Stefan Molnar’s doctoral thesis examines the role of values and the act of valuing in the development of urban environments such as streets, squares, parks, and neighborhoods. The politicians, architects, property owners, private persons, and others involved in developing these spaces aim to achieve various kinds of "values," such as profitability, beauty, biodiversity, safety, attractiveness, and inclusion. The thesis studies how these actors practically assess and articulate what is of value and how this, in turn, may affect the outcome.
What challenges do you focus on in your research?
"When a place is being developed or transformed, there is rarely – if ever – a manual that the participants can follow in order to evaluate and calculate which alternative most effectively leads to which values. Instead, these processes are characterized by considerable uncertainties about the nature of reality, ambiguities about what is actually valuable, and disagreements about which goals are most important and how best to achieve them."
"Addressing and navigating these uncertainties, ambiguities, and disagreements to create the most valuable places possible is a major challenge that participants in such processes encounter almost daily. My research aims to shed light on how this search process unfolds, why, and with what effects."
How do you address the problem?
"In my thesis work, I conducted in-depth empirical studies of two urban planning and design projects in Gothenburg, Sweden. The first is the development of Masthuggskajen near Järntorget. Here, the municipality, property developers, consultants, and other actors have collaborated to try to create ground-floor spaces in new buildings with varying rent levels and suitable for different types of activities: shops, restaurants, art, culture, associations, municipal services, and the like. This was expected to generate values such as safety, attractiveness, and profitability at the same time."
"In the second case study, I examined the efforts of property companies, the municipality, the police, business representatives, and other actors to recently transform Brunnsparken into a safer, more accessible, and attractive place for more Gothenburg residents."
"In neither case were there predefined answers about how the spaces would look and function in the future or how to achieve this. To the extent that actors believed they had ready-made answers, they did not always align with the answers others had. As a result, the actors were constantly required to develop, evaluate, and revise design proposals, plans, financing solutions, and more. This is what I have studied."
What are the main findings?
"My main findings can be summarized in these points:
Valuations are constantly expressed when spaces are designed, but often in a hidden manner. Sometimes these activities are referred to as "valuations" (such as "financial valuation") or "evaluations" (such as "impact evaluation"), but they often occur "in the background," as part of activities with other names. I have identified four main categories of such activities: conversations, knowledge production, design and handling of artifacts and place interventions.
Valuations are expressed in different ways when spaces are designed. Different "modes of expression" are used, such as spoken and written words, numbers, visualizations, and body language. Additionally, actors relate to different "types of value" depending on who they are and the situation: from environmental and economic to cultural, aesthetic, and social values.
How value is expressed depends on who is doing the valuation, what is being valued, and who is observing the process. For example, it is likely that a landscape architect, an accessibility advisor, a police officer, and an economist would make slightly different judgments about a park environment. Similarly, their valuing would often look different if they knew that someone was observing their work, such as politicians, financiers, or the media.
Cultural and material factors influence what is considered valuable. The interaction between cultural factors, such as rules, norms, and categories, and material factors, such as analysis instruments, technologies, and policy documents present in a given situation, affects how participants express value. For example, it influences which types of values (monetary, environmental, social) and modes of expression (numbers, images, text) are most legitimate and natural to engage with in the situation.
Coordination of valuations is central to place development. When different actors express different, sometimes conflicting, valuations, there is a need to manage these differences in order to make decisions and move the project forward. I have identified different mechanisms for coordination, ranging from agreements, i.e., situations where the parties agree on the value of something, to compromises, pragmatic arrangements based on the actors' self-interest, and outright coercion."
What do you hope your research will lead to?
"Some say that we live in an "evaluation society." By this, they mean that formal evaluations, calculations, and measurements are becoming increasingly common, and many place great trust in the results of such activities to improve spaces. While this type of activity is important and can be useful , I hope to raise awareness that most situations where values are expressed in urban planning are more informal and everyday. In my thesis, I call valuing a "hidden practice." However, this hidden valuing often has importance, either in the short or long term."
"Therefore, I also want to highlight how the organization of an urban planning process – what activities, actors, and objects it consists of – ultimately influences what is expressed as valuable and worthless. This, in turn, can affect how places are designed and used."
"My hope is that these insights will encourage more people to recognize how the organization of urban planning processes actually affects which places, uses, and user groups are considered valuable, and vice versa."
Read the thesis: Matters of Worth: Practices, Actors and Objects of Valuation in the Design of Urban Space
Public defence: 27 September 2024 at 13.15, see link above.
- Associate Professor, Science, Technology and Society, Technology Management and Economics