Citizen protest in local urban planning - patterns, processes and interactions

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Uwe Altrock
• Subject Area: Urbanism, Spatial Planning, Transportation and Infrastructure Planning, Landscape Planning
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 429081708

In recent years, citizen protests with respect to local spatial planning have gained importance in planning theory and practice. Initial studies from the social sciences, and various contributions in planning scientific discourse indicate a change in the quality compared to earlier stages of protest. As in planning science both continuous research and a protest perspective on the theoretical discourse on participation, conflict and power are largely absent, the project aims to create an empirical basis for this. Based on the findings of protest theory in social science as well as a preliminary study by the applicant the project focuses on local political citizen protests – understood as a political strategy that seeks a cause related public escalation of conflict – in Germany’s mayor cities. The project will survey (type and extent) and analyse these phenomena, its relationship to planning practice and local politics. It will also place the results in the planning theory discourse. The study will combine quantitative methods (extended protest event analysis, internet analysis) with qualitative indepth case studies. These are framed by a participatory approach for the integration of research subjects and other scientists.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants