Large-scale urban projects in Luxembourg – urban integration, governance practices, hegemonic discourses (LUPUS) - FHSE

The project at a glance

Start date:

01 Apr 2012
Duration in months:

48
Funding:

FNR – Luxembourg, AFR PhD Grant
Principal Investigator(s):

Markus HESSE

About

Since the 1960s several large-scale urban projects have been launched on the small territory of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Plateau Kirchberg, Belval-Ouest, Gare centrale , Royal Hamilius, Ban de Gasperich Porte de Hollerich etc.). The inclination to plan large-scale projects is actually astonishing, given the size of city and country on the one hand and the rather critical discourse concerning large-scale urban projects in urban studies and in the planning literature on the other hand. Against this background, the research project aims to explore the question whether the observed preference for large-scale urban development projects in Luxembourg, is appropriate given the rather specific local and regional context. Due to the specific framework conditions of the Grand Duchy, Grounded Theory has been chosen as a particular methodology for research. Furthermore, as these large-scale projects are embedded in state modernization, image building and international competition, discourse analysis will be practiced in order to decipher the non-material, yet highly important dimension of communicative construction of space. Image caption: © Markus Hesse