Spatial justice and barriers in strategic village planning

In a time of globalisation and changing demographics and labour markets in rural areas, concerns about the viability and future of rural areas are being discussed in both popular discourse and academia.

In Denmark, concerns about an imbalance in development between urban and rural areas, related to both economic growth, living standards and access to services, resulted in a requirement for all municipalities to incorporate a section of strategic planning for viable villages into their statutory planning. This requirement took effect in 2019 and required municipalities to differentiate between villages while encouraging the involvement of the local communities. 

In this dissertation, a mixed-method framework is applied to investigate the different approaches to the planning for viable villages. The analysis focuses on the logics behind the approaches, the discourses of rural viability in the plans, and the structural conditions and barriers for local communities involved in the process of rural development and cooperation with the municipalities. By establishing a theoretical framework of rural spatial justice, the results from five articles, each examining different aspects of the case, are discussed in terms of the spatial justice consequences of the different approaches to strategic planning for viable villages.

The first article is based on data from 37 interviews with planners in rural municipalities. By developing a framework for interpreting logics of the differentiation between villages the analysis show, that six major interpretations of spatial justice frame the different approaches to strategic village planning. The second article examines the discourses of viability in the finished municipal plans. Analysis of data from 29 municipalities shows that while discourses of viable villages are connected to topics of nature, settlements and societal engagement, a hegemonic discourse exists portraying the urban as already being viable and the rural villages as opposite to the urban. The third article, based on data from a national survey of local community associations, shows that the differences between the two main organisational types of associations affect the experienced cooperation on different parameters, such as communication, with the municipalities. The fourth, based on the same survey data, explores the correlation between six types of social capital with factors of experienced cooperation, distance to the administrative centres and type of organisation. The results indicate that one type of association is better equipped and organised to foster cooperation with the municipalities. These results should urge municipalities to include the different local communities accordingly to negate procedural inequity. The fifth article, based on group interviews with nine local community associations in three neighbouring municipalities, shows that three main barriers exist in the process of rural development and cooperation with the municipalities. These barriers are related to democratic legitimacy, local qualifications and voluntarism.

Finally, the spatial justice consequences are discussed by illuminating four dilemmas. The dilemmas, based on the results of the articles, should be considered in the different approaches to strategic planning for viable villages. The first dilemma is that non-decisions in planning often follow existing paradigms of neo-endogenous development, which risk perpetuating spatial inequalities due to social and organisational disparities in local communities. The second dilemma is that an increase in local participation does not necessarily lead to better procedural inclusion due to organisational diversity and differences in local qualifications. Third, the promises of neo-endogenous development risk failing in terms of distributive justice as the responsibility for services is put on locals. And finally, fourth, narratives matter, as currently, the notion of viability is constructed through a hegemonic ideal of the urban.

The overall argument of the dissertation is that while strategic planning has the capability of ensuring spatial justice, there are significant risks of perpetuating social and spatial inequality if current structural challenges and narratives are not addressed.