Stadens förändrade funktion - En ideologikritisk studie av Göteborgs översiktliga planering mellan 1959 och 2011

Abstract

The present master thesis in culture studies is an analysis of Gothenburg city planning ideology between 1959 and 2011. The question at issue is understanding the divergence between postwar and contemporary city planning ideology. Using Karl Marx’s value form theory on capital, the material basis for the changing conditions of city planning is examined. In the study it is argued that postwar city planning was entirely adjusted to the needs of manufacturing capital. However it was also essential to meet laboursʼ demand for rising living standards. In the analysis of contemporary city planning the study emphasize changing conditions: such as adjustment to the global division of labour and influence of rent oriented capital. Urban sociology is also criticized for idealizing postwar city planning in the wake of contemporary unequal urban development. Finally the study is an attempt to periodize and understand how capital constantly changes and adjusts the urban space according to its needs.