Planning contexts, temporal dimensions, and knowledge practices: unpacking the dynamics of conflict development in urban planning in Sweden
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Knowledge is central to urban planning, yet limited attention has been paid to how different knowledge types and claims shape conflict development across administrative planning contexts. While time and planning temporalities have been examined from various perspectives, their specific role in planning conflicts remains underexplored. This article advances understanding of how planning contexts, together with their temporal dimensions, influence knowledge practices and contribute to conflict dynamics. Using interviews and document analysis from three urban planning conflicts in Sweden, we apply an analytical framework integrating knowledge types, knowledge claims, administrative context, and temporal dimensions. Our results show, first, that lay experiences and knowledge were largely transformed into professionalized knowledge by community groups across all cases. Second, decision timing, process duration, and the temporal frames embedded in planning approaches significantly shaped conflict trajectories. Third, conflicts intensified when planning approaches with differing time frames – such as forecasting and backcasting – were conflated. Overall, the framework enabled a deeper understanding of how knowledge use and temporal dimensions interact to influence conflict development. Incorporating temporal analysis, including how temporal structures reflect power dynamics, can strengthen the design of participatory planning processes by addressing underlying drivers of conflict in complex planning contexts.
Source: European Planning Studies
Authors: Merritt Polk, Hannah Saldert, Olga Stepanova
Language: English
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7214010362