Soft Policies of Exclusion

Entrepreneurial Strategies of Ambience and Control of Public Space in Gothenburg, Sweden

Bibliographic Data

ID11670361
AuthorsCatharina Thörn (0000-0002-0691-7376, University of Gothenburg, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume32
Issue7
Pages989-1008
Publication date2011-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2747/0272-3638.32.7.989
OpenAlexW1982758542
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited32

The purpose of this study is to investigate the thesis of the Americanization of homelessness in a Swedish context regarding public spaces and the deliberate exclusion of homeless people from them. It will show that the "sanitization" of public spaces for consumer-friendly purposes applies to Gothenburg just as in U.S. cities, but is achieved by different methods that need to be analyzed as an alternative performance of power. The concept of "soft polices of exclusion" is developed to provide a better analytical understanding. "Soft" does not refer to a more gentle form of revanchism but rather to a more elastic and fluid form of power. The concept of soft policies of exclusion is developed through an analysis of the construction of an ambient sense-scape in Gothenburg that attracts the flows of "the right people" and steers away visible poverty and disturbing, associated behavior

Americanization · Architectural engineering · Business · Context (archaeology · Geography · Political science · Politics · Poverty · Power (physics · Public space · Social exclusion · Sociology · Soft power · Engineering · Homelessness and Social Issues · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Urban Planning and Governance

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