Planning for quality of life as the right to spatial production in the rurban void

Book chapter, 2023

During the twentieth century, Sweden strategically developed into a welfare state trying to even up the historical differences of urban and rural life. The result today is one of the richest and top-ranked countries in the world. But today urban lifestyles are given priority, and both the city and the countryside are transformed by an industrial logic. Uneven development is promoted by polarisation between places and landscapes with or without a position to influence their future. The aim of this chapter is to critically discuss how rural landscapes and built environment historically have changed during the development of Sweden as a welfare state and to explore how planners and architects today can include plural centralities and practices to generate fairer conditions for participation in the spatial production of quality of life in its own right.>br />The chapter outlines the rurban void as a conceptual lens for analysing spatial production between and outside limited urban and rural stereotypes of sustainable development. Influenced by the theoretical work of Lefebvre on the right to spatial production, the chapter describes planning and historical political reforms in Sweden. Moreover, examples of contemporary situations in the rurban void are used to discuss alternatives for improved quality of life as the right to spatial production. The chapter argues that there is, within the rurban void, a critical line between actors with or without a (political) voice and position to influence the living environment and the quality of life in its own right.