Changes, Problems, and Challenges in Swedish Spatial Planning—An Analysis of Power Dynamics

Till Koglin and Fredrik Pettersson
Additional contact information
Till Koglin: Department of Technology and Society, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
Fredrik Pettersson: Department of Technology and Society, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: During the past few decades, the Swedish spatial planning system has experienced numerous problems and challenges. In particular, there have been changes in legislation and an increased neoliberalisation of planning that gives private actors a larger influence over the planning processes in Sweden. In this article, we analyse these changes through the lenses of collaborative and neoliberal planning in order to illuminate the shifting power relations within spatial planning in Sweden. We analyse the changes of power relations from three dimensions of power based on interviews with different kinds of planners throughout Sweden. We show that power relations in the Swedish spatial planning system have shifted and that neoliberalisation and an increased focus on collaborative planning approaches have made spatial planning more complex in recent decades. This has led to a change of role for planners form actual planners to collaborators. We conclude that market-oriented planning (neoliberal planning) and collaborative planning have made it more difficult for spatial planners in Sweden to work towards sustainable urban futures.

Keywords: spatial planning; power relations; neoliberalisation; Sweden (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1836/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/10/1836/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:10:p:1836-:d:114659

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().