Unravelling the Concept of Social Transformation in Planning: Inclusion, Power Changes, and Political Subjectification in the Oosterweel Link Road Conflict

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article argues that applying a polysemic understanding of the concept of ‘social transformation’, in which inclusion-, power-, and subjectification-oriented approaches to social transformation are all taken into account, provides a richer understanding of the transformative dynamics at work in contentious urban planning processes. We illustrate this argument through an empirical investigation of the transformative dynamics in the Oosterweel link road conflict in Antwerp, Belgium. In this case, citizens whose voices were treated as irrelevant presented themselves as equals, altering the symbolic order (subjectification). Through mass mobilisation and legal action, citizen movements gained enough power to form a threat to the government and its plans, forcing the government to invite these movements to the negotiation table (inclusion). The case shows that different forces of transformation intertwine and can be mutually reinforcing in contentious planning processes.