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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Creating Attractive Places for Whom? A Discourse-Theoretical Approach to Knowledge and Planning

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We aim to find a way to produce knowledge of attractiveness of place that is representative of the variety and complexity of what attractiveness entails and the same time productive for place development and planning. On the basis of a study of an INTERREG IV A-project in Norway, we question how and by whom the discourse regarding what is attractive about places is constructed and how the implicit or explicit knowledge is treated in local planning. We find that planning must produce knowledge in which the different narratives about place confront each other, and highlight differences and mutual debate between adversaries. We conclude by arguing the case for applying a model of agonistic pluralism where the coproduction of discursive knowledge from ‘a logic of difference’ is at the heart of planning. Keywords: agonistic planning, attractiveness, discourse theory, knowledge, place