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Abstract
This article analyses strategic spatial planning for city regions. The analysis uses a strategic development plan for a region as an example and is intended to contribute to discussion about the role of politics and the state in economic structures and processes. The objective was to define the types of discourses in the Stockholm plan. Norman Fairclough's (Analysing Discourse, New York, Routledge, 2003) methodological framework for analysing texts in social research was an important source of the study design. The analysis focused on assumptions in the text and the compatibility of these with different concepts of dynamic development and economic growth in city regions. These concepts were city as clusters, city as interconnection, city as milieu and city as symbol. Outcomes of the analysis showed that the strategic development plan for the Stockholm region stresses large-scale international economic activities and specialized cluster activities, but it marginalizes other activities. In the context of city regions comprising a multiplicity of actors and activities, such a one-sided approach may hinder broad economic development. A more nuanced representation of the urban economy in strategic planning is called for.
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to comments from two anonymous referees. This article was written as part of a research project financed by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.