Citizen Participation in Land and Water Use Planning

Abstract

During the last fifteen years many citizen actions and protests against planning issues have occurred. In most cases they have taken place late in the planning process, quite close to the realization of a plan. Forms of action have been used which quickly get publicity and engage new members through e.g. strikes, demonstrations and occupations. These methods are often unacceptable to the politicians in the planning process and confrontations are unavoidable. The purpose of this article is to discuss methods of how to identify and encourage citizen participation in physical planning. The pilot area for the research project is southwestern Skåne, mainly the Kävlinge river basin with the Vomb lake, a controversial area as regards land and water use.¹