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Research article2008Peer reviewed

A waste of time? On spatial planning and ‘wastelands’ at the city edge of Malmö (Sweden)

Qviström, M

Abstract

City edges have been associated with waste and wastelands for centuries. Refuse dumps have frequently been located at the outskirts of the city, and the metaphor of ‘wasteland’ has been used to depict landscapes at the urban fringe. In this paper, the mutual relationship between actual waste dumps and metaphorical wastelands is brought forward to facilitate an analysis of landscape transformations at the city edge and to show the neglect of transient landscapes within spatial planning. In the first part of the paper the interactions between dumps and ‘wastelands’ at the city edge are discussed. In the second part, a case study at the edge of Malmö (in southernmost Sweden) is presented as an illustration of the transformative city edge and in particular the invisibility of this landscape in local planning. Major landscape transformations during the 20th century are examined along with representations of the area within spatial planning. The primary sources of information have been the archives of the local and regional cleansing divisions, local planning documents and field studies. The case study illustrates how the present fringe landscape is constantly camouflaged by a green future; it is always about to be transformed, and therefore ignored. Thus, an everyday landscape, with hazardous waste as well as places of great potential for recreation, is ignored. The paper concludes with a discussion emphasising the importance to unveil such representations, and the need to highlight the present day situation at the city edge

Keywords

inner urban fringe; landfill; landscape history; refuse dump; spatial planning; transient landscapes

Published in

Urban Forestry and Urban Greening
2008, Volume: 7, number: 3, pages: 157-169

    Sustainable Development Goals

    SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
    Landscape Architecture

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2007.03.004

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/19344