This thesis explores the nexus between 'urban expressionism' and the potentiality of 'Asian urbanism(s)' by exploring ways that different planning paradigms have been located/dislocated in the case of New Songdo City, South Korea. By investigating four expressions of New Songdo City - as an 'Eco-City', a 'Smart City', an 'International City', and as the 'City of the Future' - this thesis argues that urban expressionism can make important contributions to the aims of Asian urbanism(s). Ultimately, this research demonstrates the ways that urban expressionism can be used to destabilize hegemonic Western-centric urban knowledge and city-building practices, and further point to new geographies of theory from which important contributions to urban research can be made. Urban expressions are made evident by various entwined urban rhetorics and worlding practices that operationalize multiple mediums of communication. Consequently, New Songdo City is, first and foremost, a city of simultaneity. To investigate this simultaneity, this research utilizes an exploratory case study approach and multiple qualitative methods that include semi-structured interviewing, focus groups, and surveys to gather insights from residents of Songdo, local experts, public and private sector actors, and other key stakeholder groups. Visual analysis is also used to explore mixed-mediums of data, including promotional videos, images, exhibition displays, magazines, and advertisements. The methods used to undertake this thesis provide a glimpse in to the development of New Songdo City and capture different urban expressions that are articulated by the city through various examples of urban rhetoric and worlding practices. The urban expressions presented in the New Songdo City case are analysed through the lens of Asian urbanism(s) and investigate the ways that hegemonic Western and Euro-centric conceptualizations of 'the urban' and 'the city' have been deployed, articulated, experienced, challenged, and complicated. By extension, this thesis also contributes to a more nuanced conceptualization of Asian urbanism(s) as well as the relevance of New Songdo City for urban theory in South Korean, Asian, and more generalizable contexts.

The thesis covers the role of the Green Space Factor (GSF) system as a nature-based solution for ecological urban planning in the sustainable city. One main focus for sustainable urban development is the aspect of constructing green spaces and green buildings in order to improve land-use efficiencies and thus minimize negative environmental impacts. Hence, in this study research is made through conducting a qualitative municipal document analysis on how the GSF system is portrayed and implemented in urban planning strategies based on the municipalities of Malmö and Gothenburg. To limit the study, two urban areas are selected for further investigation, the Western harbour in Malmö City and the Freeport in Gothenburg City. The documents included in the study are based on three categories of developing the chosen urban areas: visions, area programs and detailed plans. From the document analysis, several categories or themes were extracted consisting of future goals and vision, actors and trademarks, visionary sustainability, climate change adaptation strategies, sustainable urban development models, green infrastructure, and lastly strategies and design principles of the Western harbour and the Freeport. The results are analysed through the theory of neoliberalised urban climate change adaptation strategies and green fix as crisis management. In order to include the local context of sustainable urban development, environmental policy localization is also included in the analysis of the results. The results from the analysis of the empirical material show that the municipalities of Malmö and Gothenburg have implemented the GSF planning system into the local context of their visions, area programs and detailed plans of both the Western harbour and the Freeport. The GSF system is included in both urban planning strategies through indirect terminologies connected to general sustainable development, such as climate change adaptation, green infrastructure and design principles showcasing the desired sustainability strategies. However, the results present the risk of market-based sustainability trademarking. The study concludes on the mark that it is important for the cities to on one hand implement the GSF system into the overall policies design, and on another hand face sustainable urban development at a variety of spatial scales in order to meet the external requirements originating in the localization of environmental policies.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka olika former av exkluderande design i offentliga och semi-offentliga rum, samt vilka konsekvenser en sådan design kan ha på olika samhällsgrupper. Studiens resultat är baserade på fokuserade observationer av den fysiska designen, främst i Göteborg, i triangulering med innehållsanalys av översikts- och detaljplaner. Studiens resultat visar att en mångfald av designmodeller användes i de observerade offentliga och semi-offentliga rummen, varav en del av dessa designer kan ses som exkluderande. Majoriteten av observerade sittplatser finns hos privata aktörer som caféer och uteserveringar, vilket signalerar ett behov av att vara konsument för att få ta del av dessa semi-offentliga platser. Semi-offentliga platser som var stängda nattetid samt hinder mot skateboardåkning var andra observerade designer som riktar in sig på särskilda samhällsgrupper eller beteenden. Fyra grupper anses vara speciellt påverkade av exkluderande design: hemlösa, funktionsnedsatta, resurssvaga, samt skateboardåkare. I kontrast till tidigare forskning anser vi att flera av de observerade designerna kan anses vara inkluderande istället för att enbart ses som exkluderande. / The aim of this study is to explore different forms of unpleasant design in public and semi-public spaces and what potential consequences such design may have on different social groups. The results are based on focused observations of the physical designs themselves, primarily in Gothenburg, Sweden, in triangulation with text analysis of official documentations of land use and zoning plans. The findings indicate that a variety of designs were used throughout the observed public and semi-public spaces, some of which can be seen as unpleasant. Most of the observed seating options were located within privatised businesses, signalling the need to be a consumer to use these semi-public spaces. Semi-public spaces that are inaccessible during the night as well as anti-skate obstacles were other observed designs that targeted a certain group or behaviour. Four social groups were found to be more of a target or sufferer of the designs: the homeless, people with disabilities, the destitute, and skateboarders. In contradiction to previous research a substantial amount of the observed designs can be perceived as inclusive rather than only exclusionary.

The purpose of this essay has been to attain an in-depth understanding of communicative power struggles within the urban space from a critical urban perspective based on the Right to the City. The project that constitutes the case study for this analysis has been the BID Malmö’s utility box project. The starting point has been that Malmö’s utility boxes function as a communicative medium, an urban public bulletin board, a common whose usage is constrained by projects implemented by entities like BID Malmö. The study is grounded in a theoretical understanding of the city as a social product, marked by power struggles linked to the competitive, postindustrial city. Critical urban theory has been combined with a discourse-oriented ctitical perspective focusing on power, ideology and hegemony, forming the basis for the conducted critical discourse analysis. The findings of the study reveal that art and culture are assigned a central role in the postindustrial city, tasked with transforming urban space. The transformation from a dirty or unsafe current to a safe and attractive futurecity. At the same time, culture is assigned a commitment to fostering participation, even as the same art is used to enclose and restrict certain parts of the public space. / Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att nå fördjupad kunskap om det urbana rummets kommunikativa maktkamper utifrån ett kritiskt urbant perspektiv om Rätten till staden. BID Malmös elskåpsprojekt har utgjort undersökningens fallstudie. Utgångspunkten har varit att Malmös elskåp är ett kommunikativt medium, en urban offentlig anslagstavla, en allmänning. Vars användning begränsas genom olika projekt som genomförs av bland andra BID Malmö. Undersökningen förankras i en teoretisk förståelse för staden som socialt producerad och präglad av maktkamper kopplade till den konkurrerande, postindustriella staden. Den kritiska urbana teorin har kombinerats med ett diskursteoretiskt perspektiv med fokus på makt, ideologi och hegemoni. Vilka tillsammans har lagt grunden för den genomförda kritiska diskursanalysen. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att konsten och kulturen tillskrivs en central roll i den postindustriella staden, vars uppgift är att omskapa rummet till något annat än vad det är idag med fokus på trygghet och stadens attraktivitet. Kulturen tillskrivs ett åtagande att skapa delaktighet, samtidigt som samma kultur används för att inhägna och stänga ner delar av det offentliga rummet och minska rätten till staden.