Infrastructure imaginaries: The politics of light rail projects in the age of neoliberalism

Abstract

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.

‘Artefactual anchoring’ of strategic spatial planning as persuasive storytelling

“…The growth axis and the related LRT/BRT project can, in this vein, be understood as expressions of neoliberal storytelling characterizing strategic spatial planning in Aalborg. Indeed, following this line of inquiry, Olesen (2020) has recently made critical observations on the power implications of the Aalborg growth axis strategy. In this sense, Olesen’s article is complementary to ours.…”

“…In the strategy, the growth axis is further metaphorically referred to as 'the dynamo', 'the spine' and 'the driving force' for growth in the entire region of North Denmark (Aalborg Municipality, 2011: 5). It is perhaps best understood as partly a description of 'what reality looks like', and partly a strategic prescription to channel public and private investments into particular urban redevelopment sites in the city, with the aim of supporting economic growth in Aalborg and the surrounding region (Olesen, 2020).…”

“…While the growth axis has played an important role in gaining political support and revitalizing political interest in spatial planning in Aalborg, the light rail project provided the artefactual anchoring needed to maintain the commitment and support for the urban transformation project. Furthermore, the light rail project played an important role in providing a sense of determination and certainty for developers seeking to invest in the growth axis (Olesen, 2020).…”

“…In 2015, the newly elected liberal-conservative national government withdrew the previously agreed government funding for the LRT scheme in Aalborg, and as a consequence, the light rail project was put on hold. In the municipality’s most recent strategic plan from 2016, the LRT system has been replaced by a bus rapid transit (BRT) system, following the same routing along the growth axis, and thus resuming the promotion of the overall agenda of urban transformation (Aalborg Municipality, 2016a; Olesen, 2019). In 2017, with the support of the opposition parties, the national government granted a funding of 250M DKK (50% of the estimated total costs) to the BRT system in Aalborg (Kidmose and Kristensen, 2018).…”

“…We reflect on the implications of our theoretical work for case research by referring to the example of Aalborg, the regional centre city (population 136,600 1 ) of Northern Denmark (population 580,000). In doing so, we utilize previous case research on storytelling and spatial imaginaries in the city’s recent ‘growth axis’ – focused strategic spatial planning (Kidmose and Kristensen, 2018; Olesen, 2020; Popescu, 2016; Scharff, 2018; also Andersen, 2013; Jensen, 2007) – and engage in empirical ‘pilot’ research of our own. We analyse the planning and strategy documents of the City of Aalborg and other related actors, and draw on interviews and discussions.…”