Search

The Finger Plan has guided the spatial development of the Greater Copenhagen Area for more than 70 years, constituting a planning doctrine in Danish spatial planning. However, recently the Finger Plan has come under attack from the liberal Danish Government (2015–2019), who implemented a number of initiatives to deregulate spatial planning in Denmark, most significantly through a ‘modernised’ Planning Act. As part of this process, the Finger Plan was revised twice in 2017 and 2019. The latest version of the Finger plan was prepared as part of a larger policy package aiming at promoting growth in the Greater Copenhagen Region towards 2030. This paper argues that the recent revisions of the Finger Plan must be understood as part of the ongoing neoliberalization of spatial planning in Denmark, but that the Finger Plan, at the same time, has remained ‘immune’ to a more widespread neoliberalization in this process. The Finger Plan has guided the spatial development of the Greater Copenhagen Area for more than 70 years, constituting a planning doctrine in Danish spatial planning. However, recently the Finger Plan has come under attack from the liberal Danish Government (2015–2019), who implemented a number of initiatives to deregulate spatial planning in Denmark, most significantly through a ‘modernised’ Planning Act. As part of this process, the Finger Plan was revised twice in 2017 and 2019. The latest version of the Finger plan was prepared as part of a larger policy package aiming at promoting growth in the Greater Copenhagen Region towards 2030. This paper argues that the recent revisions of the Finger Plan must be understood as part of the ongoing neoliberalization of spatial planning in Denmark, but that the Finger Plan, at the same time, has remained ‘immune’ to a more widespread neoliberalization in this process.

This paper explores the driving forces behind the promotion of new soft spaces of territorial governance in Denmark at the scale of city regions, the so-called ‘business regions’. We interpret the emergence of business regions as outcomes of the most recent round of reterritorialisation in Denmark, producing new spaces for promoting neoliberal policy agendas of competitiveness, job creation and economic growth. We argue that the business regions should not only be understood as products of neoliberalisation, but also as spaces of neoliberal experimentation, contributing to the normalisation of policy agendas of job creation and business development as taken-for-granted planning objectives. We conclude that the new business regions emerging at the scale of city regions constitute new political spaces for reworking the Danish planning culture in the context of neoliberalism. We suggest that this development can be conceptualised as a ‘businessification’ of strategic spatial planning. This paper explores the driving forces behind the promotion of new soft spaces of territorial governance in Denmark at the scale of city regions, the so-called business regions. We interpret the emergence of business regions as outcomes of the most recent round of reterritorialisation in Denmark, producing new spaces for promoting neoliberal policy agendas of competitiveness, job creation and economic growth. We argue that the business regions should not only be understood as products of neoliberalisation, but also as spaces of neoliberal experimentation, contributing to the normalisation of policy agendas of job creation and business development as taken-for-granted planning objectives. We conclude that the new business regions emerging at the scale of city regions constitute new political spaces for reworking the Danish planning culture in the context of neoliberalism. We suggest that this development can be conceptualised as a ‘businessification’ of strategic spatial planning.

The aim of this chapter is to explore the role of strategic spatial planning in promoting state spatial restructuring, rescaling and production of new state spaces in the context of global economic restructuring. This is done through a case study of strategic spatial planning in Denmark from 1990 to 2018. The chapter argues that state spatial restructuring in Denmark since the 1990s has evolved in three successive rounds of neoliberal spatial strategies. Each round of state restructuring is characterized by a further neoliberalization of strategic spatial planning and an increasingly fragmentation of state space, breaking effectively with the neatly organized compartmentalization of the welfare state’s geography. In this way, the chapter seeks to demonstrate how strategic spatial planning constitutes a helpful analytical lens for analysing contemporary transformations of state spatiality.

In the last decade light rail transit systems have become a popular mode of public transport in many cities around the world to upgrade the existing public transportation network, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to support neoliberal urban development strategies. The paper takes its starting point in the growing critical literature discussing the politics of light rail and related transport infrastructure projects in the context of neoliberalism. The paper uses the case of Aalborg, Denmark, to demonstrate how light rail projects are embedded in particular infrastructure imaginaries, which reflect wider political agendas of promoting urban development and economic growth. In the case of Aalborg, the city’s spatial strategies have played an important role in constructing an imaginary of the city as the region’s ‘growth dynamo’, which in turn have led to a growth-fixated conceptualisation of the city’s spatiality, and contributed to rationalising the need for investments in light rail. The paper argues that light rail projects are first and foremost politically rationalised as important investments for facilitating urban development and supporting entrepreneurial city strategies of urban and economic growth, whilst their social objectives of providing affordable public transportation play a less prominent role in the contemporary imaginary of the city.

This paper investigates how business improvement districts (BIDs) are translated into a Danish context. Drawing on a theoretical framework that combines the concepts of travelling ideas, mobile urbanism and neoliberalisation, this paper explores how an actor-network is being constructed to mobilise support for a BID pilot scheme in Denmark. The introduction of BID-inspired concepts in Denmark represents an illustrative case of how mobile urban policies are translated into local contexts as part of continuous processes of neoliberalisation of urban governance and policy-making. In Denmark, the BID model is promoted as a market-based planning tool to support progressive planning goals of supporting town centres as vibrant commercial centres. Furthermore, the BID concept is, among Danish planners, perceived as a useful organisational framework for the construction of public–private partnerships as add-ons to area-based renewal initiatives in order to strengthen local community support. Such interpretations are not only in stark contrast to BIDs implemented elsewhere, but also require a significant reconfiguration of the model to fit local needs. However, despite the strong social focus, the potential negative consequences of implementing BIDs, such as privatisation and commodification of public space, are barely discussed in the current initial stage of translating the BID model into a Danish context. This raises serious concerns about to what extent planners in Denmark unreflectively are copying a policy concept from elsewhere, with little regard to how the concept should be adapted and what it has to offer in a Danish context.

In the light of the emergent ‘bicycle renaissance’ in the US, this paperanalyses the rationale basis of bicycle role model, Portland’s promotionof bicycling. By conceptualizing bicycle promotion as a ‘travelling idea’,the paper discusses the key rationales and discourses structuring howbicycle policies are translated into the City of Portland. The study findsthat strong neoliberal rationales such as competitiveness, costeffectiveness,and value for money are pivotal in Portland’slegitimization of spending on bicycle promotion, with sustainability andequity concerns being comparatively neglected. It is argued that thisapproach raises serious questions about the bicycle’s potential as anegalitarian and sustainable practice, and urges potential ‘bicycle cities’and advocates to be aware of the incommensurability of the creativeclass strategy and environmental justice goals.

Planning theory is often portrayed as a subject that urban planningstudents find too abstract and fail to see the relevance of. This paperadvocates the perspective that planning theory can be made morestudent-friendly. This requires, firstly, that academic discussionsabout the relevance of planning theory for urban planning practiceare integrated into the course module. If students are to appreciateplanning theory, it requires that they understand how planningtheory can inspire planning practice. Secondly, it requires carefulconsiderations to the pedagogy of planning theory. The papersuggests that teaching planning theory as a variety of planner rolesoffers a helpful pedagogical approach for helping students constructtheir identities as urban planners. The paper builds on the author’sown experiences of teaching planning theory in a master’s urbanplanning programme, and has been written as part of the author’scompletion of a pedagogical course for university lecturers (Thepedagogical course for university lecturers is a 10 ECTS coursefor assistant professors, which provides the participants with thepedagogical and didactic foundations for a university career). Planning theory is often portrayed as a subject that urban planning students find too abstract and fail to see the relevance of. This paper advocates the perspective that planning theory can be made more student-friendly. This requires, firstly, that academic discussions about the relevance of planning theory for urban planning practice are integrated into the course module. If students are to appreciate planning theory, it requires that they understand how planning theory can inspire planning practice. Secondly, it requires careful considerations to the pedagogy of planning theory. The paper suggests that teaching planning theory as a variety of planner roles offers a helpful pedagogical approach for helping students construct their identities as urban planners. The paper builds on the author’s own experiences of teaching planning theory in a master’s urban planning programme, and has been written as part of the author’s completion of a pedagogical course for university lecturers (The pedagogical course for university lecturers is a 10 ECTS course for assistant professors, which provides the participants with the pedagogical and didactic foundations for a university career).

In this article, we analyse how contested transitions in planning rationalities and spatial logics have shaped the processes and outputs of recent episodes of Danish “strategic spatial planning”. The practice of “strategic spatial planning” in Denmark has undergone a concerted reorientation in the recent years as a consequence of an emerging neoliberal agenda promoting a growth-oriented planning approach emphasizing a new spatial logic of growth centres in the major cities and urban regions. The analysis, of the three planning episodes, at different subnational scales, highlights how this new style of “strategic spatial planning” with its associated spatial logics is continuously challenged by a persistent regulatory, top-down rationality of “strategic spatial planning”, rooted in spatial Keynesianism, which has long characterized the Danish approach. The findings reveal the emergence of a particularly Danish approach, retaining strong regulatory aspects. However this approach does not sit easily within t...

In two experiments, we test predictions regarding processing advantages/disadvantages for natural objects and artefacts in visual object recognition. Varying three important parameters*degree of perceptual differentiation, stimulus format, and stimulus exposure duration*we show how different category-effects can be provoked in normal subjects on the same task. We interpret the results in light of the Pre-semantic Account of Category Effects (PACE; Gerlach, 2009), and conclude that category-effects do not reflect absolute processing differences between categories. Rather, category-effects are products of common operations which are differentially affected by the structural similarity among objects (with natural objects being more structurally similar than artefacts). The potentially most important aspect of the present study is the demonstration that category-effects are very context dependent; an aspect which has been neglected in earlier literature on category-specificity. PACE provides a useful framework in this respect, as it specifies how category-effects are influenced by changes in task and stimulus characteristics.

Strategic spatial planning practices have recently taken a neoliberal turn in many northwestern European countries. This neoliberalisation of strategic spatial planning has materialised partly in governance reforms aiming to reduce or abolish strategic spatial planning at national and regional scales, and partly through the normalisation of neoliberal discourses in strategic spatial planning processes. This article analyses the complex relationship, partly of unease and partly of coevolution, between neoliberalism and strategic spatial planning. Furthermore, this article discusses the key challenges for strategic spatial planning in the face of neoliberalism and argues for a need to strengthen strategic spatial planning’s critical dimension. Strategic spatial planning practices have recently taken a neoliberal turn in many northwestern European countries. This neoliberalisation of strategic spatial planning has materialised partly in governance reforms aiming to reduce or abolish strategic spatial planning at national and regional scales, and partly through the normalisation of neoliberal discourses in strategic spatial planning processes. This paper analyses the complex relationship, partly of unease and partly of coevolution, between neoliberalism and strategic spatial planning. Furthermore, the paper discusses the key challenges for strategic spatial planning in the face of neoliberalism and argues for a need to strengthen strategic spatial planning’s critical dimension.

In the planning literature, there has recently been much discussion on the new ‘soft spaces with fuzzy boundaries’ perceived to emerge in British spatial planning. So far critical reflections on the implications of the increasing amount of spatial strategy-making being done in soft spaces have focused on the lack of transparency and potential democratic deficits of contemporary spatial planning. Limited critical attention has been paid to how policy agendas are being shaped and reshaped in soft spaces, and how these agendas seek to influence formal planning arenas. These questions seem to be particularly relevant within the current neoliberal political climate characterising many European countries, including social welfare states such as Denmark. In addition, limited attention has been paid to how the concepts of ‘soft spaces’ and ‘fuzzy boundaries’ correspond to contemporary European strategic spatial planning practices. This paper seeks to broaden the soft space debate in a European context by offering an account of the emergence of soft spaces in Danish spatial planning. The paper analyses how spatial strategy-making is carried out at the scale of two new soft spaces emerging in Danish spatial planning at subnational scales. In these soft spaces, the paper explores how policy agendas are being shaped and reshaped, and how these agendas seek to influence formal planning arenas. The central argument running through this paper is that soft spaces in neoliberal political climates might be used as vehicles for neoliberal transformations of strategic spatial planning. In 2006, the Danish Ministry of the Environment published a national planning report articulating a ’New Map of Denmark’ consisting of two urban regions. The urban regions were promoted by the ministry as new appropriate scales for, on the one hand, managing pressing spatial issues such as urban sprawl and congestion, and on the other hand, promoting economic growth and international competitiveness. In 2008, new multi-level collaborative processes were initiated at the scale of these urban regions, involving the Ministry of the Environment, administrative regions, and municipalities. The aim of these processes was to prepare informal and voluntary spatial frameworks and overall urban structures for the two regions, turning these into ‘soft spaces’ of strategic spatial planning. The paper demonstrates how the state’s ambitions of introducing overall spatial frameworks at the scale of urban regions were downscaled during the processes, as the political climate within the ministry changed as a liberal Minister of the Environment was appointed. At the same time, the municipalities, who primarily perceived the soft spaces as cross-municipal platforms for transport infrastructure lobbying, were successful in reshaping the agenda-setting in the soft spaces towards policy agendas of investments in transport infrastructures and economic development. The lessons from the Danish experiences with soft spaces suggest a need to pay critical attention to how policy agendas are being shaped and reshaped in soft spaces in concordance with transformations in politics. The evidence from Denmark suggests that the flexible nature of soft spaces allows agenda-setting in them to be reshaped to support policy agendas of powerful actors or reflect transformations in politics. In the current neoliberal political climate characterising many European countries at the moment, there is a risk that agenda-setting in soft spaces are reshaped to promote neoliberal policy agendas, turning soft spaces into vehicles for neoliberal transformations of strategic spatial planning. In the planning literature, there has recently been much discussion on the new ‘soft spaces with fuzzy boundaries’ perceived to emerge in British spatial planning. So far critical reflections on the implications of the increasing amount of spatial strategy-making being done in soft spaces have focused on the lack of transparency and potential democratic deficits of contemporary spatial planning. Limited critical attention has been paid to how policy agendas are being shaped and reshaped in soft spaces, and how these agendas seek to influence formal planning arenas. These questions seem to be particularly relevant within the current neoliberal political climate characterising many European countries, including social welfare states such as Denmark. In addition, limited attention has been paid to how the concepts of ‘soft spaces’ and ‘fuzzy boundaries’ correspond to contemporary European strategic spatial planning practices. This paper seeks to broaden the soft space debate in a European context by offering an account of the emergence of soft spaces in Danish spatial planning. The paper analyses how spatial strategy-making is carried out at the scale of two new soft spaces emerging in Danish spatial planning at subnational scales. In these soft spaces, the paper explores how policy agendas are being shaped and reshaped, and how these agendas seek to influence formal planning arenas. The central argument running through this paper is that soft spaces in neoliberal political climates might be used as vehicles for neoliberal transformations of strategic spatial planning. In 2006, the Danish Ministry of the Environment published a national planning report articulating a ’New Map of Denmark’ consisting of two urban regions. The urban regions were promoted by the ministry as new appropriate scales for, on the one hand, managing pressing spatial issues such as urban sprawl and congestion, and on the other hand, promoting economic growth and international competitiveness. In 2008, new multi-level collaborative processes were initiated at the scale of these urban regions, involving the Ministry of the Environment, administrative regions, and municipalities. The aim of these processes was to prepare informal and voluntary spatial frameworks and overall urban structures for the two regions, turning these into ‘soft spaces’ of strategic spatial planning. The paper demonstrates how the state’s ambitions of introducing overall spatial frameworks at the scale of urban regions were downscaled during the processes, as the political climate within the ministry changed as a liberal Minister of the Environment was appointed. At the same time, the municipalities, who primarily perceived the soft spaces as cross-municipal platforms for transport infrastructure lobbying, were successful in reshaping the agenda-setting in the soft spaces towards policy agendas of investments in transport infrastructures and economic development. The lessons from the Danish experiences with soft spaces suggest a need to pay critical attention to how policy agendas are being shaped and reshaped in soft spaces in concordance with transformations in politics. The evidence from Denmark suggests that the flexible nature of soft spaces allows agenda-setting in them to be reshaped to support policy agendas of powerful actors or reflect transformations in politics. In the current neoliberal political climate characterising many European countries at the moment, there is a risk that agenda-setting in soft spaces are reshaped to promote neoliberal policy agendas, turning soft spaces into vehicles for neoliberal transformations of strategic spatial planning.

This paper explores the interplay between the spatial politics of new governance landscapes and innovations in the use of spatial representations in planning. The central premise is that planning experiments with new relational approaches become enmeshed in spatial politics. The case of strategic spatial planning in Denmark reveals how fuzzy spatial representations and relational spatial concepts are being used to depoliticise strategic spatial planning processes and to camouflage spatial politics. The paper concludes that, while relational geography might play an important role in building consensus, it plays an equal important role in supporting current neoliberal transformations of strategic spatial planning.

In this article, we analyse the evolution and transformation of Danish spatial planning from its tentative origins in liberalist politics, through its rise as a central feature of the welfare state project, to its more recent entrepreneurial forms in a context of neoliberalisation. The article demonstrates how transformations of Danish spatial planning discourses and practices must be understood in context of previous discourses and practices sedimented as layers of meaning and materiality through time and over space. These layers do not completely overlay one another, but present a palimpsest saturated with contradictions as well as possibilities. We propose the notion of the ‘planning palimpsest’ as a helpful metaphor for drawing attention to the historical-geographical characteristics of planning discourses and practices, The paper is published by the European Journal of Spatial Development (EJSD). The previous version of the journal was host by Nordregio.