Conceptualising Knowledge in Spatial Planning and Displacement of “the Political” Lina Berglund-Snodgrass

Abstract

Abstract This paper argues that organising spatial planning policies by funding local projects constitutes a steering mode that organises knowledge in such a way that it contributes to displacing “the political” in local spatial planning practice. “The political” is conceptualised as a space of agonistic conflicts and choicemaking (Mouffe 2005a). Such an organisation of knowledge operates to consolidate the initial framing of the problem, in which the goal and the possibility to monitor the goal is in focus, rather than challenging or questioning it in the name of justness and fairness. This is illustrated through an analysis of conceptualisations of knowledge within 127 project applications within the Swedish government's Safe and Gender Equal planning policy (2008–2010), which the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning facilitated in conjunction with the County Administration Boards of Sweden.