Safety and Sustainability in the Community Planning Process Actors' Interests, Roles and Influences

Sammanfattning: The licentiate dissertation “Safety and Sustainability in the Community Planning Process – Actors’ Interests, Roles and Influence” has in three case studies over detailed development planning processes examined how issues related to safety and sustainability are handled in Swedish municipal planning. The research project has focused on three municipal actors; the Planning Office, the Environmental Agency and the Fire and Rescue Services. The complete planning process has been assessed, starting with comprehensive planning, to detailed development planning and on to building permit assessment. The project’s aim has been to investigate how actors’ roles, interests, responsibilities and position influence the planning process.A handling procedure of preventing accidents instead of treating damages caused by accidents is increasingly stressed in society, with the effect that emphasis of handling these matters is given to community planning. This shift in turn has the effect that safety and sustainability become central in community planning, at the same time as new actors’ active participation is requested. One outcome is that municipal authorities such as the Environmental Agency and the Fire and Rescue Services are increasingly invited to actively participate in the plan work. Both actors have important roles in guarding safety and sustainability issues. Their approaches to these issues however differ, which influences how the matters are handled. The Planning Office has the role of balancing and transforming other planning participants’ contribution to the planning process. They also have responsibility of directing the process ahead. Actors participate in planning based on their knowledge, competence, interests and perspectives, but have to relate to conditions in-built in the planning context.The study has provided a view of actors work with safety and sustainability in community planning. Especially regarding collaboration between actors, actors’ access to planning as well as their possibilities for influence. A number of key issues have been extracted, which adjusted to the local planning context can favour the development of a safe and sustainable urban environment.