Co-creation in spatial planning: analysing the different forms and natures of interactions between multiple actors

To address complex and interlinked societal challenges, spatial planning adopts and experiments with new and creative approaches, such as co-creation. In this paper, we develop a framework for exploring and analysing the interactions between the multiple actors and governance levels that participate in co-creation processes to jointly define problems and identify innovative responses for present and upcoming societal challenges. We studied two cases from the Netherlands, where polders are redeveloped to cope with a myriad of challenges. The findings show that different interactions, in terms of form and nature, take place in and around the co-creation process. We further found that the inception and the first interactions have a significant influence on the subsequent evolution of the process. The main conclusion of our study is that choosing different process and interaction configurations involves balancing flexibility, which fosters creativity and innovation, with formalization, which ensures that co-creation outcomes integrate smoothly into the planning process.