Perceptions of Urban Space in the Periphery: Potsdam's Kirchsteigfeld

As theories of postmodernism have challenged many established theoretical positions in geo-graphy, they have also led to a reassessment of the urban periphery and its significance for an understanding of contemporary urban development. In addition, these regions have witnessed the emergence of a new type of development project where planners and urban designers have attempted to create truly urban spaces, embodying rather traditional forms and concepts of urbanism in spite of their peripheral location. This paper investigates one such project on the outskirts of Potsdam, Germany. Drawing on theoretical ideas of postmodern urbanism it discusses a number of issues related to perceptions of this new space in the urban periphery, namely contextualisation, urban design/architecture, meaning/identity of place, and the differences of perception between creators and users of the project. Non-standardised in-depth interviews are analysed to investigate the experience and perception of this space and discuss some possible implications for urban design and planning.