The Paradox of Participation: What Top-Down Urban Planning Means for Perceived Legitimacy and Citizen Initiatives

In this research, an answer was formulated to the research question on how legitimacy of top-down urban planning is experienced by involved stakeholders and what role citizen initiatives have in this context. In a times wherein citizen participation is normatively seen as essential for policy legitimacy (by politicians and policy makers), the city of Rotterdam had until very recently benefit by top-down urban planning efforts and gentrifying side effects. In the context of Rotterdam, there thus seems to be a paradox of participation. To answer this question a comparative case study has been conducted by looking at the top-down urban planning efforts in two cases, Fazantstraat (Vogelbuurt, Carnisse) and Tweebosbuurt (Afrikaanderwijk) in Rotterdam. Involved stakeholders and documentation has been interviewed or analysed. The analysis showed that top-down urban planning has negative effects on the perceived legitimacy of these urban plans. This results in the rise or strengthening of CIs. CIs consequently positively impacts perceived legitimacy of the policy after they have involved themselves or tried to according to residents and CI leaders. This effect was not visible with policymakers. CIs however do seem to influence the likeliness that top-down urban planning will be used again in future projects, therewith changing the way of policy making in the urban environment. Besides, also context specific factors were identified which could have influenced the experienced legitimacy or stance of the respondents. These external factors included: affinity and identification they felt with the local political arena; the current state of the housing market in Rotterdam; historical comparison that some respondents had. The results are generalizable and applicable for both cases, despite the fact that both cases have key differences. There were no major deviations between both cases in terms of outcomes. Additionally, all respondents referred to other on-going or past urban plans elsewhere in Rotterdam with the same sentiment. These results could therefore assist in designing policy making processes and plans in a more inclusive way as they are currently perceived within the city of Rotterdam.