Multi-storey Timber Construction and Stakeholder Influence on Finnish Urban Planners

It has been suggested that substituting building materials such as steel or concrete with wooden alternatives would reduce the negative environmental impacts of buildings. In the field of construction, the urban planners form an important group of actors as land use plans have long-term consequences. Urban planners have been considered to hold power in planning procedures, and in Finland, it is possible to require a specific construction material in a land use plan. The aim of this study is to determine if the construction industry aims to influence on planning decisions in Finland, and in particular to study if these influencing attempts affect the views of the urban planners. The study is conducted as a quantitative analysis based on a questionnaire sent to Finnish urban planners in the spring of 2014. The sample consists of 102 responses from 26 municipalities in Finland. The results of the study suggest that the construction industry aims to influence on planning decisions in Finnish municipalities. Moreover, the statistical analysis proves that the influencing attempts, i.e. lobbying affects the views of Finnish urban planners. As the questions assessing the planners’ views concern multi-storey timber construction, ample generalizations of the results should be avoided. An interesting detail in the results is that the lobbying seems to affect the more experienced planners in particular, even though the experienced planners did not perceive lobbying attempts more often than the others. However, it has been reported that the planners in senior positions generally hold more power, and therefore they may be more lucrative targets for the lobbyists