There is more to it than meets the eye

Abstract

Based on a Danish case, this paper investigates how strategic urban and landscape design can contribute to positive developments in rural areas that are challenged by population decline. From 2007-2012, the municipality of Bornholm conducted a strategic planning process, which aimed to enhance quality of life by strengthening place-based qualities and potential through local physical projects. Guided by actor-network theory (ANT) we analyse the socio-material effects of the new assemblages of people and things around the design interventions that were made. We find that strategic spatial projects can contribute considerably to quality of life in declining rural areas. From a wider strategic perspective, they can also define new spatial development perspectives rooted in place-based resources and potential. Methodologically, ANT offers a pertinent framework for studying the long-term performance of strategic spatial projects and how design actions can continue to gather new actors, spark new initiatives and, thereby, fuel repercussive effects.

Framing essay II

“…New uses and competing societal demands for rural space promote conflicting ideas about rurality and broaden the scope of rural planning (Gkartzios et al, 2022). While the ongoing transformation of built environments and landscapes is putting a strain on rural life in many places, place-based spatial development, especially through participatory processes of placemaking, is increasingly being viewed as a means not only to achieve attractive and functional built environments but to promote a sense of community, place attachment, social cohesion, and to help stimulate local economies -in short to enhance rural dwellers' quality of life and well-being (Tietjen & Jørgensen, 2018). The logic involved in this trend reflects an old trope of planning rationality, where interventions in the built environment are believed to be capable of enhancing human well-being by providing a material environment which is more conducive to human flourishing.…”