Communicative Planning and Governance
The issue of communicative planning, participation and governance was not only controversial in regard to the Stuttgart 21 project, but has also become an essential element of everyday planning. Communicative planning instruments are a broad spectrum of tools and procedures that help the various stakeholders involved in planning processes to "communicate and mediate", ranging from providing information to participation and cooperation (Bischoff, Selle, Sinning 2005). Stakeholders can be grouped according to the following categories: state and municipalities (administration and politics), society (citizens, clubs, associations) and the economy (property owners, housing companies, businesses, etc.). The theoretical planning context that can be applied in this case is the urban governance model. It stems from the criticism that top-down state control is rarely successful in its traditional form. This model is based on a broader understanding of governance. Subsequently, private stakeholders - i.e. businesses and citizens - are gaining significance in their role as public sector partners. Governance is a regulated yet flexible form of cooperative politics that brings together stakeholders from state/local government, business and society. These are the issues addressed by the research area Communicative Planning and Governance.