During Baltic Urban Lab the project cities have explored different methods for stakeholder involvement and participation. Experiences from cities have been now gathered and analysed in one publication “Developing brownfields via Public-Private-People partnerships”.
Planning of brownfields is often complex and expensive, involving multiple land owners, potentially serious levels of contamination and an existing infrastructure that is not designed for post-industrial use. Developing an attractive and sustainable land-use and mobility plan that meets the needs of future residents, commercial activities, social services and public spaces requires the vision and expertise of a wide range of actors. Not least, this includes decisive planners and politicians, as well as technical experts and local stakeholders. The “people perspective” represents an effort to balance the influence of private actors (landowners, investors, etc.) and the public sector (planners and decision-makers).
Baltic Urban Lab has aimed to bridge the gap between city-led and private-led development, in order to find new ways to reach a common vision and understanding by strengthening public-private-people partnerships (also referred to as “4P”).
To sum up the lessons learned from the project, Baltic Urban Lab partner Nordregio has published a report Developing brownfields via Public-Private-People partnerships. The report is based on observation and analysis of the methods for stakeholder involvement and participation that project cities Norrköping, Tallinn, Turku and Riga have tested. The main approach has been to observe what can be done to involve private actors, local inhabitants and other public departments in the planning process, as well as to understand what can be gained by applying a 4P-approach to the planning of brownfield areas around the Baltic Sea.
The report introduces each brownfield development site and the most important stakeholders in the respective planning project. Furthermore, each stakeholder involvement method is analysed using the democracy cube introduced in the report. Finally, the report gives space for reflection and key messages about the 4P approach implemented by each city.
The report is targeted to local planners and other experts seeking to include various stakeholders and establish close cooperation between them. The project outcomes may also be of interest both to students and researchers, as well as to EU programmes that support urban planning projects.
