Understanding people-centered planning practice in Europe: an institutionalist comparison between urban development projects in Vienna and Helsingborg

Abstract

Pursuing people-centered planning practices (PCPs) such as participatory approaches demands a better understanding of how their operationalization relates to contextual structures and conditions in urban governance. By comparing two cases of social sustainability operationalization in Austrian and Swedish urban development projects based on Ostrom’s IAD-framework, this article identifies institutions relating to performed people-centered activities. The findings reveal that PCPs do not necessarily benefit from highly formalized rules prescribing specific localized activities. Instead, they are shaped by institutions that (1) position the actors responsible for performing people-centered activities, (2) define strong socially-oriented and innovation-oriented outcomes, and (3) enable funding that upholds long-term public interests within the markets that co-shape the projects.