Cultural resources of participation in planning: a case of the urban infill of Arabia area in Helsinki

Tapaustutkimus Arabian alueen täydennysrakentamisesta

Authors

• Jonas Sjöblom Tampereen yliopisto

Keywords:

cultural resources, frame analysis, participation, urban planning

Abstract

In the article I examine what kinds of cultural resources do the neighbourhood activists have in the participation in the planning of the urban infill of their own living environment. I scrutinize the cultural resources with the help of Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital and its by-products habitual resources, symbolic resources and institutional resources. The data consists of the written documents and the theme interviews of the neighbourhood activists at the Arabia area, Helsinki. As a method I use frame analysis. The results show that the neighbourhood activists have know-how of the practices of urban planning and experience-based knowledge of the everyday life in the area, shared understanding of how the area should be developed and expertise which enhances the credibility of the participation. The neighbourhood activists seem like beneficial knowledge brokers for the whole neighbourhood, but the limited number of participants questions the representativeness of the activity as a voice of the inhabitants.