Johan Pries
Associate senior lecturer
Spatial Theory in Planning Practice? : On the Concepts of Space that Made Urban Design a Planning Solution for Segregation in Malmö, Sweden
Author
Summary, in Swedish
Studying the Sorgenfri urban renewal project in the Swedish city of Malmö, this article suggests that a shift in planning documents reflects a new understanding of segregation containing traces of arguments from theoretical debates in geography. This new understanding of segregation appears informed by geographic debates on encounters, mobility, and boundaries, and implies that segregation is best addressed by planners in public space “between” housing areas to create more “meetings” between “strangers”. While planning focused on segregation in a more granular way, it also ignored racialised inequality's structural preconditions in ways that perfectly match the neoliberal premises of municipal planning. Thus, translating spatial theory into planning practice can be seen as a strategically selective work shaped by local political conditions. This means that geographers’ work might have unexpected and undesired effects even when it has “impact” in policy practice, and that geographers would do well to face this challenge equally strategically.
Department/s
- Department of Human Geography
Publishing year
2024-04-29
Language
Swedish
Publication/Series
Antipode
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Human Geography
Keywords
- urban planning
- social theory
- spatial theory
- architectural theory
- assemblage
- policy mobility
- Malmö
- spatial planning
- segregation
- public space
- boundaries
Status
Epub
Project
- Urban Arena
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0066-4812