NEW RESEARCH | “Entrepreneurial” urban planning excludes several social groups

Do more shops and surveillance cameras make public spaces safer for everyone? No, not at all, according to sociology researchers at Mid Sweden University.

About 30 years ago, there was a shift in how city planners at local councils define safety – and therefore in how cities are designed. Back then, before the shift, safety was seen primarily as a social issue.

– The city was supposed to be for its inhabitants and people’s social needs were in focus. Municipalities invested in strengthening social networks and bridging distances between generations, for example by creating a rich association life, says Ida Sjöberg, Mid Sweden University.

– Citizens were simply at the center of urban planning.

In the 1980s, the focus of urban planning shifted to driving economic growth. Today, the main aim is to attract businesses, tourists and capital, and large amounts of money are spent on marketing cities. This phenomenon is known as ‘entrepreneurial urban planning’.

– Municipal decision-makers want to keep people and capital moving. This is seen as an antidote to crime – and as the main factor in creating security in a city. This approach is strongly influenced by an economic logic where the city’s brand and attractiveness are central, explains Ida Sjöberg.

Safety is perceived differently

In her doctoral thesis, she has specifically studied Sundsvall. She has interviewed various actors, from politicians and officials to citizens with different backgrounds. In this way, the research has mapped how security is perceived by different groups in society. In Sundsvall and most other Swedish cities and municipalities, strategies for security are mainly about fighting crime.

– Security work is about increasing surveillance in public spaces and building the physical environment to minimize disorder and crime.

But for many citizens, safety is also about accessibility and inclusion, research shows.

– “If you can’t get around the city with a walker because the curbs are too high or the snow is not cleared properly, it creates a feeling of insecurity,” says Ida Sjöberg.

– And for those who have nowhere to live or are otherwise marginalized in society, the fact that the city is building away natural places for them to be rather creates insecurity.

Favoring the wealthy

One conclusion of the research is that the concept of security is depoliticized and becomes a “neutral” technical issue. This means that power relations and social structures become invisible. Instead, according to Ida Sjöberg, security work benefits individuals who are already well-off and excludes groups that do not fit into the entrepreneurial cityscape.

– Urban planners are missing out on the real safety needs of a large proportion of citizens. Safety should once again be seen as a matter of social inclusion and equality, not just crime prevention and order.

– Unfortunately, this does not fit well with entrepreneurial urban planning, says Ida Sjöberg.

Other methods required

If we want cities to be built for everyone, not for a few, Sjöberg says there needs to be a broader dialog about what safety is.

– We must dare to challenge what we take for granted. For example, municipalities need to try out new methods for citizens’ dialogues and work more with outreach activities. Because today we know that those who come to the municipality’s citizen dialogues rarely belong to the marginalized groups in society, she says.

Another solution to building and developing safe cities for all citizens is for municipalities to move away from silo working.

– Of course, urban planners do not work on social issues. But when you build cities for everyone, you need broad cooperation between administrations. Because we have to ask ourselves if we want a society where we build people away because they don’t fit into the cityscape, and then pretend they don’t exist.

Contact Ida.Sjoberg@miun.se

More about the thesis
Ida Sjöberg recently defended her thesis A CALL FOR SAFETY: Mapping a dispositif of safety in entrepreneurial urban planning and development at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mid Sweden University.

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