Spatial Planning and Opportunities for Children’s Participation

A Local Governance Network Analysis

Abstract

Although children and teenagers intensively use public spaces, they are often marginalized in local planning debates. In Belgium, like in other West-European countries, spatial planning policy is managed by an extensive set of judicial procedures and officially established participation moments. How can children be involved in these urban planning projects? For one year, we investigated the development of a local urban planning project in a municipality in Flanders to detect opportunities and obstacles for children’s participation and child advocacy. Our analysis of the planning policy was inspired by recent theories on multi-actor governance and social network analysis. These theories offer opportunities to grasp the multileveled and intricate structure of local policy and to identify not only the “usual suspects” but also the more hidden actors and events. This close reading convinces us that possible children’s advocates need to develop their own network of actors. If this network has a talent for translating children’s needs into spatial planning and can influence decision making, then children’s participation in spatial planning becomes attainable.