Entrepreneurial Naming and Scaling of Urban Places: The case of Nya Hovås

• In this paper we investigate Nya Hovås, a completely new neighbourhood in Gothenburg, where the construction has been accompanied by an extensive and expensive advertising campaign. For this purpose, we draw upon a multi-pronged theoretical framework that brings together Lefebvre’s (1991) notions of conceived, perceived and lived space, with current sociolinguistic work on scale (Carr & Lempert 2016) and Harvey’s (1989) critical insights about urban development as produced through public-private partnership. With the help of these theoretical tools, this paper analyses the processes of naming, branding and signing used by the entrepreneurs in order to increase Nya Hovås’ value and attractiveness. The argument of the paper is that the ‘newness’ of the neighbourhood is conceived and perceived on three different scales: (1) on a spatial scale Nya Hovås indexes international flair and globality through textual, graphic and architectural resources; (2) on a temporal scale, Nya Hovås is created as a new and liberal form of the old and conservative high-end Hovås, and (3) on a socioeconomic scale, Nya Hovås is conceived as a mixed-use urban neighbourhood. However, the perceived and lived space signals exclusivity and cultural homogeneity. Ultimately, the entrepreneurial place-making of Nya Hovås is both profiting on and contributing to urban polarization.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Jämförande språkvetenskap och allmän lingvistik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Language Studies and Linguistics (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialantropologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Anthropology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Urban entrepreneurialism

Nya Hovås

place-making

signing

onomastics

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)