G5 Doctoral dissertation (article)
Tarkoitus pyhittää keinot : kiinteistökehittämisen ja kulttuuriympäristön suojelun diskurssit 2010-luvun suomalaisessa kaupunkisuunnittelussa, esimerkkinä Tikkurilan kirkon kortteli (2025)
The end Justifies the means : discourses of real estate development and heritage conservation in Finnish urban planning in the 2010s


Julin, P. (2025). Tarkoitus pyhittää keinot : kiinteistökehittämisen ja kulttuuriympäristön suojelun diskurssit 2010-luvun suomalaisessa kaupunkisuunnittelussa, esimerkkinä Tikkurilan kirkon kortteli [Doctoral dissertation]. Jyväskylän yliopisto. JYU Dissertations, 878. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-86-0487-7


JYU authors or editors


Publication details

All authors or editorsJulin, Paula

eISBN978-952-86-0487-7

Journal or seriesJYU Dissertations

eISSN2489-9003

Publication year2025

Number in series878

Number of pages in the book1 verkkoaineisto (297 sivua)

PublisherJyväskylän yliopisto

Place of PublicationJyväskylä

Publication countryFinland

Publication languageFinnish

Persistent website addresshttps://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-86-0487-7

Publication open accessOpenly available

Publication channel open accessOpen Access channel


Abstract

This dissertation explores discursive struggles in the local urban planning process for a real estate development project, Tikkurila Church Quarter. The aim is to analyze the power relationships and role of the discourses that affected decision making, including the validity of the arguments used in the discourses.

This case study applies critical discourse analysis and argumentation analysis. The data consists of minutes of decisions made, planning documents, opinions and media texts concerning Tikkurila Church Quarter and observations made in the urban environment. The study combines many theoretical standpoints and concepts related to urban planning, real estate economy and heritage conservation and connects theories of discourse analysis and communicative planning to concepts of neoliberalism and authorized heritage discourse, including their critics.

In addition to the complicated planning process, the case analysis highlights discourses and affective rhetoric that justify demolition, the difficulty the authorities had in presenting their conflicting arguments for and against the plans, and institutional structures that can be shaped to ensure interests. The most powerful of the identified discourses adapted to the assumptions of neoliberalism. These discourses advance a pro-demolition building culture and overemphasize the benefits of new construction. In the light of this case, communicative planning theory creates unrealistic expectations that public discourse will be rational and that communicative processes will make an impact. It may also mislead urban studies researchers to focus excessively on official planning processes instead of the surrounding jungle of practices and the wider discursive world.


Keywordsreal estate economicsurban designtown planningcultural environmentargumentation theoryneoliberalismdiscoursediscourse analysisdoctoral dissertations

Free keywordscommunicative planning theory


Contributing organizations


Related projects


Ministry reportingYes

VIRTA submission year2025


Last updated on 2025-25-01 at 20:06