Pia Bäcklund

Agonism and institutional ambiguity: Ideas on democracy and the role of participation in the development of planning theory and practice - the case of Finland

In this article the arrangements for the participatory planning of the five largest Finnish cities are examined from the perspectives of both democracy and planning theories. Four paradigms that form the continuum of general planning theoretical debate are identified as being relevant in the Finnish context: comprehensive-rationalistic, incrementalist, consensus-oriented communicative and conflict-oriented agonistic planning theory. These are discussed in relation to the parallel development of democracy theory: from the aggregative to the deliberative and further to the agonistic model of democracy. The empirical study reveals that while each paradigm shift in theory purports to replace the former theory with a new one, in practice the new theory emerges as a new addition to the palette of coexisting theoretical sources, to be drawn upon as a source of guidance and inspiration in organizing participatory planning. The five Finnish cities combine traits of different theories in their arrangements of planning participation, often in a fashion that generates institutional ambiguity. The argument concludes with discussing the necessity of further empirical and developmental research, where the contexts of both planning theory and democracy theory are related to the institutional challenges of planning conduct. If this does not happen the emerging agonistic planning theory, too, may become a paradigm shift at the level of theory only, thereby contributing to the widening gap between theory and practice.

Lived citizenship as the locus of political agency in participatory policy

Participatory policies seeking to foster active citizenship continue to be dominated by a territorial imagination. Yet, the world where people identify and perform as citizens is spatially multifarious. This article engages with the tension between territorially grounded perceptions and relational modes of practicing political agency. Studying empirically the Finnish child and youth policies, we address jointly the participatory obligations that municipalities strive to fulfill, and the spatial attachments that children and young people establish in their lived worlds. To this end, we introduce the concept of lived citizenship as an interface where the territorially-bound public administration and the plurality of spatial attachments characteristic to transnational living may meet. We conclude by proposing a re-grounding of lived citizenship in both topological and topographical terms as an improvement in theoretical understanding of mundane political agency and as a step towards more proficient participatory policies.

Looking for the role of nature experiences in planning and decision making: a perspective from the Helsinki Metropolitan Area

Abstract Public experiences of everyday environments influence well-being and quality of life and effective planning for these environments can promote social sustainability. This article discusses how residents’ values related to urban nature areas are as important as ecological and technical issues and can inform urban nature planning and decision making. We first provide a generic review of residents’ values and meanings regarding urban nature. We then outline practices for obtaining data on these values and meanings and present examples from the Helsinki (Finland) Metropolitan Area. The article concludes with a discussion of the challenges that nature experiences bring to planning and decision making and highlights why and how insights generated as a result of residents’ participation should be included in the knowledge base for planning decisions.

Trading Zone and the Complexity of Planning

In this chapter, we explore the applicability of the trading zone approach by addressing the complexities that frame and penetrate all contested planning issues. Planning issues are thoroughly political, and the ‘political’ is thoroughly complex. The complexities in planning include not only issues of ontological and epistemological differences about what should be done and what is a ‘good city’ but also questions such as what kind of processes of decision making, information gathering and valuation should be incorporated in planning. By addressing the political, communicative and technical ‘dimensions’ of planning through two illustrative planning cases, we discuss how trading zone as a concept resonates with these complexities and whether it can bring theoretical and practical insights into planning. We find the nature of planning to be often more complex than the illustrations of trading zone formation thus far have portrayed. Hence, complexities may restrain the applicability of the trading zone concept as a planning tool. Overcoming the seemingly irreconcilable differences between actors in any planning case calls for creative, dialogical, locally sensitive and flexible planning. These issues are at the heart of the trading zone approach. Therefore, the trading zone approach can be suitable in a range of descriptive and normative uses within planning, when applied with due attention to different aspects of complexity.

Bypassing Publicity for Getting Things Done: Between Informal and Formal Planning Practices in Finland

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the discussion concerning the ways in which network governance and classical-modernist government practices juxtapose and redefine the idea of publicity in planning practices. Through Finnish urban planning cases we ask what kind of publicity is being promoted. We argue that new modes of governing build and employ institutional ambiguity for ‘getting things done’. This provides possibilities to ‘skim the cream’ of the best possible ways of resolving present planning issues. The crucial question is whether the possible positive outcomes give a mandate to the process, even if the process operates in a democratic void.