Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The thesis investigates the recent visionary development of an urban renewal project in Rosengård, a centrally located neighbourhood in the city of Malmö. This project Culture Casbah comprises a construction of a tower and 200 housing units and is considered to be a socially oriented urban develop-ment with a purpose to transform Rosengård into an integrated part of the city. Given the increased interest in social sustainability within Swedish planning practice and the discussions of segregation challenges in Malmö, this thesis examines how issues of segregation are addressed in contemporary urban planning. By analysing how the argumentation of the project Culture Casbah is discursively constructed in relation to Malmö’s segregation challenge, the thesis explores and critically analyses how specific planning strategies are constructed and paired with contemporary planning ideals.The aim of the thesis is to problematize simplified reasoning in contemporary urban planning practice in order to highlight some underlying paradoxes in the work towards a less segregated city. Furthermore, the study examines possible consequences of ideal planning approaches in regard of power relations within planning practice and the social inequality of the city.
The theoretical and methodological framework of the study is merely based on discourse theory. Combined with contemporary planning theories this theoretical angle highlights the relationship between urban planning and power, and the construction of meaning through contemporary planning norms and ideals. Perspectivism offers a meta-theoretical lens for the thesis and approaches urban planning as a phenomenon which can be seen from different angles. This theoretical triangulation is used to highlight the motives behind the arguments and to enhance an understanding of how power operates within planning practice. The study uses discourse analysis as method to unfold how the idea of Culture Casbah is discursively constructed; by framing the problem, identifying the role of planning, and respec-tive solution, to counter segregation. The analysis has involved qualitative processing of both planning documents and interviews with relevant actors. The inquiry shows how the actors share the usage of a particular set of storylines which produce meaning and form discourse coalitions around Rosengård and how to best address segregation.
The thesis demonstrates how city ideals and development norms in contemporary planning discourses play an important part in both the construction of solutions and problems of segregation. The predomi-nant strategies include approaches towards attractiveness, place marketing and the concept of social mixing, which is considered to be achieved by a private-public-partnership. The analysis demonstrates how the idea of Culture Casbah is constructed in relation to dominant discourses of economic growth and prosperity and how these values set the framework for addressing segregation. Consensus on the ”right” planning approach suppresses other alternative solutions, which might result in a contradictory planning strategy. The thesis emphasises the need to shift perspectives and to go beyond given approaches to find other alternatives as a way for the planning practice to avoid to get lost in planning paradoxes.