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Invisible Lines Crossing the City: Ethnographic Strategies for Place-making

Hyler, Samantha LU (2013) In Culture Unbound. Journal of Current Cultural Research 5. p.361-384
Abstract
Helsingborg, a coastal city in southern Sweden, initiated a long-term redevelopment project called H+ in 2009, aiming to convert industrial harbor space in the city's south into a new, livable urban neighborhood and city center. The project aims to create an open and ‘tolerant city’ in Helsingborg over the next twenty years. In 2010-2011, H+ used an open-source planning method as a strategy to incorporate multiple working methods and ideas into the planning process. As a cultural analyst, my role with the H+ project and the City of Helsingborg was to mediate social and cultural perspectives and development strategies between planners and citizens. Focusing the project’s vision towards incorporating existing communities and their values, I... (More)
Helsingborg, a coastal city in southern Sweden, initiated a long-term redevelopment project called H+ in 2009, aiming to convert industrial harbor space in the city's south into a new, livable urban neighborhood and city center. The project aims to create an open and ‘tolerant city’ in Helsingborg over the next twenty years. In 2010-2011, H+ used an open-source planning method as a strategy to incorporate multiple working methods and ideas into the planning process. As a cultural analyst, my role with the H+ project and the City of Helsingborg was to mediate social and cultural perspectives and development strategies between planners and citizens. Focusing the project’s vision towards incorporating existing communities and their values, I applied an ethnographic method to culturally map Helsingborg’s social cityscapes. Cultural mapping integrates social and physical places into one map. It is a useful methodological tool in accessing ‘cultural’ knowledge, translating ethnographic data into usable maps for city planners in the process of developing the H+ area. This article addresses how ethnographic methods and cultural mapping engages with and revitalizes city planning, essentially a process of place-making the H+ area. An applied cultural analytical approach provokes planning practices and questions how and if planning can be more open and inclusive through deeper understandings of unique places that emerge from the relationships between people and spaces. The ‘invisible,’ yet well-known, segregating line (a street called Trädgårdsgatan) in Helsingborg creates a particular condition that the city must contend with in order to achieve its vision of a ‘tolerant city.’ (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
urbanity, sensory ethnography, cultural mapping, applied cultural analysis, place-making, segregation, tolerance
in
Culture Unbound. Journal of Current Cultural Research
volume
5
pages
361 - 384
publisher
Linköping University Electronic Press
ISSN
2000-1525
DOI
10.3384/cu.2000.1525.135361
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1a30b150-ce40-4e4c-88e0-3770ceaa5a3e (old id 4064877)
alternative location
http://www.cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/v5/a23/
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:45:41
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:29:54
@article{1a30b150-ce40-4e4c-88e0-3770ceaa5a3e,
  abstract     = {{Helsingborg, a coastal city in southern Sweden, initiated a long-term redevelopment project called H+ in 2009, aiming to convert industrial harbor space in the city's south into a new, livable urban neighborhood and city center. The project aims to create an open and ‘tolerant city’ in Helsingborg over the next twenty years. In 2010-2011, H+ used an open-source planning method as a strategy to incorporate multiple working methods and ideas into the planning process. As a cultural analyst, my role with the H+ project and the City of Helsingborg was to mediate social and cultural perspectives and development strategies between planners and citizens. Focusing the project’s vision towards incorporating existing communities and their values, I applied an ethnographic method to culturally map Helsingborg’s social cityscapes. Cultural mapping integrates social and physical places into one map. It is a useful methodological tool in accessing ‘cultural’ knowledge, translating ethnographic data into usable maps for city planners in the process of developing the H+ area. This article addresses how ethnographic methods and cultural mapping engages with and revitalizes city planning, essentially a process of place-making the H+ area. An applied cultural analytical approach provokes planning practices and questions how and if planning can be more open and inclusive through deeper understandings of unique places that emerge from the relationships between people and spaces. The ‘invisible,’ yet well-known, segregating line (a street called Trädgårdsgatan) in Helsingborg creates a particular condition that the city must contend with in order to achieve its vision of a ‘tolerant city.’}},
  author       = {{Hyler, Samantha}},
  issn         = {{2000-1525}},
  keywords     = {{urbanity; sensory ethnography; cultural mapping; applied cultural analysis; place-making; segregation; tolerance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{361--384}},
  publisher    = {{Linköping University Electronic Press}},
  series       = {{Culture Unbound. Journal of Current Cultural Research}},
  title        = {{Invisible Lines Crossing the City: Ethnographic Strategies for Place-making}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.135361}},
  doi          = {{10.3384/cu.2000.1525.135361}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}