Let´s Talk – Open Dialogue between Property Developers and Municipalities Facilitating Sustainable Urban Development - Analysis of Perspectives, Working Methods and Communication Needs

Stereotypes of the „dull municipality“ vs. the „cash-hungry developer“ persist and hamper the collaboration – especially if municipal administrations tend to focus on problems rather than solutions or if developers disregard local specifics and focus solely on their return expectations. Yet, it seems municipalities and developers repositioning themselves in Germany: While municipal administrations digitize and keep design processes in-house again, developers shift their focus from specific asset classes to development of entire neighbourhoods. Moreover, planning tasks to design sustainable projects are becoming increasingly complex requiring more coordination between both parties. Therefore, understanding the perspectives and needs of both stakeholders will promote a more constructive collaboration. A qualitative study with more than 30 experts from planning agencies, councillors, project development companies, services providers and organisations, revealed 3 types of factors shaping the project collaboration: Unique soft, unique hard and generalising factors, with unique referring to factors applicable to one specific person or project context only. Some examples for “unique hard factors” are urban planning framework conditions or local real estate market structures, and “unique soft factors” such as local decision-making structures, the professional background or past experiences of the persons involved as well as the matter of mutual trust. Generalising factors can be grouped into promoting and impeding, such as frequent and transparent communication or vague objectives of urban planning. One of the areas of tension lies, e.g., in the detail level of information. If the developer approaches the administration with already made concepts and the final floor plan, the necessary room to jointly develop the project is lacking from the very beginning. Municipalities admit that they need to articulate their urban development objectives more clearly to provide developers with the appropriate framework conditions for the project. The conference contribution will highlight more findings of the interviews in detail. Drawn conclusions and recommended actions will be put up for discussion.