Work package 1 – Mistra Environmental Communication

Work package 1

Dialogues in governance for sustainability

Dialogue-based governance is a promising way to involve actors from many perspectives. Yet, dialogue is challenging in the face of conflicts and power imbalances. We develop knowledge about power and conflict in participatory practices and design power-sensitive and conflict-aware environmental communication.

Contact person

Martin Westin

Leader of the focus area Governance
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Email

Martin works in the intersection between governance theory and practice. His research focuses on collaborative governance and participatory planning.

Governmental organisations often use dialogue-based approaches in governance for sustainability. The intention is to involve relevant actors that represent a variety of perspectives and positions – from businesses to landowners to activists and citizens – to ensure that policy interventions are socially legitimate and effective.

While dialogue processes are a valuable tool for inclusive, legitimate and effective governance, their implementation is often fraught with difficulties, usually due to challenges related to power relationships and conflict.

Designing power-sensitive and conflict-aware communication

Within MISTRA Environmental Communication, we translate recent research on power and conflict into participatory practices. Together with societal partners, we co-develop ways to design power-sensitive and conflict-aware environmental communication.

We work with the following cases:

Urban development in Uppsala
Water management in rural areas in Västmanland
Land use planning in Sami territory
Dialogue processes in forestry-related conflict management.

Researchers involved

Martin Westin, Researcher at Uppsala University and SLU
martin.westin@slu.se

Camilo Calderon, Researcher at SLU
camilo.calderon@slu.se

Lars Hallgren, Senior Lecturer at SLU
lars.hallgren@slu.se

Alexander Hellquist, Facilitator at Uppsala University
alexander.hellquist@swedesd.uu.se

Annette Löf, Researcher at SLU
annette.lof@slu.se

Amelia Mutter, Researcher at SLU
amelia.mutter@slu.se

Kaisa Raitio, Associate Professor at SLU
kaisa.raitio@slu.se

Dialogue and collaboration network

Within the focus area, a network has been created for those who want to develop sustainability dialogues. Read more about the network and sign up at slu.se/mistraec/natverkdialogsamverkan (in Swedish).

Tools

Reflektionscykeln – ett stödmaterial för dig som leder dialoger och samverkan (Swedish)
Att leda samverkan – en handbok för dig som vill hantera komplexa samhällsproblem (Swedish)

Publications

Nätverksmöte för samverkan – tema roller, mandat och legitimitet

Video

Webbinarium om när dialog och samverkan inte går som det var tänkt. Hanna Bergå och Lars Hallgren från SLU, Miljökommunikation höll workshop med nätverket för samverkan på Naturvårdsverket 25 mars 2020.

Can Conflict Be Planned Away? A Critical Assessment of Participatory Land Use Planning in Swedish Forest Governance

Scientific paper

A widespread governance response to land use conflict is to seek improved communication through the employment of dialogue-based instruments. In this paper, we interrogate the guiding presupposition that conflict can be planned away through a case study on the Reindeer Husbandry Plan (Renbruksplan), a tool used to address land use conflicts between industrial forestry and Indigenous Sámi reindeer herding. Annette Löf, 2024.

On Deliberators’ Awareness of Attitude Transformation.

Scientific paper

Hellquist, A. (2023). Journal of Deliberative Democracy,19(1).

Storytelling to save the planet – Who gets to say what is sustainable, who tells the stories, and who should listen and change?

Scientific paper

Joosse, S., Westin, M., Möckel, F., Keasey, H., Lorenzen, S. (2023). Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.

Public Planner – A Deliberative Authority.

Scientific paper

Mäntysalo, R., Westin, M., Mattila, H. (2023). Planning Theory & Practice, 24(1).

Between authority and argumentation: facilitators’ use of power in collaborative governance

Scientific paper

Westin, Martin; Hallgren, Lars; Montgomerie, Emily (2023) Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.

Att leda samverkan: en handbok för dig som vill hantera komplexa samhällsproblem

Book

Statens roll efter Girjasdomen

News article

Essä i Dagens Arena av Kaisa Raitio och Annette Löf.

Rethinking power in participatory planning: Towards reflective

Scientific paper

Martin Westin’s PhD thesis.

Facilitation is a matter of power

Blog post

Blog post written by Martin Westin

Participation post Covid-19: lessons from planners’ stories

Blog post

Blog post written by Martin Westin for SLU Urban futures.

Speedtalk: Frontstage and Backstage processes in collaboration and dialogue in Swedish natural resource management

Video

Lars Hallgren presents research on collaboration and dialogue processes in Swedish natural resource management. Part of the focus area “Dialogues in governance for sustainability”

Speedtalk: Understanding government-led dialogues in Sápmi

Video

Short presentation by Kaisa Raitio and Annette Löf about government-led dialogues in Sápmi. Research conducted in the focus area “Dialogues in governance for sustainability”.

Speedtalk: Power and ambivalence in practitioner’s stories

Video

Short presentation by Amelia Mutter of research conducted in focus area “Dialogues in governance for sustainability”.

The framing of power in communicative planning theory: Analysing the work of John Forester, Patsy Healey and Judith Innes

Scientific paper

Westin M (2022) The framing of power in communicative planning theory: Analysing the work of John Forester, Patsy Healey and Judith Innes. Planning Theory 21(2). SAGE Publications: 132–154.

“Let us be led by the residents”: Swedish dialogue experts’ stories about power, justification and ambivalence.

Scientific paper

Westin M, Mutter A, Calderon C, et al. (2021) “Let us be led by the residents”: Swedish dialogue experts’ stories about power, justification and ambivalence. Nordic Journal of Urban Studies 1(2). Universitetsforlaget: 113–130.