Prioritizing behaviour alongside regulations in Amsterdam’s planning projects

Abstract

Project-specific actor constellations and relationships shape contemporary planning practice. The existing literature predominantly focuses on the flexibility of regulations in planning projects and largely ignores the behaviour of involved governance actors. Here, we argue that the nuances of relationship dynamics between public and private sector actors deserve increased scrutiny. Based on in-depth interviews with public planners and project managers, and private developers and investors involved in Amsterdam's urban development, and a case study of a major redevelopment project, we have coined a new term: 'behavioural flexibility'. Behavioural flexibility highlights how relationships extensively affect how actors trust and communicate with one another, and how their goals align. Combined, these factors strongly impact planning outcomes as they determine how actors eventually behave in projects by either being supportive and constructive or unhelpful and obstructive. The findings call for an assessment of 'indicative actor relationships' as an alternate starting point for planning projects.

Agency and Structure in Urban and Regional Planning: An Illustrative Overview and Future Research Agenda

“…Engaging with agency and structure is important for planning practice since actors can play a crucial role in shaping processes of policy selection and design (Kalliomäki 2018), influencing the importance attached to different policies and ideas (Purkarthofer 2018 b , 2020) and providing support for, or resistance to, urban development projects (Gurung and Özogul 2022). As Fox-Rogers and Murphy (2016) recognize, structural conditions create constraints on the agency of planners but these conditions do not eliminate the opportunity for planners to exercise agency in their work.…”