City lights, citizen rights : a critical analysis of spatial justice in a Norwegian context

Abstract

Contemporary trends in planning practices are often shaped by delegated participants; city planners, politicians and the free (economic market). Problems like gentrification, migration, identity loss/confusion and ostracizing are common in modern cities, and they have gathered much attention as we keep on expanding and developing our settlements. Participation by civil society in urban planning is in many instances quite superficial, and complete exclusions of some groups takes place, which is reflected in the image of the city. This research discusses the term spatial justice and how social structures manifests themselves in the physical space. First, I investigate the definitions and meaning of spatial justice and how it is described in academic discourses. Secondly, I provide some case studies to see how spatial justice is interpreted in real life planning practices. I follow this up with a case study of Olafiagangen, a temporary use project in Grønland, Oslo. The results indicate that spatial justice is a relatively unattended subject matter in Norwegian planning and planning practices make some effort to implement it, but not in a holistic matter.