Public sector planning agencies are today operating in a shared power world. Declining capacities (and with it often declining in-house expertise) in the public sector have contributed to the rise of private sector consultants playing an increasingly significant role in plan-making and development assessment processes. At the same time, community groups and associations have become more concerned with changes to their urban environments, sometimes resulting in opposition movements that may significantly delay the implementation of urban development projects.

In this track, we are interested in the relationship between these different groups of planning actors and how their interactions are shaping planning decisions and urban development outcomes. We invite conceptual and empirical contributions that shed light on the sometimes conflicting and sometimes cooperative relationships between these actors. Contributions that deal with the current practices around how information and knowledge are produced and used by different actors in planning processes are welcome. In this track, we are keen to discuss the implications of the changing landscape of planning actors on the approach to managing urban planning processes and on the distribution of power between different actors in determining urban development outcomes.

Please note that as part of this track on actor constellations more generally, a dedicated special session will be organised on the topic of “Urban planning and local democracy in the age of consultocracy ”, with a view to publishing selected contributions as a special issue of the journal Planning Practice & Research. Please indicate in your submission your preference for either the track on actor constellations or the special session on consultocracy.

Keywords: planning agencies, consultants, public participation, power relations, urban politics, local democracy, planning knowledges.

1. Federica Scaffidi - Are Private Investors Always Evil For Sustainable Urban Change? The Role Of Financial Actors In Transforming Under-Utilised Sites
2. Kristian Olesen - The Rise Of The Entrepreneurial Housing Association: The Case Of Denmark
3. Raghav Anand - The Right Shade Of Green: Can Urban Climate Transitions Build Bridges Across Political Lines?
4. Francesca Ferlicca - Popular Urbanization And Planning Practices In Buenos Aires
5. Tristan Claus - In Search For The Implementation Gap In Planning. An Analysis Of The Emergence Of Exemption Rules In National Legislation In Flanders (Belgium)

1. Miriam De Oliveira Goncalves - Framing Power Struggles In Territorial Governance Innovations.: The Case Of Community-Led Local Development (CLLD) Policy In Lisbon.
2. Shu Fen Hu - Innovations In Semi-Formal Tools And Multi-Actor Cooperation For Urban Design Governance: The Practice Of City Chief Designer System In China
3. Yun Sun - Paving The Way For Physical Transformation: How Design Entrepreneurship Instigated A Co-Evolution Of Institutional And Spatial Change In Rotterdam
4. Intan Novianingsih - The Exploration Of Bundling Transport Projects That Are Geographically Separated Through Public-Private Partnerships
5. Lukasz Damurski - Shaping The Discourse In Urban Decision-Making Processes. Outcomes Of The Participatory Budgeting Experiments In Wałbrzych, Poland
6. Martina Stepper - Dealing with complex actors’ constellations in city centers – What can Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) achieve?
7. Ebru Kurt Özman - Navigating the Gray-Zone in Urban Regeneration: Variegated Forms of Entrepreneurial Citizenship in Istanbul's Left-Behind Areas

1. Federica Scaffidi - Social Leadership. When Is It Too Much Or Too Little? The Intricate Relationship Between Local Actors In Urban Renewal Projects
2. Xy Gan - Health Equity In Chinese Residential Areas: A Perspective From The Built Environment Exposure
3. Lena Verlooy - Exploring The Urban Transformative Capacity Of Vulnerable Neighbourhoods: Towards A Just Energy Transition
4. Przemysław Ciesiółka - How Does The Planning Culture Affect The Role Of Actors In The Regeneration Process? An Example From Poland
5. Mathilde Moaty, Olga Suslova - Advancing The Market Through Authoritarian Means? The Evolution Of Urban Renewal Instruments In Saint Petersburg And São Paulo.

1. Sila Ceren Varis Husar - Human Agency And Regional Development: Planning, Knowledge Practices And Innovation In Slovak Regions
2. Kejt Dhrami - Citizen Science In Spatial Planning, Fostering Democratic Engagement In The Post-Ideological Age
3. Zhen Li - The Role Of Experts In Planning Disputes In China In The Era Of Social Media
4. Elena Ostanel - Mapping Socially Innovative Actors And Their Relation With Institutions. Critical Insights From Italy.
5. Agnès Deboulet - Facilitating Planning Decisions Through Co-Production. Circulation Of Knowledge And Democratisation

1. Ender Peker - An Action Research Approach To Empowering District-Level Authorities For Rainwater Harvesting
2. Tingting Wan - Social Grassroots Organization Coordinated And Multi-Actor Driven Regeneration Model Exploration Of Residential Historic Areas– Renfengli As An Example, Yangzhou, China
3. Gerrit J. Knaap - Planning Outside The Box: Equitable Transit-Oriented Development And The Purple Line Coalition
4. Gustavo Lopes Dos Santos - Grand Projects In The Lisbon Metropolitan Area Shaping Dynamics Of The Tagus Estuary: Priorities And Perceptions Of A Non-Specialist Public
5. Emma. J. Street - Beyond Market Value(s): Harnessing Transactional And Principle-Based Development Values In Urban Regeneration.

1. Stefanie Dühr - Negotiating Sustainable Urban Planning Outcomes: An Analysis Of Public-Private Power Structures In Local Planning Processes In South Australia
2. Andrea Victoria Hernandez Bueno - Consultocracy Around The “Caracas En Bici” Project: The Merits And Dismerits Of The Depoliticization Of Mobility Planning In The Venezuelan Context
3. Julie Chouraqui - Conquering New Markets? Private Consultancy And Urban Policies In French Medium-Sized Cities
4. Jenni Kuoppa - Who Holds The Pen? The Persuasive Power Of Urban Planning Visualisations In The Age Of Consultocracy
5. Christian Peer - Social Innovation As A Game Changer For Urban Transformation And Its Multi-Stakeholder Constellations?

1. Jenny Lindblad - Planning Consultants' Expertise In Times Of Changing Planning Actor Constellations
2. Francesca Bragaglia - Stuck In The Middle: Planning Consultants As Intermediary-Actors. The Case Of English Neighbourhood Planning
3. Mansi Naidu - Transnational Consultants, Project Management And Urban Development In Pune, India
4. Discussion of Special Issue on Urban Planning and Local Democracy in the Age of Consultocracy

1. Zan Gunn - Contemporary UK Planning And The Concept Of 'Consultocracy'
2. John Sturzaker et al. - The Privatisation Of Checks And Balances In Planning
3. Magdalena Belof - Can The Legal Procedure Remain The Only Systemic Guarantor Of Democratic Decision-Making In Polish Urban Planning?
4. Julio Paulos - The Trickle-Down Effect Of Audit Culture On Urban Planning: Accountability, Transparency, And Legitimacy
5. Sara Altamore - Multi-Stakeholders Practice Between Consultocracy And University Planning Processes Support