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Abstract
This paper argues that organising spatial planning policies by funding local projects constitutes a steering mode that organises knowledge in such a way that it contributes to displacing “the political” in local spatial planning practice. “The political” is conceptualised as a space of agonistic conflicts and choicemaking (Mouffe Citation2005a). Such an organisation of knowledge operates to consolidate the initial framing of the problem, in which the goal and the possibility to monitor the goal is in focus, rather than challenging or questioning it in the name of justness and fairness. This is illustrated through an analysis of conceptualisations of knowledge within 127 project applications within the Swedish government's Safe and Gender Equal planning policy (2008–2010), which the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning facilitated in conjunction with the County Administration Boards of Sweden.
Acknowledgement
I would like to specifically thank Professor Simin Davoudi and the anonymous referees for constructive comments on previous versions of this article.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Lina Berglund-Snodgrass
Dr Lina Berglund-Snodgrass is a senior lecturer in the Department of Spatial Planning at the Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden. Her research interests include the political and cultural dimensions of spatial planning. In her PhD thesis, Demanding Certainty: A Critical Examination of Swedish Spatial Planning for Safety, she examined assumptions of public life within Swedish spatial planning for safety, and assumptions of knowledge that make planning for safety appear “right” or “good”.