Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The city of Stockholm grapples with significant challenges related to social exclusion and segregation. This particularly affects vulnerable groups such as individuals of migrant background residing in low-income suburbs around the city centre. The comprehensive plan of Stockholm underscores the importance of inclusive planning where inhabitants directly participate in the democratic urban development processes. Ideally, all inhabitants should be able to influence spatial change that affects their local built environment through participatory planning processes. However, studies show that persons of migrant background seldom participate in such processes in Stockholm. This thesis aims to critically examine the theoretical ideals of social inclusion and public participation and compare how these concepts are translated into Stockholm´s city planning documents and how they are implemented in practice in local urban development projects. The study operationalizes right to the city urban theories as analytical tools to investigate three levels of Stockholm´s city planning namely, comprehensive municipal planning, district level planning and their implication on the community level. The thesis employs a case study of Hagsätra-Rågsved, a suburb in the south of Stockholm municipality. Through the study of relevant planning documents and by interviewing appropriate stakeholders, the present study sheds light on the experiences of migrant groups and the barriers they face in participating in Stockholm´s planning processes. This thesis underscores the need to build trust between planning practitioners and underrepresented groups through improved outreach methods as well as tackling possible language barriers. This thesis argues that a right-based approach can provide planning with the necessary tools to overcome participation challenges that hinder achieving inclusion ideals.