Medborgardeltagande i den fysiska planeringen - en demokratiteoretisk analys av lagstiftning, retorik och praktik

In the essay an analysis is made of which democratic perspective is prevailing in municipal land-use planning in Sweden, with a particular focus on the aspects of citizen participation and influence. The analysis covers both the intentions that are conveyed in legislation and its preparatory studies, and experience of how it looks like in actual planning. As a basis of the discussion a description is given of three different sets of models of democracy; liberal, participatory and deliberative. In the essay we describe how the present Planning and Building Act has clear ambitions of participatory democracy, giving citizen possibilities for an early and continuous participation in the planning process. There are also some deliberative ambitions since the comprehensive planning opens up to a more unbiased discussion about the design of the physical environment. However, there still remain clear limits on citizen influence. Firstly, there has never been any aim to introduce elements of direct democracy in land-use planning and decision making is still firmly situated within the framework of representative democracy. Secondly, the law gives municipalities the option to, in some cases, use a simplified planning process which significantly reduces citizen participation. While the legislation contains characteristics of participatory democracy there are clear shortcomings in actual land-use planning, since citizen participation is unevenly distributed and since the possibilities of influence through the formal consultation process is limited. The actual planning process shows more similarities to the liberal elite-democratic and pluralistic models of democracy, due to the fact that the formal process is often subordinate to informal negotiations between the local government and private construction companies. Also the citizens use informal channels to exert influence. Another example of the pluralistic feature is that the planning process for the detailed development plan reduces the role of citizens to solely defending their own self interests. The local authority is instead given the role to function as a neutral judge deciding between different public and private interests. The dependence on private investments, however, means that the objectiveness of local authorities can sometimes be questioned. To conclude, what we can see is a clear gap between rhetoric, legislation and practice when it comes to the possibilities of citizens to influence land-use planning as well as the actual building process