Från Stureplan till Brunkebergstorg : Trettio år av stadsrummets privatisering

• While the critique against the privatization of public space has been a recurring mantra in debates on urban development over the past 30 years, less attention has been given to how and why urban spaces undergo processes of privatization given the inherent ambiguities of the term. I argue that the privatization of urban space has undergone a significant shift, following the increased domination of private interests and market expansion that are the hallmarks of neoliberal societal restructuration. As informed by critical urban and architecture theory, the article is based on a comparative historical study of two sites in inner-city Stockholm: Stureplan (refurbished 1990) and Brunkebergstorg (refurbished 2019). By situating the spatial design of these places in their local context of decision-making and planning, a difference emerges between a first and second phase; one defined by overt manifestations of private and commercial interests, set in contrast to the present moment where modes of appropriation are cloaked under a new “generous publicness”. I argue that the emphasis on the social, rather than commercial, element in the design of contemporary urban space partakes in the construction of the new flexible and creative neoliberal subject in late-capitalist societies. 

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Arkitektur (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Architecture (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Urban space

privatization

neoliberalism

postmodernism

design strategies

Stockholm

stadsrum

privatisering

nyliberalism

postmodernism

designstrategier

Stockholm

Stadsbyggnad

Urban Design

Arkitektonisk gestaltning

Architectural Design

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)