Navigating swift and slow planning: planners’ balancing act in the design of participatory processes

Figures & data

Figure 1. Activities and timeline of initial GPP process design (adapted from Uppsala Municipality 2019b).

Table 1. SALAR’s main components for process design.

Component	Description
Gathering perspectives	Early in the process, planners were to collect residents’ and other actors’ opinions, ideas, attitudes or feelings with regard to the situation at hand. This was meant to provide valuable information for designing the process; particularly through identifying the main actors to involve, the topics to discuss and the preferred ways for carrying out such dialogue. Experts suggested the perspective gathering to be open-ended and extensive, using different methods such as interviews, focus groups, public meetings or surveys.
Focusing on ‘hot topics’	This meant identifying and addressing complex topics where there could be strong disagreement or conflicts among different groups or between residents and the municipality. According to the experts, planners should dare to initiate dialogues on these hot topics early in the process.
Facilitating deliberative workshops	These were to be used throughout the processes for discussing problems and finding solutions to problems. The workshops would ideally include planners, civil servants, politicians and a diverse range of residents. If possible, participants should form a working group and meet regularly to deliberate about their topics. A facilitator should guarantee equal participation of all participants.

Figure 2. Revised process design after SALAR input (adapted from Uppsala Municipality 2019b)

Uppsala Municipality. 2019b. Results Citizen Dialogue – Programme plan Gottsunda. Uppsala.

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