The Politics of Peri-Urban Place Making

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between planning and place making, highlighting their interconnections that are rarely acknowledged. While land use planning concerns interventions in land development and involves a strong political dimension of balancing competing claims, place making relates to how individuals and communities perceive their surrounding world. Drawing on European examples, the paper shows how planning can unintentionally reframe perceptions of place, often with unpredictable impacts. It argues that recognising the dynamic and uncertain nature of place making would allow planners and cultural geographers to jointly develop deeper insights into the social dimensions of geographic change. In this perspective, planning outputs could serve as co-framers of place and action, fostering authentic dialogue and social learning about places in a future-oriented society. The discussion emphasises peri-urban communities, which often lack a clear sense of place, and reviews relevant theories to conceptualise the political processes of place making.