Large-Scale Urban Projects in Smaller Metro Areas: Towards a Broader Conceptual Perspective

Large-scale projects seem to be as popular in urban politics as they are risky in implementation.
Existing research shows a certain bias towards studying projects in large metropolitan regions. The
paper aims at extending the scope of research on large-scale urban projects by analysing such
projects in a smaller metropolitan area. The case of the city region and country of Luxembourg
shows that decision-makers in small metropolitan regions also make use of large-scale urban
projects as a planning and place-making instrument. The case is also used to explore methodological
approaches of examining the symbolic nature and discursive place-making dimension of planning
large-scale projects, and proposes a methodological approach based on constructivist grounded
theory and situational analysis of discourses.