The democratic foundations of the Just City: towards a comparative framework

Abstract

This paper departs from the debate on the Just City and asks what the democratic foundations of such a city would look like. In an effort to integrate advancements in urban research and democracy research, I propose a comparative framework for identifying favourable institutional arrangements for democratic planning processes potentially contributing to just planning outcomes. It is hypothesized that vertical and horizontal consensual power sharing institutions, complemented with a strong mayor and broadly mobilizing participatory arrangements, are best suited for protecting and empowering deprived population groups in a broad range of planning domains – from local redevelopment and municipal planning to the achievement of collective action at the metropolitan level. Future comparative case studies will show whether particular institutions and their configurations actually shape planning processes in ways that are essential for approaching the ideal of the Just City.