Conceptions of justice in the planning of the new urban landscape – Recent changes in the comprehensive planning discourse in Malmö, Sweden

Abstract

The Swedish Planning and Building Act (PBL) from 1987, revised in 2011, stipulates that an important task of comprehensive planning is to secure both substantive and procedural justice. However, because of the municipal planning monopoly, the individual municipalities are free to decide how these goals can best be achieved. This article focuses on the ways interpretations of justice have changed over a 10-year period in one selected municipality, Malmö in southern Sweden. Analyses of the comprehensive planning discourse in this municipality reveal that when it comes to substantive justice, discussions of structural inequality and segregation have gradually been replaced by discussions of social cohesion, while at the same time discussions of procedural justice and the need to create public spheres in which underprivileged groups are allowed a voice, have been replaced by discussions of open public spaces, allowing different groups to see each other. Though the issue of social justice seems to be downplayed in the urban planning discourse for the time being, counterforces within city administration are questioning the prevailing line of development.