The Challenges of partnership in the light of citizens' participation - Linked to urban development at neighborhood scale, with the case BID Sofielund

Abstract: How people in a city should be governed has been discussed since ancient philosophy. The complexity of today's society can no longer be govern without the co-operations of actors. In recent years the shift from government to governance has created new governance spaces. These spaces in which citizens are invited by the state open up opportunities for actors in communities to participate. But at the same time, research on community-focused initiatives suggests that these spaces are created and defined by the state and therefore have little room for citizens to influence over revitalize plans of their areas. This thesis investigates a new tool and approach in the governance of urban development, which includes networks of actors and citizens' involvement, to see results of citizens' participation in the partnership and case BID Sofielund. The thesis wants to find out whether BID Sofielund allows the residents to have any influence, focusing on the network's professional actors views of citizens participation. To answer the study's research aim, the theoretical framework is largely based on a model called “Arnstein's ladder”, that describes gradations of citizen participation. The theory about citizen participation in the context of power and powerlessness between authorities and citizens helps us to understand what levels of participation there are in the BID model. BID Sofielund is an example of a challenge in urban development when it explains that it wants to involve all parties in the process. BID is committed to give the community greater influence over policy making. However, the case study enables us to identify that there is a consultancy model in BID Sofielund according to Arnstein's ladder. It concludes that current policies in the BID model will need to address a number of important obstacles to community involvement in order to find ways of reconciling BIDs intention to give local people greater influence. The findings of this research, however, show that residents through the BID process can be able to influence and it indicates that it may be an opening for the residents to gain more power and "climbing on the ladder".