Planning Paradigms for Social Cities : A Multidimensional Case Study of Uppsala and Minneapolis

Sammanfattning: The focus of this research aims to target feelings, tendencies, and perceptions of community belonging in order to highlight current challenges in negotiating urban social relationships. The mixed-methods empirical study deployed attempted to identify the multiple and intersecting perspectives contributing to the conceived representations of community in each city. Applying theoretical constructs taken from studies on social cohesion, intersectionality, and metamodernism, this thesis looks to multidimensionality in forming a new theoretical model for achieving cohesive community and social belonging; the purpose of which is to uncover how planning can be conceived as a solution to ethnoracial division and lack of community and social belonging. As individuals, respondents found that meeting on the same premises, taking the perspectives of others into account, and actively acknowledging the presence of unity in difference were all conceived as constructive measures to take. Developing approaches to incorporating these desiderata into planning strategy therefore becomes a logical implication of my research.