ABSTRACT
Participatory planning was included in the text of the new Norwegian Planning and Building Act of 1986. This chapter analyses one of the projects intiated in the wake of the new law and to match the intentions with the results. It presents a case study, which illustrates that it is not enough to have good intentions, communicative theory and a law supporting participatory and integrative planning as long as important elements are lacking in the institutional capacity building. Development planning in Norway is more or less synonymous with municipal planning. The planning process at Landås and the demand for an integrated ‘township plan’, was initiated by the local township council in 1988. The chapter demonstrates the contradictions between the need of an integrative planning approach at the local level and the interests/abilities of sectoral planning institutions and professions. It also exemplifies the problem of involving all relevant stakeholders in communicative planning processes and conflicts between different planning levels.
