Between the city and the rural: Negotiating place and identity in a Danish suburban housing area

TY - JOUR

T1 - Between the city and the rural

T2 - Negotiating place and identity in a Danish suburban housing area

AU - Oldrup, Helene Hjorth

PY - 2010/3

Y1 - 2010/3

N2 - Usually, Danish suburban history is told as a journey towards light, airy, greenspaces. However, suburban housing areas can be seen in the context of processes of urbanization,where the boundary between urban and rural is dissolving. What does this mean for residentialidentities? This article explores residential identities in a new housing area in the metropolitanregion of greater Copenhagen in this context, based on a qualitative study drawing on qualitativeinterviews and photos taken by residents. It is argued that identity should be understood throughnotions of reflexive identity, as well as the concepts of elective belonging and the aesthetic. In aqualitative study with residents, it is shown how multiple and varied practices and stories aregenerated. In residents’ articulation of identity in terms of centre-periphery relations, this was reconfigurednot as a linear relationship of a move from urban to non-urban areas (although it wasalso expressed as this), but as generating various practices. Residents’ experiences andnegotiations emerged under the following themes: between the aesthetic and the pragmatic, beingconnected or suburban, and simulated or authentic nature. The article also shows that not allresidents use such reflexivity, suggesting that it may be unevenly distributed.

AB - Usually, Danish suburban history is told as a journey towards light, airy, greenspaces. However, suburban housing areas can be seen in the context of processes of urbanization,where the boundary between urban and rural is dissolving. What does this mean for residentialidentities? This article explores residential identities in a new housing area in the metropolitanregion of greater Copenhagen in this context, based on a qualitative study drawing on qualitativeinterviews and photos taken by residents. It is argued that identity should be understood throughnotions of reflexive identity, as well as the concepts of elective belonging and the aesthetic. In aqualitative study with residents, it is shown how multiple and varied practices and stories aregenerated. In residents’ articulation of identity in terms of centre-periphery relations, this was reconfigurednot as a linear relationship of a move from urban to non-urban areas (although it wasalso expressed as this), but as generating various practices. Residents’ experiences andnegotiations emerged under the following themes: between the aesthetic and the pragmatic, beingconnected or suburban, and simulated or authentic nature. The article also shows that not allresidents use such reflexivity, suggesting that it may be unevenly distributed.

U2 - 10.1080/14036090802476622

DO - 10.1080/14036090802476622

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1403-6096

VL - 27

SP - 42

EP - 63

JO - Housing, Theory and Society

JF - Housing, Theory and Society

IS - 1

ER -