Towards a New Radical Approach to Planning

There is a crisis of democracy in Europe. This is happening at a time of great challenges such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity. Our livelihoods are threatened. Despite numerous technical solu- tions and participatory approaches, spatial planning so far does not provide adequate answers for the required decision-making processes. In times of crisis political theorist Hannah Arendt advocates for keeping the space for political action open and actively promoting a (re)politicisation at all levels. The aim of the project Towards a New Radical Approach to Planning is to translate the radical and thus transformative basic concept of Arendt`s political theory of action into planning, to co-creatively develop a new action-oriented approach to planning and to experimentally test this approach in a setting dramaturgically adapted to Arendt`s concept of an associative-communicative power to act. Planning is political to the core. Therefore, we should understand participation as citizen empower- ment and transform the decision-making processes accordingly. Arendt`s understanding of political action and decision-making structures will serve as guideline. The ambition is to recognise the mo- ments of political action in the planning process and keep the public-political space open through suit- able framework conditions in everyday life. In this project we will translate Arendt`s theory of action into the language of planning. Subsequently, essential Arendtian concepts (poiesis and praxis, labour, work and action, privacy and the public sphere) will be examined using three case studies in which approaches to pluralistically constituted spaces of action have been realised (e.g., transition town projects, co-housing, community gardens). On this basis, different actors involved in spatial planning projects develop a new planning process in a co-creative way and to test it performatively themselves in workshops. Finally, the project team will disseminate the various results and specify framework conditions for future pilot projects. The result is a new radical approach to planning that combines poiesis and praxis.

"What can urban planning learn from Hannah Arendt's political theory?" This question was at the heart of a research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under the "1000 Ideas" funding scheme and carried out at BOKU University. The key finding: Planning can be understood as an interplay between two fundamentally different activities, work and action. This provides a better understanding of why citizen participation in planning often fails and how genuine co-determination can succeed. The project was inspired by the work of the political theorist Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), who distinguished between three basic forms of human activity: labour, work and action. Whilst work aims at creating tangible, lasting things (buildings, infrastructure) and strives for efficient, clearly defined processes, action refers to something fundamentally different, the joint speaking and decision-making of people in public sphere. According to Arendt, all people are fundamentally different but have the same rights while acting. Research shows that, in practice, participatory planning is almost always organised as work. Even when citizens are involved, it's done within strictly structured procedures meaning key decisions are already made. Those involved are allowed to express their opinions, but do not have a say in the decision-making. This leads to frustration and undermines trust in participatory planning. Using case studies from Vienna, Berlin and Eindhoven, the research examined when and how genuine participation (action) can emerge in planning processes. The example of SeestadtGrün in Vienna was particularly illuminating. Here, residents organised projects, debates and protests on their own initiative regarding the lack of green spaces in Seestadt Aspern, ultimately achieving substantial changes and remaining active in the area. The counterpart to this was the Park am Gleisdreieck in Berlin, where a formal and elaborate participation process gradually closed the existing political spaces for civil society action. The SpaceS cooperative housing project in Eindhoven, on the other hand, demonstrated that a successful interplay is possible. When future residents are involved from the outset as equal decision-makers, the result is not merely a building, but also a culture of open debate and a vibrant community. The practical significance of these findings is clear. At a time when trust in political institutions is waning and citizen participation is often perceived as tokenistic; Arendt's theory provides a conceptual framework for (re-)politicising planning and making it more democratic. The project demonstrates the conditions under which co-determination can succeed. In addition to clear structures and expert knowledge (work), it requires openness to outcomes, flexibility in the processes, and a willingness among all participants to collaborate and share responsibility (action). These insights are relevant to urban planning, housing projects, open-space planning, and all areas where public spaces and people's lives are shaped collectively.