A qualitative exploration of actors’ power resources and relations in Swiss transit station district planning

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map with the locations of the stations in Bern Wankdorf, Ostermundigen, and Bern, including the linear distances between these stations (adapted from OpenStreetMap, 2022; CC BY-SA 2.0).

Table 1. Qualitative content analysis: Conceptual operationalization and subcodes from the inductive data analysis (adapted from Brooks et al., 2015; Meijer & Van Der Krabben, 2018).

Concept	Definition	Operationalization for this study	Exemplary quote from semi-structured expert interviews (translated from German)	Subcodes from the inductive data analysis
Power resource	“ … persons, assets, materials or capital used to realize a certain goal, including human, mental, monetary, artifactual and natural resources … ” (Avelino & Rotmans, 2011, p. 798).	The capacity of actors mobilized to achieve specific goals based on structural or behavioral resources (possibly as a response to such resources used by other actors; Pfetsch & Landau, 2000; Wolff, 2020).	“Federal law overrides everything, especially the municipal authorities. I understand that the municipality feels externally controlled” (Interviewee 18).	Complying with the regulations
				Concealing information
				Imposing transparency
				Providing the budget
				Pooling knowledge
				Scrutinizing the rules
				Setting the rules
				Valuing mutual empathy

Figure 2. Bern Wankdorf station district (own representation; CC BY 4.0).

Figure 3. Ostermundigen station district (own representation; CC BY 4.0).

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Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, this study’s participants did not agree to allow their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data were not available.