Defining Urban Terroir : The Placemaking Qualities of a City

Abstract: Throughout the history of Architecture and Urbanism, many efforts were made and continue being done in order to learn how to successfully design good built environments for human beings. This goal has not only expanded to several other fields such as Geography, Sociology, and Environmental Psychology but also received new and invaluable contributions from several other unexpected fields. Such might be the case with the field of Viticulture and its interesting concept of terroir which has already been used to address topics connected with urbanism and against the increased globalization. The process of globalization in which people are instead considered as citizens of a new global world order reduces the place and rather creates a world of “placelessness”. As a concept, terroir sheds light on the importance of authenticity and how a sense of feeling can generate a cultural identity. However, in a time where neoliberal politics are increasing with a strengthened nationalism, it can also be a source of politics. Although its authenticity can be used as a means to work against globalization, it can also install a perception of unity to the local people, therefore excluding foreigners and maintaining an ideal that is unattainable for multicultural cities. The purpose of this paper is to primarily suggest a definition for a new concept entitled urban terroir and to reveal the elements of the interactive urban ecosystem of a place embodied in our cities’ characteristic and distinctive qualities. In addition, the paper also has an objective of understanding how architects, planners, politicians, and developers can deeply understand terroir when creating places and policies without excluding people from the developed cultural identity it is meant to create. This is possible by interviewing residents from three cities in France, Mulhouse, Dunkerque, and Toulouse, and different areas in the municipality of Stockholm about their respective perception of terroir in the form of authenticity and its linkage to placemaking that may act as an accelerator to further exclusion of cultural minorities in the urban environment. The obtained results conclude a definition of urban terroir as a compilation of elements and certain characteristics that collectively, with respect to the residents in an area, make up the essence of a city. These elements comprise the architecture and its historical significance, inherent traditions tied to the region, temporal legibility, the elements of scale including nodes, paths, landmarks, districts as well as edges, and ultimately, the inclusion of minorities. The author also raises the potential romanticization of nationalism with terroir and authenticity. Thus, policies according to Interculturalism are derived which firstly include acknowledging the impact that politicians have. This includes securing housing, providing strategies to work against the identified ethnic segregation, and developing an agenda that promotes interactions whilst simultaneously nurturing inclusive cultural identities. As for architects and urban planners, the study concludes the potential placemaking has in fostering micro-public places in the city where different cultures can meet. The authenticity behind these places should go beyond the physical attributes and instead include the people living in the city. It becomes crucial to view the city as not limited to the inner-city, but also validate the right to the city and placemaking of inhabitants residing in the periphery by organizing initiatives that foster growth in such areas of the city. By working against the identified current state, in the form of generating authentic interactions with a social attachment to minority cultures, urban planners are able to present an understanding of the inevitable political aspect of placemaking.