Zwischenstadt as a travelling concept: towards a critical discussion of mobile ideas in transnational planning discourses on urban sprawl

Abstract

This article contributes to the advancement of the critical analysis of transnational flows of planning ideas with a particular focus on debates around urban sprawl. It emphasizes that travelling concepts tend to lose their critical content en route, and explores how they could be revived. Our argument starts by identifying the drawbacks of comparative studies in planning, and suggests an exploration of Edward Said’s notion of travelling theories to avoid these dangers. Chronicling the import of the German concept of Zwischenstadt–which literally translated means ‘(in)between city’–into the Swedish planning research discourse on urban sprawl, we examine how travelling concepts tend to become institutionalized during their journey. We then explore ways to revive the critical content of Zwischenstadt by first considering translations of the context of travelling concepts and then deliberations on their literal translation, which emphasizes the fruitfulness of a landscape perspective as a critical lens on urbanization processes.