Planning and Societal Influence. A Contribution to the Systematisation of Planning Law

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Anika Klafki
• Subject Area: Public Law
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 553772496

The aim of the thesis is to systematise planning law with regard to social spheres of influence and, on this basis, to create reference points for evaluation, reform and standardisation. The need for planning by public authorities is constantly growing. Fundamental human problems such as climate change cannot be tackled without planning. Planning evolves a special political dynamic. This is clearly evident in the area of infrastructure planning. Planning law thus opens up special spheres of influence for society in terms of both organisational and procedural law, which are structured very differently in current planning law. The study consists of four parts. The first part is devoted to the characteristics of planning, possible models of differentiation and the changing academic reception of planning. The second part examines, on an abstract level, social spheres of influence in planning law. Five basic functions of social influence are identified: Information and rationalisation, individual legal protection, acceptance, control, and complementary democratic legitimation. Organisational and procedural "scaling elements" are then considered, through which the various functions of social influence can be anchored and implemented in planning law. These abstract considerations are put into practice in the third part of the thesis, which analyses the possibilities of social influence in selected reference areas. The reference areas analysed are spatial planning, climate protection planning, infrastructure-planning (in particular grid planning and the planning of a nuclear repository), health planning, school development planning, youth welfare planning as well as budgetary and financial planning. The work in the reference fields leads to the heart of the book: the typology of planning on the basis of social influence. The systematisation is based on the insight that it is not the functions of social influence that shape the system, but the chosen setting of the actors. On this basis, three basic models of planning law are developed: representative-democratic, association-centred and participatory planning. All three basic models are functionally adequate. However, they are based on different premises about the relationship between state and society and the system of sovereign control. This results in different rationalities for fulfilling the different functions of social influence. The potential and limitations of mixed actor settings can be deduced from this, leading to perspectives for reform and standardisation of future planning law.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants