FRÅN UTTÄNKT PLANERING TILL LEVD VERKLIGHET En fallstudie av värden tillskrivna Kortedala torg

Abstract

This case study explores the relationship between the planned and the lived as distinct ways of understanding and attributing value to place. The study is situated within the context of cultural heritage planning, where public participation is emphasized as a central principle. However, previous research has revealed a significant gap between the ambitions articulated around citizen involvement and how this is implemented in practice. The aim of the study is to map the values associated with Kortedala Torg as expressed in the planning process (the conceived) and among people active in the area (the lived), and to investigate the relationship between them. The focus is specifically on values of a social character. The study is conducted using a theoretical framework based on Henri Lefebvre’s (1991) spatial triad - understanding space as produced through three interrelated dimensions: the conceived (planned), the perceived (physical), and the lived (social) - as well as Yi-Fu Tuan’s (1977) theory of space and place. The methodological approach includes document analysis of planning materials, semi-structured interviews with local actors, and site observations. The findings reveal a clear discrepancy between the values represented in planning documents, which are rooted in conceptual and strategic knowledge, and those expressed by individuals active in the area, which are based on emotional, experiential, and relational understandings of the place. In the concluding discussion, these findings are contextualized within the broader research landscape and highlight the challenges faced by cultural heritage planning in its ambition to more effectively include the public. The core challenge lies in integrating the intimate, subjective, and continuously negotiated valuations of place into a planning system that is often conceptual, physically objective, and temporally fixed.