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In between Social Engineering and Gentrification: Urban Restructuring, Social Movements, and the Place Politics of Open Space

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 34; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1467-9906.2012.00608.x

1467-9906

Håkan Thörn,

Urban Planning and Governance

ABSTRACT:The article examines the emergence of urban countercultures and social movements in Christiania, Copenhagen, and Haga, Gothenburg in the context of the Scandinavian welfare state, from the 1970s to the present. Specifically, it investigates the relations between urban governance, gentrification processes, and social movements in the urban restructuring of Scandinavian cities. While Christiania today remains a space for counterculture, the struggle to save Haga contributed to a gentrification of the district, as it became officially "re-evaluated" and upgraded. The article examines the similarities and differences in the urban movement trajectories in these two cases, highlighting their "place politics of open space."Cafe Moonfisher in the Freetown Christiania responds with irony to police harassments. In Copenhagen, gentrification has gone hand in hand with zero tolerance. Christiania has resisted by insisting on keeping its collective use to the property Notes1 This article is based on a research project titled "The inner city as public sphere: urban restructuring, social order and social movement in Copenhagen and Gothenburg," funded by The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond) and The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences, and Spatial Planning (FORMAS). The project focuses on the cases of Christiania and Haga and the methods used are text analysis of policy documents, movement's documents, press material, and interviews with key informants (activists, public officials, and politicians). In addition, field observations have been made in Christiania 2008–2011; and a witness seminar on Haga was organised in 2010. Other publications from the project are CitationThörn et al. (2011), CitationThörn (2010), and CitationLarsson, Letell, and Thörn (2012). I would also like to thank George Morgan and Catharina Thörn for comments on previous versions of this article.2 While the new urban form of governance discussed here is clearly influenced by neoliberalism, it does not necessarily mean less politics, less regulation, or less government in the way that the neoliberal dogma stipulates (CitationLarsson et al., 2012), something which the cases in this article demonstrate. This is why I prefer the term "advanced liberal" (CitationMiller & Rose, 2008).3 Haga was only partly squatted; many of its inhabitants instead rented apartments extremely cheaply as the houses were old and badly maintained. Squatting was nevertheless an important aspect of activism in the district.4 All translations from Swedish and Danish in this article are made by the author.5 Haga's conservational activism was a strategy well-adjusted to, and shaped in close interaction with, the official ideologies of Länsstyrelsen (The County Administrative Board) and Riksantikvarieämbetet (the Swedish National Heritage Board), which eventually granted the loans that made "re-development as preservation" of Haga possible (CitationTegnér, 2009).6 The statement was made during a witness seminar titled "Urban Transformations and Protest—The Case of Haga," April 22, 2010, University of Gothenburg.7 In order to be able go through with demolition of the old-working-class districts in the inner city, the municipality did however form a company, Göta Lejon, with the purpose of buying up all the estate in the districts (CitationTegnér, 2009).8 The board of the foundation has five "internal" (Christianites) and six "external" (non-Christianites) members. At present, they are all appointed by Christiania's Common Meeting. The external members will however in the future be self-supplying, something which raises fears among Christianites that they will ultimately lose control of the Freetown.