Dialogues and citizen initiatives in stigmatized urban areas: reflections on the development of participatory planning principles in Gothenburg

A policy for citizen participation in planning is currently under development in Gothenburg, with parallels in many other Swedish municipalities. Current local changes can also be connected to a more long-term national and international policy formation, as well as planning practice and theoretical discourses promoting a more deliberative governance mod-el where citizens and other stakeholders take active part in urban development and manage-ment processes. The leading question in this paper is how current transformations in planning policy and practice in Gothenburg may affect the possibilities for empowerment of citizens and community capacity building in stigmatized urban areas. Drawing from theory and on-going case studies, a series of issues are identified and discussed. One central problem is the confusion between two potentially conflicting ideas of the citizen’s role in society. It is argued that the currently developing principles of participatory planning focus on inviting individu-als to formalized dialogues in the reign of the authorities, rather than enhancing citizens’ own collective initiatives and capability of mobilization and self-organization.