Kitsch, City Planning, and New Urbanism

This paper explores the role of kitsch in urban planning, its influence on disintegration and redevelopment, and how kitsch influences the functionality, identity, and social dynamics of urban spaces. Using a qualitative analysis of urban planning, architecture and design documentation, together with field observations, as well as interviews with planners and residents, the analysis revealed a top-down kitsch residential mechanism in three relatively new neighborhoods that are planned, built, and populated by different groups. This mechanism is complemented by the bottom-up emergence of trendy design patterns. The most striking finding is the enormous similarity in kitsch from the planning of the neighborhood to the architecture of the buildings and apartment layouts that contrast with the differences in backgrounds of the population and locations.