1st Edition
The Narrative Turn in Urban Planning Plotting the Helsinki Waterfront
Narratives, in the context of urban planning, matter profoundly. Planning theory and practice have taken an increasing interest in the role and power of narrative, and yet there is no comprehensive study of how narrative, and concepts from narrative and literary theory more broadly, can enrich planning and policy.
The Narrative Turn in Urban Planning addresses this gap by defining key concepts such as story, narrative, and plot against a planning backdrop, and by drawing up a functional typology of different planning narratives. In two extended case studies from the planning of the Helsinki waterfront, it applies the narrative concepts and theories to a broad range of texts and practices, considering ways toward a more conscious and contextualized future urban planning. Questioning what is meant when we speak of narratives in urban planning, and what typologies we can draw up, it presents a threefold taxonomy of narratives within a planning framework.
This book will serve as an important reference text for upper-level students and researchers interested in urban planning.
Preface
Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Examining Narratives in the Context of Urban planning
- Urban Planning and Narrative: Towards a Theory of Narrative Planning
- Narrative for, in and of Planning
- Emplotting Urban Regeneration: Narrative Strategies in Kalasatama
- Genre and Metaphor in Planning Jätkäsaari
- Planning with Narrative
Narratives Matter
Aims
Plotting the Waterfront
The Helsinki Waterfront, Jätkäsaari and Kalasatama
Sources
Outline
The Narrative Turn in Planning: A Critical Overview
Different Kinds of Knowledge
Defining Narrative in Planning
What Is Not a Story?
A Threefold Taxonomy
Narratives for Planning
Narrative Mapping
Mapping the Helsinki Waterfront: A Concise Literary Case Study
Narratives in Planning: The Brief Story of the Helsinki Waterfront
Planning Maritime Helsinki
Narratives of Planning: Telling the Future of the Waterfront
Conclusion
Emplotment as Spatial and Narrative Practice
Situating Kalasatama within a Plot
Metaphors of Kalasatama: "In the Armpit of the City"
Diverging Narratives: Urban Centre or Shopping Mall?
"How we live in 2033"
A Meshwork of Contradictory Storylines
Conclusion
Dominant Narratives in Planning in Jätkäsaari
Simple Story, Complex Story, and Micro-Narrative
Narratives for Planning in Jätkäsaari
Jätkäsaari’s Identity Marker: The Hotel Controversy
Centre or Periphery?
Narratives of Planning in Jätkäsaari
A Bildungsroman for a Waterfront Development
Planning as Bildungsroman
"Man’s Island" or "Women’s City"?
Lost Opportunities for Planning with Narrative
Park "Good Hope"
Sustainable Jätkäsaari
Narratives and the Building Block
Planning with Diversity?
Conclusion
Narrative Mapping and PPGIS
Planning with Polyphony
Planning without Closure
Planning for Narrative Space
Teaching Planning with narrative
Conclusion
Sources
Glossary
Index
Biography
Lieven Ameel is a university lecturer in comparative literature at Tampere University, Finland. He holds a PhD in Finnish literature and comparative literature from the University of Helsinki and the JLU Giessen and is docent in urban studies and planning methods. He has published widely on literary experiences of the city, narrative planning, and urban futures. His other books include Helsinki in Early Twentieth-Century Literature (2014) and the co-edited volumes Literature and the Peripheral City (2015), Literary Second Cities (2017), and The Materiality of Literary Narratives in Urban History (2019).
"This is a fine contribution to the planning field and will be especially helpful to those interested in the stories told around planning strategies and projects. It draws together and enriches the literature on narrative and storytelling, both generally and specifically in relation to planning and urban studies. It contains two well-developed case studies of major redevelopment projects in one of Northern Europe’s major cities which illustrate the different ways narratives inform, get used in and are generated by planning activity. Many will find this book a really helpful resource."- Patsy Healey, professor Emeritus, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University, UK
