Regional Planning in the Catalan Pyrenees: Strategies to Deal with Actors' Expectations, Perceived Uncertainties and Conflicts

Abstract

Drawing on three case studies in the Catalan Pyrenees (Spain), this paper shows how interactions between planners and stakeholders influence expectations, uncertainties and conflicts during the planning process. Therewith, it provides further understanding of performance of regional planning beyond the formality of plans and policies. The case studies illustrate how planners' actions can either generate uncertainty, conflicts and frustration, or common understanding, agreements and positive expectations. With these insights, planners can be more conscious about the effects of their communicative strategies on the multiple perceptions of the planning process. Planners need to deal with interpretations of other actors, and they have to be aware of others' expectations and uncertainties. The positive effect of interactions has limitations because of the unavoidable existence of different perceptions and interests concerning a plan. Nevertheless, planners can generate even greater conflicts themselves if the perceptions from other stakeholders are ignored.

Educating Boundary Crossing Planners: Evidence for Student Learning in the Multistakeholder Regional Learning Environment

“…Planning as a profession responded, and still responds, to these changes by moving beyond more structuralist planning approaches, toward developing and applying approaches that try to address the "wicked" character of current issues and processes (Albrechts 2013;Boelens and De Roo 2014;Booher and Innes 2002;Boonstra and Boelens 2011;Forester 1999;Healey 1997;Rittel and Webber 1973). All these approaches share the idea that tackling planning issues requires taking into consideration the perspectives of multiple actors with diverse backgrounds, values, and interests and who have multiple understandings and interpretations of reality (Albrechts 2013;Domingo and Beunen 2012;Healey 1997Healey , 2003. Traditional planning and decision-making approaches that were commonly focused on achieving explicit goals gradually move toward working on "communicative ideals where planning actions enhance the achievement of consensus on perceived situations" (Boelens and De Roo 2014, 43).…”

“…Alongside long-established technical, communicative, and facilitating competencies (Dalton 2007;Healey 1997), more mediating competencies become relevant for planners. Examples of these new competencies, recently identified by planning scholars, are being able (1) to quickly identify and understand multiple disciplines, cultural traditions, interests, values, and perspectives; and (2) to admit to and intertwine these; (3) to cultivate a safe, respectful and stimulating collaborative climate; and (4) to support the reflection on process, products, and performance and mutually learn from each other to achieve shared understanding and reasoning (e.g., Balassiano 2011;Domingo and Beunen 2012;Thomas 2012;Umemoto 2001).…”

Dealing with private property for public purposes : an interdisciplinary study of land transactions from a micro-scale perspective

“…They developed their own strategic behaviour taking into account their personal situation and their expectations on uncertainties. This corresponds to the insights of Domingo and Beunen (2012), who state that expectations are created to deal with uncertainties in planning processes. The method that was used to study land transactions, made it difficult to reconstruct how uncertainties led to expectations.…”

“…Planning processes cause these uncertainties to rise. Due to the variety and complexity of interest and therewith the lengthy timeframe of plan processes, uncertainties are central to planners, politicians and landowners (Domingo and Beunen, 2012;Friend and Hickling, 2005). People find it hard to deal with these uncertainties and therefore often try to create their own certainties, such as trust.…”

“…This study shows that landowners indeed act in their perceived self-interest, but that this self-interest is not (only) based on the economic utility. Moreover, uncertainties are central in the transaction process, just as they are in all planning processes (Domingo and Beunen, 2012;Friend and Hickling, 2005). Decisions that both land purchasers and landowners make regarding the selling or purchasing of land are loaded by uncertainties on others behaviour, changing policies and regulations, the land market and future economic development.…”