Urban Planning and Design as Borderlands

Burcu Yigit Turan (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) gave a presentation, followed by a discussion with William Kutz and the Öresund Comparative Borderland Research Group, and questions from participants.

Presentation Topic

Urban borders are most often imagined as physical separations between different places created by walls, gaps, barriers, or a lack of connecting and meeting tissues. Then, removing borders entails filling in gaps, linking places with roadways, sidewalks, and pathways, and demolishing barriers. This imaginary is also prominent for the ‘socially sustainable urban development’ paradigm in planning and architecture, influencing the design of cities and urban environments, such as Malmö, a racially divided, migrant city undergoing neoliberal post-industrial transformation. This presentation will make the opposite case through re-thinking the analysis of the ethnographic materials gathered to understand what Norra Sorgenfri's 'socially sustainable development' means for marginalised groups and ways of life by drawing on borderlands theory, critical whiteness studies, and black geographic thought. 

About the series

The seminar series Comparative Borderlands Research Seminar - A global seminar series on borders and boundary-making today is arranged by the Öresund Comparative Borderland Research Group, funded by CEMES.