Interplace Planning
How residents can become co-designers of urban development
In the global competition for investment many cities become objects for gentrification with subsequent reshaping of certain areas and withdrawal of the state from others. One of the problems of uneven development in cities is a lack of good relations between established institutions of representative democracy and different groups of citizens.
»The interplay between citizen initiatives and invited participation in urban planning: An interaction research project« was carried out by twelve researchers and practitioners with different backgrounds. The transdisciplinary research had an interactive approcach applying different research methods. The case study areas were two stigmatized housing areas from the 1960s and 70s in Gothenburg: Hammarkullen and Backa, and the work was carried out in close collaboration with residents and local municipal employees.
Funder:
Formas
Budget:
6 million SEK
Time period:
2011–2013
Participants
Jenny Stenberg, Chalmers Architecture, Projekt leader
Hans Abrahamsson, University of Gothenburg
Henric Benesch, University of Gothenburg
Martin Berg, Private firm
Pål Castell, Chalmers Architecture
Emma Corkhill, University of Gothenburg
Sara Danielsson, Private firm
Anna Fridén, Västra Götaland County
Rakel Heed Styffe, Västra Götaland County
Lars Jadelius, Private firm
Vanja Larberg, City of Gothenburg
Nazem Tahvilzadeh, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
PROJECT RESULTS
”Given that stigmatized suburbs consist primarily of rental housing implying that inhabitants are not personally included in statutory consultation as property owners, it is extra important to develop functioning forms of dialogue in the planning process there.”
Book 2013
The book ”Framtiden är redan här” (The future is already here) describes in 26 independent short chapters the challenges we in our case studies have seen that residents in the areas meet, but also open up possible ways forward for municipalities that want dialogue with their citizens.
Conference 2013
The project organized a full day at the youth center Mixgården in Hammarkullen as a conclusion. Approximately 75 people participated. The day was documented by filmmaker Nasrin Pakkho and in the film below (Swedish) you can get an insight into what happened during the day and what different people think about citizen dialogue in urban development. There are also some interviews in the film with residents of Angered that were filmed in the previous research project Urban Empowerment. The conference was aimed at everyone and attracted mainly civil servants of various kinds but also politicians, researchers, teachers, students and residents.
Education 2013
The project offered various types of courses and training related to how residents can become co-designers of urban transformation. It was single lectures and training of different lengths and types and other types of knowledge-building processes that are adapted to the situation, e.g.:
- A seminar or a series of seminars based on the book ”The future is already eere”, i.e. using the chapters in the book as a basis for discussion and leaving them for the participants to read in advance. Cost as agreed.
- An interactive workshop on citizen dialogue. Exploring questions about the possibilities and practice of dialogue for those who lead conversations and dialogue in their everyday lives. Practical exercises, lectures and conversations. Cost as agreed.
Articles and other texts 2011-2013
Stenberg, Jenny (2013). ”Citizens as Knowledge Producers in Urban Change: Participation Changing Procedures and Systems.” Footprint – Participatory Turn in Urbanism 7(2): 131-142. Download ↗
Stenberg, Abrahamsson, Benesch, Berg, Castell, Corkhill, Danielsson, Fridén, Heed Styffe, Jadelius, Larberg och Tahvilzadeh (2013). Framtiden är redan här: Hur invånare kan bli medskapare i stadens utveckling. Göteborg, Chalmers Tekniska Högskola. Ladda ner ↗
Stenberg, Jenny (2012). »The Strength of Codesign: Citizens as Community Builders«. In: Design, Participation, Sustainability, ICT: Sustainable Public Open Spaces and Participation through Interaction and ICT. Ooms and Verbeke. Ghent, Belgium: 78-93. Download ↗
Abrahamsson, Hans (2012): »Cities as nodes for global governance or battlefields for social conflicts? The role of dialogue in social sustainability«. Paper presented at IFHP 56th World Congress: Inclusive cities in a global world Gothenburg, September 16-19 2012. Download ↗
Castell, Pål (2012). »Dialogues and citizen initiatives in stigmatized urban areas: reflections on the development of participatory planning principles in Gothenburg«. Paper presented at IFHP 56th World Congress: Inclusive cities in a global world, Gothenburg, September 16-19, 2012. Download ↗
Abrahamsson, Hans (2012): »Cities as nodes for global governance or battlefields for social conflicts? Security, development and justice in an urban context«. Bulletin of the Department of Conservation of Architectural and Environmental Assets, University of Naples Federico II, Neapel: BDC, Vol.12, 1/2012 ISSN:1121-2918. Paper for the open workshop, WUF VI, Naples September 6-7 2012. Download ↗
Abrahamsson, Hans (2012): »The role of cities in future global governance«. Paper for the Annual Meeting of the Political Scientists, Växjö September 2012. Download ↗
Abrahamsson, Hans (2012): »Utvecklingsbegreppet inför sin pånyttfödelse«. Skriftserien Fronesis nr -38-39 (2012): Utveckling, Bohus: Ale tryckteam. Ladda ner ↗
Abrahamsson, Hans (2011): »Globaliseringens lokala uttryck. En essä kring lokal globalisering, folkbildning och socialt hållbar stadsutveckling inför den nationella folkbildningskonferensen«. Folkhälsa, hållbar utveckling och global rättvisa” i Malmö den 14.6.2011. Ladda ner ↗
Abrahamsson, Hans (2012): »Globaliseringens lokala uttryck – ett freds- och utvecklingsperspektiv på frågan om social hållbarhet«. Underlag till temadag om olika perspektiv på social hållbarhet. UNDP, Malmökommissionen och nätverket Globaliseringens Lokala Uttryck, Malmö 13 april 2012. Ladda ner ↗
Abrahamsson, Hans (2012): Städer som nav för en global samhällsutveckling eller slagfält för sociala konflikter. Underlagsrapport till Malmökommissionen, Malmö: Malmö Stad. Ladda ner ↗
Stenberg, Jenny & Lasse Fryk (2012). »Urban Empowerment through Community Outreach in Teaching and Design«. Elsevier Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 46: 3284–3289. Download ↗
Stenberg, Fryk, Bolin, Castell, Evenås, Larberg (2012). »Urban Empowerment: Cultures of Participation and Learning«. In: Open access paper. Gothenburg, Mistra Urban Futures. Download ↗
Abrahamsson, Hans (2011): »Interventions and Governance in our time«. Paper for the GCGD conference on Rethinking Interventions and Governance 22 – 23.11.2011.
