Planering för framsteg och gemenskap : Om den kommunala utvecklingsplaneringens idémässiga förutsättningar
(2012) In Lund Political Studies- Abstract
- What are the discursive pre-conditions for planning? In this dissertation the author analyzes and critically assesses the assumptions which underlie our thinking about planning. This is done in an analysis of firstly, how planning is legitimized, and secondly, what consequences these forms of legitimation have for planning theory as well as for planning as a political practice.
The author describes the public interest as a central legitimizing basis for planning. The public interest is analytically divided into two parts, process and substance. The procedural dimensions, democracy and rationality, are often discussed in planning theory and practice, but the public interest as a principle of substantive content is rarely... (More) - What are the discursive pre-conditions for planning? In this dissertation the author analyzes and critically assesses the assumptions which underlie our thinking about planning. This is done in an analysis of firstly, how planning is legitimized, and secondly, what consequences these forms of legitimation have for planning theory as well as for planning as a political practice.
The author describes the public interest as a central legitimizing basis for planning. The public interest is analytically divided into two parts, process and substance. The procedural dimensions, democracy and rationality, are often discussed in planning theory and practice, but the public interest as a principle of substantive content is rarely adressed. Through an extensive literature review two possible substantive criteria in planning theory are presented. These are progress and community respectively. To specify, planning on the one hand requires an assumption that society can constantly improve, here expressed as an assumption of continuous progress. On the other hand the notion of planning in terms of public interest, also requires a form of "common public", or a community with common interests. These two legitimizing factors are described as two underlying assumptions in planning theory, albeit contested and conflict-ridden.
In a next step the author analysis the consequences of these assumptions for planning theory. In terms of the idea of continuous progress, the author argues that planning in essence concerns the relationship between what we have today and what we want tomorrow. This presupposes that the future can be different, and that it can be improved by design. This combination of ideas are expressed in the notion that knowledge can be used to improve society - an assumption which also characterizes the planning idea. As a political practice planning has approached an assumption of progress in two different ways, on the one hand through the notion that planning can generate progress, on the other hand in the notion that progress "happens to the city", where planning is reduced to managing this development. The two possible interpretations have very different implications in political terms: If the role is to generate progress, planning is construed as a highly politicized practice. If the role is instead reduced to managing progress, planning will in contrast be understood as a re-active rather than active political practice.
In the notion of community lies inherent tensions, in the study these are descibed as a tension between heterogenity and community, which take different forms and evolve over time. A dominating notion is the perception that cities is the place where strangers, and with that different lifestyles and traditions, meet. The diversity that comes with these meetings has been interpreted in different ways in planning theory. On the one hand, it has been seen as the core of the city's cosmopolitan and exciting nature. On the other hand, diversity has been seen as a source of conflict between different groups. In planning practice strangers have been handled in different ways, ranging from an ambition to incorporate and manage strangers to different efforts to exclude them. This can be seen as a broad spectra of attempts to plan for homogenity and heterogenity respectively.
Using the ongoing urban renewal of post-industrial Malmö as an empirical example, the author finally analyzes the consequences of both these assumptions in political practice. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Hur är det möjligt att planera om en kommun från arbetarstad till kunskapsstad? Idag har en rad svenska och europeiska kommunledningar ambitionen att återuppfinna städer genom att tvätta bort industristaden och ersätta den med en kunskaps-, informations-, kultur-, och/eller evenemangstad. Den här formen av kommunal utvecklingsplanering har genererat en rad olika frågor inom såväl den politiska praktiken som inom den statsvetenskapliga forskningen. Föreliggande studie tar avstamp i den grundläggande frågan om hur en sådan kommunal omvandling är möjlig. Frågan riktar uppmärksamheten mot förutsättningarna för planering och politik, och i avhandlingen riktas särskilt fokus på de idéer som möjliggör... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Hur är det möjligt att planera om en kommun från arbetarstad till kunskapsstad? Idag har en rad svenska och europeiska kommunledningar ambitionen att återuppfinna städer genom att tvätta bort industristaden och ersätta den med en kunskaps-, informations-, kultur-, och/eller evenemangstad. Den här formen av kommunal utvecklingsplanering har genererat en rad olika frågor inom såväl den politiska praktiken som inom den statsvetenskapliga forskningen. Föreliggande studie tar avstamp i den grundläggande frågan om hur en sådan kommunal omvandling är möjlig. Frågan riktar uppmärksamheten mot förutsättningarna för planering och politik, och i avhandlingen riktas särskilt fokus på de idéer som möjliggör och begränsar den kommunala planeringen.
Planeringstänkandet bygger av tradition och nödvändighet på ett antagande om ett allmänintresse: här är utgångspunkten att städer planeras för allas bästa, inte endast i enlighet med vissa gruppers intressen. Men trots detta grundläggande antagande har förståelsen av vad allmänintresset de facto består i varit oklar. I avhandlingen argumenterar författaren för att det historiskt har funnits två mål för planeringen. Det ena har varit att planera för framsteg, med en stark tilltro till att samhället utvecklas kumulativt, från jordbrukssamhälle, till industrisamhälle, till dagens kunskapssamhälle. Det andra målet har varit att planera för gemenskap. Här rör det sig antingen om föreställningen om en homogen gemenskap där främlingen är ett hot, eller om en heterogen gemenskap där alla stadsbor är främlingar inför varandra. Hur tar sig antagandena om framsteg respektive gemenskap uttryck i planeringen historiskt och hur tänker svenska kommuner kring dessa målsättningar idag? I avhandlingen analyseras dels idéernas betydelse för planering och politik över tid, dels analyseras den kommunala utvecklingspolitiken i Malmö under åren 1994-2006. Här ställer författaren frågan: hur har Malmö planerats för framsteg och gemenskap – och vilka återverkningar har dessa idéer för kommunalpolitiken och för staden. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/2539520
- author
- Mukhtar-Landgren, Dalia LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Elander, Ingemar, Örebro universitet
- organization
- publishing date
- 2012
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Planning, legitimacy, municipality, Sweden, development, progress, community, rationality, homogenity, heterogenity, place marketing, urban renewal
- in
- Lund Political Studies
- issue
- 167
- pages
- 242 pages
- publisher
- Lund University
- defense location
- Palaestra, Paradisgatan 4, Lund
- defense date
- 2012-06-04 10:15:00
- ISSN
- 0460-0037
- ISBN
- 978-91-88306-84-5
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 3ecb360b-a6c1-4361-bbcc-67696c87fb2f (old id 2539520)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 12:02:36
- date last changed
- 2020-12-04 11:11:03
@phdthesis{3ecb360b-a6c1-4361-bbcc-67696c87fb2f,
abstract = {{What are the discursive pre-conditions for planning? In this dissertation the author analyzes and critically assesses the assumptions which underlie our thinking about planning. This is done in an analysis of firstly, how planning is legitimized, and secondly, what consequences these forms of legitimation have for planning theory as well as for planning as a political practice. <br/><br>
The author describes the public interest as a central legitimizing basis for planning. The public interest is analytically divided into two parts, process and substance. The procedural dimensions, democracy and rationality, are often discussed in planning theory and practice, but the public interest as a principle of substantive content is rarely adressed. Through an extensive literature review two possible substantive criteria in planning theory are presented. These are progress and community respectively. To specify, planning on the one hand requires an assumption that society can constantly improve, here expressed as an assumption of continuous progress. On the other hand the notion of planning in terms of public interest, also requires a form of "common public", or a community with common interests. These two legitimizing factors are described as two underlying assumptions in planning theory, albeit contested and conflict-ridden. <br/><br>
In a next step the author analysis the consequences of these assumptions for planning theory. In terms of the idea of continuous progress, the author argues that planning in essence concerns the relationship between what we have today and what we want tomorrow. This presupposes that the future can be different, and that it can be improved by design. This combination of ideas are expressed in the notion that knowledge can be used to improve society - an assumption which also characterizes the planning idea. As a political practice planning has approached an assumption of progress in two different ways, on the one hand through the notion that planning can generate progress, on the other hand in the notion that progress "happens to the city", where planning is reduced to managing this development. The two possible interpretations have very different implications in political terms: If the role is to generate progress, planning is construed as a highly politicized practice. If the role is instead reduced to managing progress, planning will in contrast be understood as a re-active rather than active political practice. <br/><br>
In the notion of community lies inherent tensions, in the study these are descibed as a tension between heterogenity and community, which take different forms and evolve over time. A dominating notion is the perception that cities is the place where strangers, and with that different lifestyles and traditions, meet. The diversity that comes with these meetings has been interpreted in different ways in planning theory. On the one hand, it has been seen as the core of the city's cosmopolitan and exciting nature. On the other hand, diversity has been seen as a source of conflict between different groups. In planning practice strangers have been handled in different ways, ranging from an ambition to incorporate and manage strangers to different efforts to exclude them. This can be seen as a broad spectra of attempts to plan for homogenity and heterogenity respectively.<br/><br>
Using the ongoing urban renewal of post-industrial Malmö as an empirical example, the author finally analyzes the consequences of both these assumptions in political practice.}},
author = {{Mukhtar-Landgren, Dalia}},
isbn = {{978-91-88306-84-5}},
issn = {{0460-0037}},
keywords = {{Planning; legitimacy; municipality; Sweden; development; progress; community; rationality; homogenity; heterogenity; place marketing; urban renewal}},
language = {{swe}},
number = {{167}},
publisher = {{Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Political Studies}},
title = {{Planering för framsteg och gemenskap : Om den kommunala utvecklingsplaneringens idémässiga förutsättningar}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5914177/2539524.pdf}},
year = {{2012}},
}