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"Sometimes Climate Adaptation is Politically Correct": A Case Study of Planners and Politicians Negotiating Climate Adaptation in Waterfront Spatial Planning

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  • Sofie Storbjörk
  • Mattias Hjerpe

Abstract

Today, spatial planning is expected to deliver climate adaptation and to manage, merge and balance various societal interests and priorities. To what extent proactive shaping of change is enabled by spatial planning practice is less explored. This paper illustrates how the ideals and ambitions of climate adaptation are manifested in waterfront spatial planning via a case study of Norrköping, Sweden. Based on interviews with spatial planners and politicians responsible for strategic urban development planning, our study identifies a divergence in ambitions, approaches and positions. In local development plans, the position taken has less to do with climate risk severity than with an area's perceived political and economic attractiveness. When perceived attractiveness is low, precautionary climate adaptation serves as a pretext not to develop, whereas high perceived attractiveness leads to negotiated pragmatism allowing continued waterfront exploitation. We also identify a fragmentation in spatial planning, with weak interplay between municipal comprehensive planning and local development plans, resulting in ad hoc, case-by-case planning. Furthermore, different planning actors are organizationally compartmentalized, creating unfortunate intra-sectoral silos. We conclude that the integrative, proactive and reflexive potentials of spatial planning to deliver climate adaptation have yet to be realized.

Suggested Citation

  • Sofie Storbjörk & Mattias Hjerpe, 2014. ""Sometimes Climate Adaptation is Politically Correct": A Case Study of Planners and Politicians Negotiating Climate Adaptation in Waterfront Spatial Planning," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(11), pages 2268-2286, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:22:y:2014:i:11:p:2268-2286
    DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2013.830697
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    Cited by:

    1. Pernilla Hagbert & Josefin Wangel & Loove Broms, 2020. "Exploring the Potential for Just Urban Transformations in Light of Eco-Modernist Imaginaries of Sustainability," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 204-216.
    2. Vanesa Castán Broto & Linda K. Westman, 2020. "Ten years after Copenhagen: Reimagining climate change governance in urban areas," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), July.
    3. Candel, Melissa & Paulsson, Jenny, 2023. "Enhancing public value with co-creation in public land development: The role of municipalities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    4. Castán Broto, Vanesa, 2017. "Urban Governance and the Politics of Climate change," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 1-15.

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