MANAGEMENT OF URBAN SPACES IN COLLABORATION: SIX DILEMMAS Magnus Johansson Peter Parker

Why collaboration? •  Improve or maintain quality of park management

for instance in times of limited public resources –  Tapping local knowledge and involvement so as to

find locally appropriate solutions.

•  In order to address issue of justice or social equity –  Explore the needs of different groups and address

issues of social equity –  Provide a space for underserved groups –  Improve participation as a means toward broader

participation in society (democratic aspect)

BUT… •  We note six organizational dilemmas

that spring from trade-offs in integrating local and municipal perspectives.

•  We believe these dilemmas are general but clearly there must be some variation with local organizational forms (your input is of interest)

•  Each dilemma entails balances and trade-offs that ultimately affect quality or justice aspects.

SIX DILEMMAS 1.  Power – Who owns the project and the resources?

Who has final say on developments? 2.  Degree of organization among participants –

conditions of participation, threshholds 3.  Justice and empowerment, old groups vs new –

political aspects 4.  Appropriation vs inclusion 5.  Expert vs local knowledge (spatial perspective) 6.  Short vs long time frames

TRADE-OFFS AND CONSEQUENCES •  Successful collaborative management will

mean different things depending on trade-offs in relation to each of the dilemmas.

•  The chosen strategy of dealing with dilemmas will have consequences with respect to quality and justice aspects of the resulting space.

QUESTIONS 1.  Do you agree on that collaborative

management may be an important element of developing public space?

2.  Do the dilemmas that have been presented reflect your experience? Which dilemmas are more important?

3.  Are there other kinds of dilemmas, not discussed, that you see as important?

4.  What experience do you have of successful collaborative management of public space? What kinds of trade-offs were involved in terms of the dilemmas presented?