Polycentricity as spatial imaginary: the case of Helsinki City Plan

Kaisa Granqvist, Sauli Sarjamo and Raine Mäntysalo

European Planning Studies, 2019, vol. 27, issue 4, 739-758

Abstract: The paper analyses with a case study the use of a widely applied normative concept of polycentricity as spatial imaginary. The case study of Helsinki City Plan and the conflict over its city-boulevard scheme draws on qualitative content analysis of planning documents and expert interviews. It demonstrates the instrumental role of multiple interpretations of polycentricity in tension-ridden metropolitan and city-regional spatial planning. The conflict reveals how the conceptual ambiguity of polycentricity and the institutional vagueness of city-regional planning have together enabled advancing contradictory political aims under their guise. In conclusion, the paper emphasizes the persuasive performativity and fluidity of polycentricity as a spatial imaginary in multi-scalar planning settings.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2019.1569596

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