning work?
In the current era in which cities are more and more considered as key arenas for coping with a number of societal challenges, we can easily observe a renewed interest in the mobilisation of experimental practices within urban planning work (Karvonen & van Heur, 2014). Similarly, cities are increasingly labelled as ‘urban laboratories’ or alike with the intention to overcome institutional lock-ins and routines by practicing multi-disciplinary collaboration (Evans & Karvonen, 2014). In our paper we will present and reflect upon initial findings from exploring the making and implementation of the exhibition ‘Experiment Stockholm’, which aims at illustrating and discussing various urban futures. Our analytical framework is informed by the notion of ‘urban living labs’ (e.g. Juujärvi & Pesso, 2013) as well as ‘actor-relational planning theory’ (e.g. Boelens, 2010). Based on participative observation and other related qualitative methods we will outline the institutional and organisational context in which the exhibition is anchored, describe the emerging actor-networks and power relations, analyse the practices and scope of including (and excluding) stakeholders/citizens and depict ways and barriers of promoting them to ‘co-creators’ of knowledge. In addition, a preliminary conclusion will be given on the extent to which the knowledge and learning being generated in relation to this exhibition has (or might have) an impact on any sort of urban policy or governance practices in Stockholm. In this manner, we will discuss the question to what extent exhibitions on urban futures can enlarge the scope of participative democracy and enable stakeholders as ‘veritable agents’ of urban planning work.
Keywords: city exhibition, participation, urban living lab, informal planning work, co-creation
Schmitt Peter, Lukas Smas, Liisa Perjo, Mitchell Reardon
http://www.aesop2015.eu/congress-programme/tracks/planning-in-weak-institutional-environment/
Deutschen Kongress für Geographie (DKG) 2015, Berlin 1-6 October
Ausstellungen zur Zukunft der Stadt – ein vielversprechender Ansatz für eine andere Planung?
Der Beitrag diskutiert am Beispiel „Experiment Stockholm“ inwieweit Ausstellungen zur Zukunft der Stadt institutionelle Blockaden reduzieren und die kommunikative Planungspraxis bereichern können.
With the intention to overcome institutional lock-ins and to utilise multi-disciplinary collaboration a number of investigational activities within cities are increasingly categorised as urban laboratories (Karvonen & van Heur, 2014). Particularly so-called urban living labs are considered as offering both, a methodology and an environment for social as well as technical innovations (Veeckman et al., 2013). Within these ‘labs’ numerous issues are being explored and experimented with the aim of e.g. improving local services, initiating urban gardening or providing platforms for developing urban futures (Juujärvi & Pesso, 2013). Through ‘public-private-people partnerships’ the intention is to mobilise stakeholders as experts of their experiences and enable them to advance from a ‘participant’ to a ‘co-creator of knowledge'.
In our presentation we will present and reflect upon some findings from a current research project that is funded under the 'Joint Programme Initiative Urban Europe’. Within the project we explore the making and implementation of the exhibition ‘Experiment Stockholm’, which aims at illustrating and discussing a number of urban futures (e.g. based on a tactical urbanism approach). The exhibition is the third of its kind and facilitated by a Stockholm-based foundation for art, architecture and urbanism.
Our analytical framework is informed by the notion of urban living labs as well as actor-relational planning theory (Boelens, 2010). Through our direct involvement in the preparation and creation of the exhibition (9/2014 to 8/2015) we undertake participatory observation along with in-depth interviews with other directly involved individuals. In addition, during the implementation of the exhibition (9/2015-12/2015), a number of related workshops and seminars as well as some specific interactive exhibits with visitors provide further potential empirical material.
In our presentation we will outline the institutional and organisational context in which the exhibition is anchored, describe the emerging actor-networks and power relations, the inclusion and exclusion of stakeholders (including citizens) and depict ways (and barriers) of promoting them to co-creators of knowledge. In addition, a preliminary conclusion will be given on the extent to which the knowledge and learning being generated in relation with this exhibition has (or might have) an impact on any sort of urban policy or governance practices in Stockholm. In this manner, we will discuss the question to what extent exhibitions on urban futures can enlarge the scope of participative democracy and enable stakeholders as ‘true agents’ of urban planning work.
Peter Schmitt, Lukas Smas, Liisa Perjo, Mitchell Reardon
http://www.dkg2015.hu-berlin.de/index.php?article_id=46