Urban Research – Urban-rural regions in balance?
Cities and regions have undergone largescale structural changes during the last century, including a blurring of economic, social and physical boundaries between urban and rural and between centre and periphery. At the same time, contemporary urbanization processes, uneven geographic development and an increased focus in planning on strengthening competitiveness, rather than distributing resources, creates regional imbalance between central and peripheral areas and an increasing urban-rural divide. Several national policy documents highlight a need to pay larger attention to power relations between central and peripheral areas and to develop a more dynamic relationship between local and regional planning.
Against this background, this seminar aims to discuss the relationship between urban and rural and the relationship between municipal and regional planning. Based on Danish and Swedish examples, the seminar highlights different perspectives on challenges of regional imbalance and local-regional planning, and discusses how the space of manoeuvre within planning can increase in order to establish a better interplay between municipal and regional planning.
Target groups for the seminar are both planning practice on municipal and regional level, and researchers with interest in these issues.
Main speaker during the seminar is Anne Tietjen, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, Section for Landscape Architecture and Planning at University of Copenhagen. Shorter talks will also be given by Kristina Grange, Professor of Urban Planning and Design Theory, Julia Fredriksson, researcher in urban planning and design, and Nils Björling, researcher in urban planning and design, all members of the research group Urban and Regional Transformations at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers.
Date: 7 June 2017
Time: 13.00–16.00 (with optional afterwork for those interested)
Venue: Göteborg, Vera Sandbergs allé 8, Vasa 6 (Nearest tram stop is Kapellplatsen)
Please note that registration for this event ends June 1st.
Questions?
For questions regarding the programme please contact Nils Björling, nils.bjorling@chalmers.se, 0733 86 49 10.
For practical questions please contact our event manager Ulrica Gustafsson, ulrica.gustafsson@chalmers.se, 0721-88 55 88.
Programme
13:00-13:10 Margareta Forsberg, Gothenburg Platform Director Mistra Urban Futures Introduction, welcome, introducing the speakers
13:10–13.20 Hanna Blomdahl, The department of regional development, Region Västra Götaland, presentation of the pre-study Planning methods for sustainable local and regional development
13:20-14:00 Anne Tietjen, landscape architect, Associate professor University of Copenhagen. Place-based strategic planning in shrinking rural municipalities in Denmark
14:00-14:20 Kristina Grange, Professor of Urban Planning and Design Theory, Chalmers. Changes in the space of manoeuvre within planning
14:20-14:40 Coffee-break
14:40-15:00 Julia Fredriksson, Architect and PhD, Researcher in urban planning and design, Chalmers. Regional inequalities - Urban-rural relationships in contemporary regional development
15:00-15:20 Nils Björling, Architect and PhD, Researcher in urban planning and design, Chalmers. Local-regional key projects
15:20-16:00 Open discussion led by Margareta Forsberg
16.00- Afterwork for those of you who want at Wijkanders, Vera Sandbergs allé 5B
Speakers
Anne Tietjen is an architect, PhD and associate professor in landscape architecture and urban design. She teaches an advanced design studio in transformation and theories of urban design in the master programme landscape architecture. Her research focuses on the intersection of landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning and heritage studies. She specialises in the transformation, preservation and development of existing built environments and landscapes. Questions on how to evaluate, communicate, and activate the specific qualities and resources of a given place through design are central to her work. Her research draws on and contributes to a growing body of relational design theory and method, specifically based on new materialism and actor-network theory. Key words are strategic planning and design, new heritage and research by design.
Kristina Grange is Professor of Urban Planning and Design Theory, at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers. Her research seeks to unfold taken-for-granted perceptions in urban planning and design practices, and discuss their material, political and democratic consequences. She has earlier researched changes in the space of manoeuvre within planning, and is currently focusing uneven geographic development.
Julia Fredriksson, architect and PhD, is Head of division of Urban Design and Planning and researcher within the research group Urban and Regional Transformations at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers. Her main research interest is in the relationship between space and power within an urban planning and design context. Her ongoing research project focuses on how regional imbalance between central and peripheral areas is handled in contemporary local, regional and national planning and policy in a Nordic context.
Nils Björling, architect and PhD, is a researcher within the research group Urban and Regional Transformation at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers. His research focuses on developing theory and methods to increase the interplay between local and regional planning. The objective is thereby to support the design practice in urban planning to manage challenges caused by an uneven geographical development and to include a broader field of resources and actors in the planning process. A greater plurality is intended to improve the possibility to manage change over time and balance a sustainable development.
