Heritage Conservation and Real Estate Development: Expert Collaboration in Urban Planning
Main funder
Funds granted by main funder (€)
- 22 250,00
Project timetable
Project start date: 01/09/2019
Project end date: 30/06/2020
Summary
Urban planning is about coordinating conflicting interest, and it is not only the citizens but also the experts involved in the planning processes, whose conceptions are multivoiced.
The operational environment of urban planning has changed in recent years, as real estate developers and investors have taken on the role of prime movers in development projects. Urban densification draws new development into city centers, where also the essential built heritage of the cities is usually located. Museum authorities and other experts of heritage conservation form an adversary party to real estate developers in urban planning processes. The basic objectives of the disciplines are opposite. The language and the argumentation of the parties do not meet, either, while others express themselves to the point with economic figures and others rely on verbose qualitative inquiries. In Patsy Healey’s (1992) words, the agents belong to different “systems of meaning”. The conflicting views have in some cases led to a stagnation of urban planning processes, which harms both conservation and development but also local communities.
In my dissertation, I aim at structuring our understanding on the contradictory agents involved in urban planning today, using discourse analysis and narrative analysis as methods. I collect data consisting of texts produced by experts in the fields of heritage conservation and real estate development. Basing on my empirical work, I will apply game theories in creating new models of cooperation between the disciplines. I will also analyze the concept of cultural sustainability and discuss its possibilities as a vehicle in agonistic collaboration.
The operational environment of urban planning has changed in recent years, as real estate developers and investors have taken on the role of prime movers in development projects. Urban densification draws new development into city centers, where also the essential built heritage of the cities is usually located. Museum authorities and other experts of heritage conservation form an adversary party to real estate developers in urban planning processes. The basic objectives of the disciplines are opposite. The language and the argumentation of the parties do not meet, either, while others express themselves to the point with economic figures and others rely on verbose qualitative inquiries. In Patsy Healey’s (1992) words, the agents belong to different “systems of meaning”. The conflicting views have in some cases led to a stagnation of urban planning processes, which harms both conservation and development but also local communities.
In my dissertation, I aim at structuring our understanding on the contradictory agents involved in urban planning today, using discourse analysis and narrative analysis as methods. I collect data consisting of texts produced by experts in the fields of heritage conservation and real estate development. Basing on my empirical work, I will apply game theories in creating new models of cooperation between the disciplines. I will also analyze the concept of cultural sustainability and discuss its possibilities as a vehicle in agonistic collaboration.
