Planning and the Subordinated Reality - A Study of the Relationship between Planning and the Civil Society in Kampala, Uganda

Sammanfattning: This is a qualitative study carried out on basis of documentary studies and interviews in Kampala, Uganda. It is the result of a fieldwork issued in the mentioned location between the 2th of April and 31st of May, 2012. The thesis seeks to evaluate what lies behind the inequalities within the urban socio-spatial landscape in an African city, which will be related to carefully chosen theoretical concepts. The thesis has its main interests positioned within the question whether planning is representative for the reality it is operating within, or not. This will be accompanied by the question of how planning and policies approach the existence and prevalence of informal settlements. To reach a deeper understanding of how this relationship is explained in Kampala today, the history of administrative planning and housing policies from beginning of colonialism and to date is portrayed. It creates a foundation for the following part, which is a minor case study presenting a view more representative to the contemporary situation. These two parts are finally brought into analysis together with theoretical concepts regarding colonialism, neoliberalism and conflicting rationalities. The analysis showed that planning has failed to come to ground or not even tried to understand the holistic picture of reality. Instead it tends to operate like a judge over which type of development that is proper and acceptable, and which is not.