Talking about participation… The analysis of Hungarian urban planning documents from the aspect of stakeholder participation

Abstract

The present paper provides an analysis of the participation of stakeholders in the urban planning processes of Hungarian cities. It focuses on the real opportunities stakeholders have in becoming active agents of urban planning processes and the obstacles they face. For the purpose of our evaluation we build on the arguments of the capability approach of Amartya Sen. In order to assess citizens’ freedom of agency we use Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation and Gaventa’s power cube.

Changes in the regulations of Hungarian urban planning imply that, contrary to the former unified rules of participation, serious differences may emerge between the cities. In accordance with the new regulations, all the large Hungarian cities had to renew their major planning documents during 2013 and 2014. This provided the starting point for our empirical analysis.

We analysed the Stakeholder Reconciliation Plans, the Urban Development Concepts and the Integrated Urban Development Strategies of 23 Hungarian large cities (cities with county rights). We carried out qualitative content analysis to shed light on the contraries between the surface and the deep structures of these documents with regard to participation.

We conclude that for most of the stakeholders the forms of participation occurring in the Hungarian urban planning practice do not provide the opportunity to further their own ends. On the contrary, participation deprives stakeholders of real opportunities and thus results in “unfreedoms”. This implies a decrease in social well-being. Many of the stakeholders lack the freedom of participation as a component of their well-being. Moreover, stakeholders are hindered in using participation as a means to further the emergence of more desirable development outcomes in the urban context.