Introduction to my Public Sector PhD-project
This public PhD-project is financed by The Research Council of Norway. This is a collaboration between PhD candidate Lisbeth Iversen, Arendal municipal, AHO (Degree-conferring institution), and NIBR / OsloMet as assistant supervisor.
This PhD-project looks at the combination of both holistic and proximite perspectives of sustainable urban and place-development through action research, institutional perspective and resource-based methodology , associated with civil society mobilization and participation in municipal planning processes, through 4 cases, which will result in 4 articles. The goal is to ensure a more democratic and holistic urban planning and development that provides better practice and better results, emphasizing the three dimensions of the concept of sustainability as equal; social, environmental and economic sustainability, through increased competence, creativity, co-creation and innovation. A fourth sustainability dimension, democracy and participation is added to this research project. The theoretical starting point for the research project is an institutional management and leadership perspective. This will provide analytical tools to look at how the municipal planning system for Arendal is both shaped – and sets the framework for – the interaction between different actors and groups. It also provides tools for analyzing the link between research-based, professional knowledge and different types of local knowledge. Secondly, I use a resource-based analytical perspective based on inspiration from the ABCD- method, Asset-Based Community Development. This combines a traditional top-down perspective, with a bottom-up perspective, which is particularly fruitful for studying urban development. Thirdly, the project has clear elements of action research, and will be based on action research literature. Co-creation and Placemaking are important analytical approaches. Important topics in the actions will be: how to organize (design), position (empower) and act to succeed in the processes. Major global change forces affect national, regional and local planning and development. The White Paper on Sustainable Cities and strong Districts, coordinated area and transport policy, etc., as well as living and public health policy, places new ambitious demands on municipal communities. The municipalities in Norway are in need for increased democracy and involvement in planning and development processes. This is well documented through findings from the DEMOSREG research program, and very relevant to the municipality of Arendal and other Norwegian municipalities. The aim of the project is to contribute to better practice, increased knowledge, scientific social science and to contribute to new theories. The project will also try to identify added value from involving processes, collaboration management and local knowledge, by combining academic planning practice, sustainability and social and natural science perspectives.
