P
ARTY
-P
OLITICS
M
ATTERS IN
P
LANNING
FOR
SUSTAINABILITY
A comparative study of two Swedish municipalities with
different party-political majorities
Joel Lindstrand Widström
Supervisor: Zohreh Khoban Seminar Date: 2020/06/3-5 Political Science, with a sustainable development focus, Master´s Course
Abstract
This study aims to examine if party political governance creates different planning for sustainable development. The study examines two Swedish municipalities: Vellinge and Grums. These two municipalities have been selected because they have different political parties in majority. Grums municipality is governed by the Swedish Social Democrats, which is a left-wing party, while Vellinge is governed by the Moderates, which is a right-wing party. The study asks whether municipal planning for sustainability is carried out differently in municipalities with different political majorities. The previous research then helps to formulate two hypotheses that will enable the research question to be answered. The first hypothesis is that sustainable development policies in municipalities with a left-wing majority cover more areas of sustainable development than municipalities with a right-wing majority. The second hypothesis is that sustainable development policies in municipalities with a left-wing majority include more restrictive measures than municipalities with a right-left-wing majority. The study conducts a qualitative text analysis of comprehensive plan documents to test the hypotheses. Three pillars of sustainability are used to analyze the first hypothesis, while the other hypothesis is tested based on three different instruments to govern by policy. The analysis of this study confirms both hypotheses. The study therefore concludes that
municipal planning for sustainability is carried out differently in municipalities with different political majorities.
Table of content
Introduction ... 1
Objective and research question ... 2
Limitations ... 2
Definition of sustainable development... 2
Theory and previous research ... 3
Political ideology and sustainable development ... 3
Citizen Studies ... 6
Sustainable development from a local learning perspective ... 7
Theoretical framework ... 9
The three pillars of sustainability ... 9
Different possibilities to govern with policy ... 11
Hypotheses ... 12
Methodology ... 13
Qualitative content analysis ... 13
Material ... 13
Selection of cases ... 14
Validity and generalization ... 15
Analysis Schedule ... 15
Analysis ... 16
Analysis of Grums municipality ... 16
Economic sustainability ... 16 Social sustainability ... 19 Ecological sustainability ... 22 Sermons ... 26 Sticks ... 26 Carrots ... 26
Analysis of Vellinge municipality ... 27
Economic sustainability ... 27 Social sustainability ... 28 Ecological sustainability ... 31 Sermon ... 35 Sticks ... 35 Carrots ... 35 Comparative analysis ... 36
Comparison of planning areas to investigate hypothesis 1 ... 36
Conclusions about hypothesis 1... 37
Comparison of policy instruments to investigate hypothesis 2 ... 37
Conclusions about hypothesis 2... 38
Summary and conclusions ... 38
Reference list ... 40
Coded items for Grums municipality (Grums council. 2008), schedule 1 ... 43
Coded items for Grums municipality (Grums council. 2008), schedule 2 ... 46
Coded items for Vellinge municipality (Vellinge council, 2013), schedule 1 ... 47
Introduction
This thesis will describe whether and how planning for sustainable development has been influenced by party political ideologies. The study will examine two municipalities in the Swedish local context, where two different political parties have a majority: Grums and Vellinge. This means that the study will ask the question if party politics matters when it comes to planning. In order for the study to create an overview of the municipalities' planning in different areas, their overall comprehensive plans will be studied.
Sustainable development is today a topic that many municipalities are working to achieve. It has been argued that political will and strategies plays a role when it comes to create
sustainable development in society (Azar, 2018). Therefore, it is of importance that the political governance has established goals and prioritize sustainability in order to systematically negotiate different dilemmas. But in order to tackle this dilemmas and problems within sustainability there is a need for comprehensive, long-term, strategies.
The impact of policy on sustainable development has been investigated in several different studies. These studies find that right-wing parties in general do not take the issue of
sustainable development as serious as left-wing parties (Dunlap et al. 1975: 23-48). There are also citizens studies that conclude that voters' views on sustainable development differ
depending on party sympathy. They show that right-wing voters tend to think that sustainable development is less important than what the left-wing voters think. Right-wing voters are also less concerned about climate impacts than left-wing voters (Buttel & Wiliam. 1978: 17–26). However, researchers have not yet studied how party-political governance affect sustainable development planning in a local context.
In this study, I compare two municipalities where a single political party holds a majority. This creates an opportunity to look at their planning, without any necessary compromising with other parties, and makes it possible to see if and how party-political ideology has influenced their planning when it comes to sustainable development. The parties that will be examined are the Swedish Social Democrats and the Swedish Moderate Party (Moderaterna). These parties are interesting to study as they have different political ideologies and are both well-established parties in the local arena. They are also frequently involved in governing and shaping policy for sustainable development in municipalities in Sweden.
Objective and research question
The aim of the study is to gain a better understanding of sustainable development planning by investigating whether and how party-political ideology influences planning for sustainable development at the local level in Sweden. By examining municipalities that have different party-political majorities, and where the parties have different ideologies, it becomes possible to find possible differences and similarities in their planning for sustainable development. This study will therefore answer the following research question:
• Is municipal planning for sustainability carried out differently in municipalities with different political majorities?
Limitations
This study does not aim to isolate party ideology as the only cause of differences in sustainability planning. Other factors than party ideology can be causing differences. For example, geographical position and level of heavy industry. Thus, it is not possible to isolate the effects of policy on ideology. The study can only indicate if party majority is a factor when planning for sustainability. Further, this study will be limited to the Swedish context, because of my knowledge of the Swedish language.
Sweden has also been chosen because of the high degree of local self-government. This means that local planning is to a large extent based on the municipalities' own local planning decisions (Montin & Granberg, 2013: 32). In addition, previous literature has ranked Sweden as a front to mid-field runner in sustainable development (Knill, Heichel & Arndt, 2012: 36– 45). All of these factors make Sweden a most-likely case for having well-developed, and different, policies for sustainable development at the local level.
Definition of sustainable development
Sustainable development is about creating a balance between three different areas within the society that should be of equal importance: economic, social and ecological. For example, economic aspects that can be considered sustainable need to take social and ecological aspects into account. It is also about ensuring that future generations have the same opportunities as today's generation to meet their needs. The idea of equal opportunity also applies to current generations, which should have equal opportunities to benefit from recourses, and have equal
rights to live in an unpolluted environment. Thus, planning for sustainable development means to pay equal attention to all three previous mentioned values when planning (Baker. 2016: 22 – 36).
Theory and previous research
Previous research shows that political ideology plays a key role when it comes to
sustainability planning. But there are also other factors that can influence these plans in the municipal contexts. In this chapter, I will first present previous research on the relationship between political ideology and sustainable development. I will start by presenting different ways political ideology has affected sustainable development in planning aspects. This will be followed by a section on how party affiliation affects citizens’ attitudes towards sustainable development. By reading previous studies on matters of sustainable development, it turns out that previous studies often choose to focus on the environmental aspect of sustainability. Therefore, this section will be dominated by research on the environmental part of sustainable development. The section will be used to develop hypotheses at a later stage. Next, studies that relate to local learning from a sustainability perspective will be presented. I will discuss how organizations and municipality’s learning for sustainability can look like. The last
section will deal with different tools for evaluation of sustainability, including a description of three pillars of sustainability, and three different policy instruments for policy governance. These parts will later form an analysis scheme, according to which I will organize and categorize the empirical material.
Political ideology and sustainable development
A study that has been conducted in the US finds that there is a difference in the voting of policies that promote the area of environmental protection between the Democrats and the Republicans. The authors find that at the national level, Republicans often choose to vote against environmental policy proposals, and Democrats votes in favor. This trend has led the US to see increased distancing between the parties when it comes to voting on environmental protection issues. The increased distancing is something that has happened over time in the House of Representatives and the Senate. This has meant an increased difference between the various parties' views on environmental issues at the federal level. It has also created an increased difference between those who vote for the parties and their views on environmental
issues. However, the gap between voters has not increased to the same extent as the gap between political parties (Dunlap et al. 1975: 23-48).
A study by Garmann (2013) looks more closely at whether reduced carbon dioxide emissions and the type of ideological rule play a role. The study finds that the countries that have a left-wing government bidder to emit less carbon dioxide than the countries with center and right-wing governments. It also comes to light that those who have the center ideology emit less than right-wing governance. This may mean that the more to the right a party is, the more carbon dioxide emissions they emit. The study also identifies changes in emissions policy and finds that green parties have become more common and accepted in most countries, which has led to an adjustment of current policies. This may also be due to a more informed election groups that considers environmental issues to be something that is important, or that parties have had a competition for voters that leads to environmental policy being a way to compete. Garmann suggests that left parties focus on reducing pollution may be due to their built-in ideas about regulating the market so that it behaves in a desired way. This can also be due to the fact that left voters run a greater risk than those on the right to be affected by, for example, air pollutions. This may be one reason why they consider it available to regulate and reduce emissions. The parties on the left are also better known for expanding politics to new areas such as environmental issues. However, there are some contradictions for left-wing parties to reduce emissions, for example because this could risk jobs in the industrial sector. On the right side, they can call those who are negative to the reduction of emissions because it would require adjustments in the industry sector that are expensive for capital owners. It can also mean higher pollution taxes, which the right parties are against, as they are often closer to the capital owners. It can also be a case of that right-wing citizens are more likely to be able to escape the effects of pollutions than left wing citizens (Garmann, 2013: 1–10).
Previous research also highlights country-differences in environmental policy by studying whether a country can be considered a front runner or laggard in environmental policy. While some studies describe Sweden as a frontrunner in environmental policy (Hysing, 2014: 262-274), Knill, Heichel & Arndt (2012) argue that Sweden is a midfield runner. Thus, the study suggests that Sweden should be seen as a midfield runner even though previous literature and research have presented the country as the front runner. Sweden has performed worse in their tests than those who conducted previous studies when it comes to environmental policy. Sweden starts off well in policy performance for sustainable development in the 1970 and
even improves drastically in the 1980. But after that the policy performance seems drop during the 1990 to then slowly increase in the 2000 to secure a position in the upper level of the mid field. This means that Sweden was early to adopt sustainable development policy, but then it seems to have stagnated to some degree (Knill, Heichel & Arndt, 2012: 36–45).
There ae also studies on political party ideology and social sustainability. A study by Bjørnskov (2008) presents the possible impact of ideology on income inequality and economic growth. There are various approaches to income differences as well as several suggestions on how it could be resolved within policy. The study therefore looks at different ideological explanations for why policies on the subject look the way they do. The article discusses whether ideology has any significance in the national arena, and finds that right-wing politicians like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher put great faith in tax reductions to promote equal opportunities for all citizens, while left-wing governments historically has been positive to unions negotiating with employers to create more equality in pay. This can be seen as a way that left-wing politicians have tried to create more equal conditions in the labor market. The study also tests whether there is any link between economic growth and ideology. The results of the study show that there is a link between political ideology and growth, where right-oriented politics seems to be able to create growth more effectively than left politics. This may be because right-wing governments would not create policies to reduce income inequality, while left parties would implement policies to reduce inequality and create policies that generate public goods that risk growth. What is said above may seem extreme in some contexts, it may also mean that the right parties would, to a lesser extent, create policies like the ones above, but to a lesser extent than a left-oriented government would implement (Bjørnskov, 2008: 300-308).
Previous research also highlights that other factors than political ideology can be important for variations in policy. In an article on political governance, the authors create a hypothesis that increased welfare investments should be related to the governance of social democratic parties. To test this hypothesis, they have created a survey aimed at politics at the state level. The study aims to compare the present with the past in order to see if there is any political change depending on governing party. It will count policies to promote welfare in percentages during these different periods of time. This means that the study looking back to see if policy change has something to do with the political parties. The study summarizes that places where the veto rights are the lowest are the greatest opportunity for political parties to influence
policy. This means that the systems with least veto votes have the greatest opportunity for party political change in policy plans (Kühner, 2010: 395–415).
Citizen Studies
Previous research has also studied the relationship between citizens’ party affiliation and their view on sustainable development. An article written by Riley Dunlap presented that party-political identification seems to play a role when it comes to creating an image of
environmental problems. The parties under investigation are Republicans and Democrats. The study investigates survey material from north western university, there students' participation in environmental activities are examined. The study shows that students who consider
themselves liberal are more likely to participate in environment-related activities than conservative students. It also shows that students who are liberal care more about
environmental problems than conservatives. And that groups of Liberals or Democrat voters considers it more likely that an environmental disaster will occur if nothing is changed, then the Republican voters (Dunlap. 1975: 428-454).
In a study on scientific trust and the influence of science on decision-making, Brent et al (2006) found that there is a connection between ideological identification and trust in scientific expertise. The study examines the confidence in ecological researchers and their knowledge, because researchers have been given an increasingly important role when it comes to policy making around environmental problems. They find that those who usually have less faith in science as politically independent are the conservative politicians and their voters. This does not always mean that conservatives openly deny knowledge of
environmental issues. However, there were occasions where they openly showed that they possess knowledge of environmental problems, but for the next moment they ignore this knowledge because it does not always coincide with their ideological convictions. The study concludes that there is a greater faith in science among liberals than it is within conservative spheres. It is also shown that conservatives are more willing than liberals to use non-scientific knowledge in policy creating (Brent et al. 2006: 281–495).
A study on European residents and their attitudes to climate issues found that Western
European citizens who are on the left of the ideological scale tend to believe in anthropogenic development to a larger extent than residents who are on the right of the scale. The residents
who are on the left show a willingness to pay something themselves to make a solution possible within the environmental problems. However, although there is a polarization within the debate of environmental issues in the EU due to ideology, it has not proved to be as extensive as in the US. Nevertheless, the tendency is found in both the United States and the EU, although they have different types of political right-left scale (McCright et al., 2016: 338-358).
Th findings above are confirmed by a study conducted on the state of Wisconsin. According to the study, Democratic voters have a greater willingness to create various reforms that may solve environmental issues than the Republican voters. This study also examined whether there is any difference between the voters in both parties depending on their level of education. There, it turns out that party political ideology has a strong significance for the highly educated groups attitude towards the environment. While the low educated groups, view of the environmental matters was not affected to the same extent as the high educated. This means that the highly educated are most affected by their party's political affiliation, then those with lower education when it comes to their attitude towards the environment. The study also shows that Party Politics generally affects citizens less than their ideological identification (Buttel & Wiliam. 1978: 17–26).
Various types of studies have been conducted to see if party political ideology and party sympathies have any influence on the view of sustainable development. Many studies conclude that this should be the case. However, there seems to be a lack of research on the relationship between party politics and sustainable development in the local decision-making context. By filling this research gap, this study will make it possible to gain an insight into the local aspects of sustainable development, depending on party political ideology. Before presenting tools for doing such an analysis, I will describe the existing literature on how policies for sustainable development are developed on the local level.
Sustainable development from a local learning perspective
A study by Olsson (2009) examines four different municipalities in Sweden to show how the global idea of sustainable development is processed at the local context. The study's results show that this adaptation to the global idea can look very different within the study's chosen cases. It turns out that the cases have approached this adaptation in different ways, where one
of the four cases have chosen to work with the four principles presented by the UN. But the municipality has had difficulty specifying how to work with these four principles. It turns out that different departments within the municipality favor certain principles over others and that these do not seem to be the same principle across all departments. While the smallest case in the study shows a well-developed coherence on factor 10 ideas, this could possibly be
explained by the size of the administration which is considerably smaller than in the first case. In the two remaining cases, sustainability is completely ignored and instead there is a strong policy focus on promoting the economic growth. This has meant that within these two
municipalities, sustainable development has come in the second hand. Olsson argues that this is because historically the two municipalities working on sustainable development have had an easy time adopting new ideas while the other two do not have the same tradition. This shows that there is no regional dissemination of ideas and learning. The study thus shows that the local context is important when it comes to ideas such as sustainable development
(Olsson, 2009: 127–138).
The importance of knowledge transformation over time is also highlighted by a study that examines the role of grassroots organizations when it comes to distributing knowledge on living sustainably to people in society. The study examines a group of students who, through various types of activities for members, try to teach ways to live more sustainably. The study takes off in Wenger's four points on learning, where the four points consist of identity,
training, meaning and community. The student group arranges different types of activities, all of which include Wenger's four points. Examples of activities may be workshops and food cooperatives. The organization proved to be capable of retaining its members over a longer period of time, which meant that the knowledge that had been gathered could be transferred from older members to the newer once. This created a rotation of knowledge when new members joined and old disappeared (Bradbury & Middlemiss, 2013: 796-810). This way of rotating and creating cohesion of sustainability ideas can prove important when it comes to creating policies to promote sustainable development overtime within an organization such as a municipality.
Theoretical framework
In this part I will present the three pillars of sustainability and three different ways of governing with policy. These parts will then be used in the analysis section.
The three pillars of sustainability
Baker (2016) has identified three pillars to show the width of sustainable development: the economic, the social and the ecological. The economic pillar is briefly about resources and consumption and the location of resources. In short, the social is about social justice, values, morals and institutions in society. It is important to remember when planning for sustainable development it should not be seen as trying to reach an end station, but it is about acting in a way that leads to a more sustainable path (Baker, 2016: 22–36). There are those who criticize the three pillars on which sustainable development is developed, which they believe is
complicated to use when it comes to theorizing how work should look like when using these pillars (Purvis, Yong & Robinson 2019: 681 -695). However, Basiago argues that the pillars are important from a planning perspective because they create a simple system for how a planner can think in the planning process (Basiago, 1998: 145-146).
Below is a definition of how the different pillars of sustainable development can be identified I start with economic sustainability and then move on to social sustainability. Finally,
environmental sustainability will be defined. Historically, economic values have governed how politics should look. Where values such as increased growth, consumption and resource use are set as something only positive. It has also previously existed a view that there are endless resources to use in production. The same view saw with confidence that growth will help even the poorest in the community. But when talking about economic sustainability, there needs to be other values taken into account when planning for the economy, such as natural capital, reformulation of growth and an understanding that natural resources are not infinite. This has created a redefinition of the values to include when thinking about a sustainable economy. The sustainable economy is in clear view about satisfying the level of consumption that exists today without affecting future generations' opportunities (Basiago, 1998: 149-152).
Social sustainability is based on values such as equality, different accessibility to community services and equal opportunities for all citizens. There is also a need for opportunities for all
citizens to participation in all parts of society. As well as an existing stable institutional existence. This pillar is about a social organization to combat poverty and other similar types of exclusions in societal circles. There are some who believe that both economic growth and ecological sustainability are crucial to whether there can be opportunities to develop social sustainability, since a polluted environment creates difficult social problems, for example with access to food, and that economic growth makes it possible to focus on different needs of the population in a society. However, this does not mean that social sustainability must mean environmental pollution, it is simply about creating these types of conditions for citizens within the limits allowed by the economy and environment (Basiago, 1998: 152-155). The pillar that deals with the environment is based on creating a balance between the
production of economic values, and the opportunity for the environment to recreate these eco-services. It is also about for example, not creating more pollution than the nature can handle. It is therefore about not creating more waste than nature is able to handle. At the same time that humans should not harvest more resources than the nature can recreate. This means that a planer most take environmental aspects into account in almost all types of planning and policy, due to the complex system of the ecological reaction chain that can create major issues in the future. It is also about keep natural areas intact and be responsible when chancing natural areas function. This pillar is usually the one that receives the most attention when it comes to conversations in sustainable development, but since all three pillars have the same value, it can be argued that the planning must take all three pillars into consideration in order to create a more sustainable societies in the long run (Basiago, 1998: 155-157).
The Brundtland report called “Our common future” links the economic, ecological and social values of sustainability together. The report creates links between the different areas and shows that they are intertwined in different ways. An example of such a link is the
exploitation of forests that can lead to soil erosion and lesser fish in the water. This, in a long perspective, can also create starvation among humans and more difficult economic conditions when the forest has completely disappeared. The report also explains that environmental problems are not just a matter for the nation, as the effects of environmental problems travel across national borders. This in turn means that sustainable development has become a global problem. There is also a formulated inter generation perspective within the report, which is about acting in a way that does not compromise future generations living conditions. This means that people today should not consume goods and natural resources in a way that creates
injustice to the next generation. It is a matter of meeting the needs of the present generation, without compromising for future generations and ensuring that they have the same
opportunities as the previous generation. This is also true in the current perspective, which is based on creating justice for the entire population of the earth when it comes to the right to access resources, and have equal possibilities (Baker, 2016: 47–67).
Different possibilities to govern with policy
Besides the width of sustainable development, sustainable development could also be
analyzed by looking at policy instruments. Within policy, there are several ways to ensure that a policy is followed and that it reaches the intended outcome. These different ways of
controlling policy are called policy instruments and are important when it comes to policy implementation. Because the way of governing will be important, when it comes to how the target group will be looking and react to the policy. Policy instruments have been divided into three categories: sticks, carrots and sermons (Bemelmans-Videc. 2003: 41-48). The first way to governing with policy is sticks. Sticks is based on regulating the standards that exist within a certain area. Penalties may also be applied to those who do not comply with the rules. This suggests that the governing body will use threat of action for those who choose to not follow the rules created by policy. However, this type of governing can be risky if it turns out that there are not enough controls conducted. This means that constant monitoring is required, otherwise there is a risk that the policy will be poorly followed. Which would mean a poor outcome for the policy (Lemaire, 2003: 59-76).
The other policy instrument is the carrot. Carrot means steering society towards something by offering, for example, financial support. An example of this could be a contribution to
someone who will build solar panels on their roof. Subsidies are given to encourage someone to carry out a project that is desired by the governing bodies. The benefit of subsides are that the governing bodies do not have to carry out the project themselves, but instead makes a contribution for a part of the cost. However, the problem with the carrot is that it is difficult to measure the cost and benefit generated by the subsides. There are also difficulties in creating policy based on subsides, as there may be goals that conflict with each other (Leeuw, 2003: 77-103).
The final policy instrument is Sermon. Sermon shall govern through information and knowledge shared with citizens. This is a way of trying to influence how citizens make decisions on their own. The information and knowledge that is distributed to the citizens should help them to distinguish which decision is right or wrong. It gives the citizen the knowledge to choose which decision path that is most suitable. The knowledge is distributed through various information campaigns, education and pamphlets. Within policy, however, there are various types of effects, there are the desired effect, side effect and unwanted effect. By using sermon, it will be difficult to see what effect the distribution of information will exactly have. This means that this way of governing can be risky to apply when the unwanted effects can have disastrous consequences (Vedung & van der Doelen, 2003: 103-149).
Hypotheses
Since previous studies and rankings place Sweden as a front or midfield runner in
sustainability issues, there should be policies that govern sustainable development in most municipalities. But the policy may differ in planning to achieve sustainable development depending on the underlying ideology. As described above, party political ideology has been shown to influence policy. It has been found that right-winged parties in both the US and Europe tend not to focus on environmental issues to the same extent as left-winged parties. This study tests if the same patterns that has been recognized in previous research can be applied to the local Swedish context. This will fill a gap in previous research, which has so far not investigated the relationship between party ideology and sustainable development policy on the local level.
Based on the previous research findings, and tools for measuring sustainability policy, I expect the following from sustainable development policies in Swedish municipalities: H1: Sustainable development policies in municipalities with a left-wing majority cover more areas of sustainable development than municipalities with a right-wing majority.
H2: Sustainable development policies in municipalities with a left-wing majority include more restrictive measures (sticks) than municipalities with a right-wing majority.
Methodology
Qualitative content analysis
To test the hypotheses, I will use qualitative content analysis. The method makes it possible to analyze texts and materials in a systematical way in order to answer a research question. It helps in first making interpretations of the material, and then finding different patterns of meaning. The method makes it possible to systematically create a model that examines texts where the material is extensive. Thus, the qualitative content analysis is suitable for
describing and understanding the meaning of a text, and in some cases, the researcher’s ability to read between the lines can be helpful. The qualitative content analysis should be
implemented with the help of coding in order to create a systematic work way. This coding is done based on themes, such as hypotheses. In this study, the coding will make it possible to create categories that enables a comparison of how the sustainable development planning looks in the two cases. I will sort the text in each category by manual coding (Boréus & Kohl, 2018: 50-51).
The qualitative content analysis was chosen for this study because of the need to read general and extensive planning documents in order to identify the patterns and decisions relating to sustainability specifically. Thus, an important part of the coding will be to identify relevant parts of the text. As previously mentioned, the qualitative content analysis also provides the opportunity to systematize and classify the content of the text to create a comparison between the cases in this study, and thereby test the hypotheses and answer the research question. Thus, the content of the text will fall into summary categories that can be compared across the cases (Esaiasson, Gillijam, Oscarsson, Wängnerud. 2012: 210-212).
Material
The material that will be analyzed is comprehensive municipal plans (so-called
“översiktsplan”) presented by the Grums municipality in 2008 and in Vellinge municipality in 2013. The plans mainly focus on physical planning and describe what the municipalities hope to achieve in the future. Both documents are created by political parties and stand as a vision of the future. Important to keep in mind is that these documents not only contain planning for sustainable development but also contain other planning that cannot be identified as
sustainable, which means that the documents are general and that only certain parts will be relevant to the study. In this study I will analyze the comprehensive municipal plans of Grums
and Vellinge municipalities, which are public and can be found on the website of the municipalities. The document from Grums Municipality is called “Comprehensive Plan” (Grums council, 2008), and consist of a total of 56 pages. Vellinge's plan (Vellinge council, 2013) consists of 212 pages and is called “Vellinge Comprehensive Plan 2010”. It is
important to note that Vellinge's document cover issues other than the actual planning, such as the methodology behind the plan, and includes a large number of images. Apart from this, the plans have a similar content and are therefore highly comparable.
In some parts, the documents are repetitive and technical. These parts will not be referenced in my analysis. This is important to understand because the study does not intend to explore different technical solutions in planning. Instead, the study seeks to identify areas that the municipalities are planning for sustainable development.
Selection of cases
The municipalities that have been selected are Grums and Vellinge. The first selection criterion was to find cases with single party majority, which both cases have. Grums has a majority of Social Democrats and Vellinge has a majority of Moderates (Moderaterna). This criterion was used because previous studies have so far not explored how party politics affects planning for sustainable development at the local level. By choosing municipalities where parties with different ideologies hold majority, my intention was to find two cases that could generate a most-likely difference. In other words, I wanted to see whether there are any differences where we can expect them the most. The second criterion was to select well-established parties in order to be able to generalize the results to as many municipalities as possible, even if these parties would only constitute part of the political leadership. Third, I wanted to select cases where parties have influenced planning in the cases over time, in order to avoid measuring influence by other parties. This can be important if the planning has been going on for more than one term. According to SCB (2019), the Social Democrats have had a majority in Grums since 1998, and in Vellinge the Moderates have had a majority since 1988 with the exception of the elections in 2010 where they got 49,8% and 2014 where the party got 48,1% of the votes. However, in 2018 they got their own majority back with 50,4%. In Sweden, Vellinge is the only municipality that has a right-winged one-party majority (SCB. 2019), which is the reason it was selected despite of an inconsistent single-party majority.
The choice of municipalities was also made on the basis of the number of citizens and budget recourses. These similarities are important to create a study with high internal validity. However, there is an awareness that factors other than just residents, budgets, and political influence can be important for sustainability, but these have not governed the selection process. For example, Grums is a municipality with a lot of heavy industry, and Velling does not have that in their city. Both Vellinge and Grums are municipalities with big cities in the approximate area, and in Vellinge are the majority of the citizens working in these larger cities. This is a factor that could be of relevance when planning for sustainability and be problematic when it comes to the study’s ambition to explain differences in sustainable planning based on party-political majorities.
Validity and generalization
In the Swedish context, it is uncommon for parties to have their own majority in the decision-making bodies. Thus, the selected cases should be seen as extreme cases. These extremities might be caused by other extremities. In other words, the fact that they have a single part majority might be because they are extreme when it comes to other factors. This can lead to difficulties when it comes to the internal validity of the study, i.e. the assumption of studying differences in part political ideology only. The fact that single party majority is rare also makes it difficult to generalize the results of this study. One might argue that the results of the study can only be generalized to other cases where the Social Democratic or Moderates are in majority. However, I believe the study can create opportunities to demonstrate if there may be similar kind of differences in sustainable development planning in municipalities with a mixed right or mixed left majority.
Analysis Schedule
Below I have presented the analysis charts that have been created to classify and sort the text within the cases. The first chart has been based on the three pillars of sustainability. The second chart will use the three policy instruments. Both the three pillars of sustainability and the three policy instruments has been presented in the theory chapter. This classification has been created to investigate whether the hypotheses created on the basis of previous research are confirmed or rejected within the Swedish context. It will give us a clue as to whether these hypotheses might be valid in the Swedish local context. The analysis scheme is based on first identifying the sustainability area of the planning, and then identifying the type of control
instrument used for the policy in the comprehensive plan. This makes it possible to compare if and how the two municipalities differ in regard to sustainable development planning. After the sorting of the text has been completed, a comparative analysis of the material will be carried out where differences and similarities will confirm whether the hypotheses are correct or not.
Analysis Schedule 1
Economic
sustainability
Social sustainability Ecological
sustainability
Analysis Schedule 2
Sermon
Stick
Carrot
Analysis
The first part of the analysis will focus on the findings in the documents of the two municipalities. After that, a comparing analysis will be conducted. This will be done by summarizing the sustainable development areas and the policy instruments for each
municipality in two tables. This will create a clear comparison between the cases. The exact coding behind the identified planning areas will be presented in the appendix.
Analysis of Grums municipality
Economic sustainability
The municipality describes that they must create a stronger sense of closeness within the municipality. An example of how to do this is to develop the trade in the city which the municipality currently considers to be inadequate. The municipality believes that trade should be developed primarily from a Grums perspective (Grums council, 2008: 4-6). Trade should have the opportunity to grow and develop in Grums via a restructuring of the center to create clearer trading venues, as they now appear to be fragmented (Grums council, 2008: 12). This has previously been a problem since there is a closeness to other larger cities and malls. But the municipality still values their local alternatives. Hence, the municipality wants the trade to be developed within the municipality and not just outside of major cities such as Karlstad.
(Grums council, 2008: 36). This means in planning for local trade the municipality also has other perspectives such as environment and citizens: environment through reduced trips to other cities and socially for proximity to local alternatives. This means that the planning should be seen as a way of planning for economical sustainable development.
The municipality describes that opportunities for commuting increase the possibilities for a larger labor market for both citizens and companies. The larger labor market of people traveling in and out of the municipality creates opportunities for companies and citizens. But the municipality recognizes that this can have a negative impact on the environment, if more people commute. This is through the car's impact on the environment via carbon dioxide and nitric oxide. The municipality sees a solution to this by offering better public transport for those who work within these companies (Grums council, 2008: 6-7). Therefore, will the municipality try to affect the decision on development on the railway, this will both reduce traveling times and be substitute to busses and cars when commuting (Grums council, 2008: 32). They also describe the importance of these being safe for the people traveling. The municipality wants to invest in economic growth by promoting commuting to and from the municipality. They choose to take other values into account than just economic growth, where environmental and social aspects such as reduced emissions and safety for commuting are taken into account. This means that this policy should be seen as a contribution to sustainable economic development.
A development of the infrastructure can also offer companies the opportunity to easily transport goods from the municipality. It will attract companies to establish themselves in the municipality. At the same time, an improved infrastructure can reduce noise level for nearby homes, and more efficient transport to and from the municipality contributes to reduced emissions from vehicles (Grums council, 2008: 6). The improved infrastructure will also improve safety when transporting dangerous gods (Grums council, 2008: 31). This is interpreted that reduced noise levels from transports help residents feel better, at the same time as the reduced emissions contributes to a better environment. This will meanwhile create efficient transport and attract companies to boost the economic growth.
The municipality has planned to create attractive housing in beach or natural locations. This is believed to help the municipality to become an attractive municipality for housing. The municipality explains that this investment in houses close to the beach will enable the
municipality to attract more residents with an attractive house price (Grums council, 2008: 4). However, the municipality describes the importance of managing these buildings in a way that promotes environmental values, since it perceives that these natural ideals make the municipality competitive (Grums council, 2008: 22-24). The municipality has several different sites that will or have been exploited with different types of constructions. In the existing areas, various types of revisions should be made on the area plan, in order to control how size and details should look to blend into the surroundings at lakes. In the future, designs of the building should be taken into account when building near areas of cultural values or beach close locations. The municipality will therefore change the regulations for building in those areas (Grums council, 2008: 7). The policy formulations suggest that previous building at beach near locations has caused various environmental values to be damaged. But it seems that the municipality realizes that environmental and cultural values should be handled in a more restrictive way, as they wish to change previous regulations on this. This policy should be seen as a way of not letting economic values neglect the environmental values.
The municipality wants to promote education among the citizens for various jobs that companies in the municipality has a demand for. This will create attractiveness to establish new companies in Grums. The fact that there is close access to higher education in the region increases the possibility that companies choose to establish themselves in the municipality. The municipality also says that education will lead to better self-realization and public health (Grums council, 2008: 6). They believe that in the long term, the municipality will become attractive to companies if the level of education is high. Education together with good land conditions will create opportunities for companies in the municipality (Grums council, 2008: 12). The municipality believes that trained staff creates growth, but at the same time there are several important social aspects of the education policy. This together creates an
economically sustainable view of what the development of companies will look like in the municipality.
Agriculture and forestry are regarded as an important part of Grums Municipality's economic conditions in terms of jobs. The municipality will give agriculture advantages over, for example, housing. They believe that it is an important balance in order to not create conflict between agriculture and housing placement. Housing developments will take place so that the interests do not interfere with each other. The different types of agriculture are seen as
keeping the landscape open, and enable horse keeping (Grums council, 2008: 9-14). Forestry need to take responsibility for values that are both social and environmental. Forestry need to be handled in a sustainable way in mined of the reassures and also biological aspects (Grums
council, 2008: 38). This is interpreted as the municipality having chosen to consider economic factors where a consideration is taken between social, environmental and economic values, where economic values are central to policy, since farmers interests is the top priority. The municipality choose to highlight economic benefits and then argue that this will create good side effects, to finally land in the conclusion that agriculture needs to be prioritized over housing to promote sustainable economy in the long run.
After the closure of old industries, Grums Municipality has been left with contaminated land in areas that the municipality considers to be strategically situated to establish new businesses. The municipality says that this land has beneficial infrastructural conditions, therefore the municipality sees the importance of addressing contaminated areas to establish new
operations in the future. They believe this land is a resource they need to take advantage of and say that the old land must be taken care of before new areas are exploited (Grums council, 2008: 13). But for now, many different areas that may have been polluted are uninvestigated (Grums council, 2008: 28). The fact that the municipality sees the value in the old
contaminated land means that measures to clean up this land can provide benefits for the environment as old pollution is removed. However, the municipality does not mention this perspective in their document, and it cannot be interpreted that they say this between the lines, so therefore can this be seen as a missed opportunity for the municipality to deal with
sustainability in their planning.
Social sustainability
The municipality wants to improve the public environments within the municipality, this is believed to increase security and create attractive places in the city for the residents, such as meeting places (Grums council, 2008: 4). These meeting places will be important in the creation of a pulsing city center, which the municipality thinks are beneficial for the citizens (Grums council, 2008: 11). It is also important for the municipality to create a common identity for the municipality's residents. This will be done by trying to evolve the municipality from a sleeping city to a living suburban city with a distinct identity. The municipality believe that they need to address the increased demands from residents about the sense of closeness to
different services such as shops, education and good living environments as well as security (Grums council, 2008: 4-5). There is also important to have safe ways for kids to travel to school. They also state that it is important for to have a care that is developed from
democratic values (Grums council, 2008: 36-37). The municipality has proposed a number of measures to increase social sustainability by adopting values such as security, identity, community and accessibility to service and business.
The municipality has also several proposals on what the housing market should look like. They believe that it is important to build a feeling of community between the citizens. They propose that it is important to ensure that this affiliation is developed and maintained through housing. Examples of measures are to ensure that there are homes in varying price ranges available and that all housing is safe and secure (Grums council, 2008: 5-6). The municipality also sees a need to create housing in the Grums center that is appealing to all people. This is a part of the creation of a living city center. An important part of housing construction is that planning must always consist of values such as security and accessibility. A part of
community building is about ensuring that residents have a proximity to their own grocery store, this is believed to increase accessibility and safety for the citizens (Grums council, 2008: 10-14). New residential areas will be located close to the nature to make an attractive living by having access to various outdoor activates (Grums council, 2008: 38-39), even the existing housing areas should have increased access to nature through the construction of pedestrian and cycle paths. The municipality describes that the construction of new
motorways should not create social barriers between residential areas (Grums council, 2008: 14-19). Because the municipality wants to contribute with housing in different price ranges and designs to suit all needs, this can be seen as a way for the municipality to reduce social problems for parts of the population. The municipality expresses that all housing should be safe and secure. I interpret this as working to reduce crime in the areas. The municipality also thinks it is important that the residents have their own grocery store, this can be viewed as a way to increases the accessibility to services. The access to nature for all residents creates a pleasant living environment and ensures that there is no injustice in access to nature. All these parameters contribute to social sustainability.
The municipality has created several policies to promote and make rural life easier. This should be done by improving the infrastructure in rural areas and make it easier for rural residents to travel. At the same time, public transport needs to be expanded so that it can be
used to a greater extent by those living in the countryside. To reach the goal, the municipality plan to create new bus routes and improve old ones (Grums council, 2008: 15-16). In the countryside, the municipality has had problems with depopulation (Grums council, 2008: 6),
which means that there are challenges in maintaining the current level of service for the citizens mainly in the countryside. This makes it extra important for the municipality to maintain and develop work opportunities and good housing. Efforts should also be made to ensure that the people who lives in rural areas has their needs met in terms of public and private services. I interpret these policies as a way of creating a fair balance in terms of service and opportunities between city and rural residents. This can be seen as a way of trying to create equality between the citizens.
The municipality believes that there are locations that are extra important for the residents of the municipality, these areas should be taken into account to ensure that its value is not lost. It is mainly about natural beach areas that are very much appreciated, in terms of different types of leisure activities. There are also some buildings and cultural environments that are
considered important to preserve for the future (Grums council, 2008: 8-10). The municipality believes that these areas need to be carefully handled when it comes to modernizing. The municipality also points out that it is important to preserve quiet areas, this will be beneficial for people’s health (Grums council, 2008: 37-40). By preserving these special areas of value to the inhabitants the municipality seeks to create a sense of community among the citizens.
The municipality believes that it is important that all new companies that are established should have access to public transport. They plan to create opportunities to travel to work in an environmentally friendly way, while at the same time making the workplaces accessible to all the residents in the municipality. There have previously been problems with some traffic to and from jobs that they hope to solve with better public transport. New companies must also be placed in a way that does not disturb the residential areas with noise. The municipality will also create access to public transport in all residential areas. The municipality has a large number of residents who commute to Karlstad. Thus, the municipality wants to improve public transport connections between the cities. This is done to reduce the use of the car as a main transport in commuting, which will promote climate smarter alternatives. At the same time, this increases the opportunity for the residents of the municipality to travel to various activities in Karlstad. In order to reduce the time, it takes to travel, the municipality will invest in several modifications of streets to reduce travel time (Grums council, 2008: 13-16).
The train usage will be promoted by improving the connection from bus to train. The municipality hopes that this effort to improve public transport will lead to more people choosing to use it (Grums council, 2008: 32). The municipality believes that it is important to increase access for citizens to services. The commuting that happens daily is a necessity for many of the municipality's residents because of the proximity to other cities. This means that all residents of the municipality will have the possibility to travel to work and activities by public transport. This is a type of policy that promotes social sustainability due to the increased accessibility.
The municipality thinks that pedestrian and bicycle lanes should be a focus when it comes to traffic planning (Grums council, 2008: 32). They want to make sure that bicycles and
pedestrians have better opportunities to access the city safely It is proposed that roads will be developed which will reduce the travel time for bicycles and pedestrians and increase safety. They believe that this can help increase safety, accessibility and environment in the residential areas (Grums council, 2008: 16-17). These kind of values that emphasize equality aspects of access and safety are important for building a socially sustainable society.
The municipality see a need for a development of modern communications systems in some areas. This is for example mobile and network infrastructure to increase the accessibility to all citizens (Grums council, 2008: 34). The municipality see a need to develop communications infrastructure in all places in the municipality, this is interoperated as a way of creating equal opportunities for all citizens.
The municipality also sees a need to investigate different areas there flooding can become a problem in the future. There is also a need to measure some areas in the municipality to see if the ground is polluted before anything can be established in this place. This is due to the old industries that may have polluted the ground in the past (Grums council, 2008: 28-30). This can be seen as a way of planning for risk management, which will increase safety in the municipality.
Ecological sustainability
The municipality believes that there is a need to develop public transport for several reasons. They highlight a problem with a high level of car traveling within the municipality. They believe this is something that needs to be addressed to reduce emissions (Grums council,
2008: 27). One way to do this is through reduced car traffic and increased public transport. The municipality wants to increase the level of travel with bus and train by increasing the number of bus stops. The municipality thinks that the development of environmentally friendly vehicles and fuel is an important complement in creating sustainable travel (Grums
council, 2008: 7). The municipality believes that a balance between traveling by car and public transport should generate environmental benefits (Grums council, 2008: 10). The municipality will, through development of pedestrian and bicycle lanes, make it easier for citizens to choose other ways of traveling than by car (Grums council, 2008: 15). The
municipality has several different types of policies when it comes to reducing the emission of travel. The plan has stated a goal to promote reductions of emissions that comes from
vehicles. By decreasing these emissions, the municipality hopes to reduce the environmental impact the vehicle has on the environment.
The municipality has several areas that can be described as wilderness forest. There are several different types of animals that make this area important for biodiversity. The
municipality takes the position that these areas must be preserved. They believe that changes in these areas are extra sensitive and great consideration must be given to changes in the area (Grums council, 2008: 19). The municipality believes that in these areas there are different types of ecological aspects that should be valued highly. The text suggests that extraordinary events must occur in order for this land to be exploited. This means that in these areas it is only environmental aspects that are considered important.
The municipality believes that there is a good natural environment within the municipality that must be utilized (Grums council, 2008: 23). Ensuring that there is clean water, clean air and non-toxic environment is important for the municipality. It is also important that all new construction is done with sound building materials and that the houses are energy efficient (Grums council, 2008: 11). The municipality will apply the EU regulations in there planning, when it comes to water quality by monitoring and improvements (Grums council, 2008: 25-26). The municipality believes that this is a necessity from an ecological perspective. What a sound material means is not straightforward, it can be interpreted as material that is good from a resource and production perspective, for example by having a small ecological footprint. The planning of new industrial operations should be located in places where there is less risk of emissions and noise affecting the environment (Grums council, 2008: 14). Business as a
whole should be characterized by clean water, clean air and low noise and poison levels (Grums council, 2008: 24-25). The municipality will make evaluations on a regular basis to ensure that air quality is in line with EU regulations. There will also be regulatory
measurements on the private usage of firewood to create heat in residential areas (Grums
council, 2008: 26). Grums municipality has a generous vision when it comes to maintaining its environment clean from pollution. This is despite the fact that the municipality has a tradition of heavy industry. They plan to create a minor impact on the climate within their industrial operations, but also to try to operate outside sensitive areas that may be affected by the activity. This means that they work with assessments to protect nature and eco-services such as clean water.
Various places in Grums have unique animals and vegetation, which in some cases these are located near the beach which is an attractive area to build. There is currently a beach shelter for these places (Grums council, 2008: 9). In areas where the animal and plant life are located, these will be taken into consideration (Grums council, 2008: 23). But in other cases, the shore protection may be lifted to develop the area (Grums council, 2008: 43). This is something that can be seen both ways with the pros and cons of the environment as a reduced beach
protection will damage the natural values found there. At the same time, the municipality is well aware of this and believes that this can only be applied if the unique nature is not damaged. This policy goes both ways in terms of both protection and damage to the environment and biodiversity.
The municipality also plans to expand the possibility of recycling different materials. This should be done to reduce the amount of waste that is not sorted. This should lead to a saving in resources in the municipality in view of reuse. This considers the municipality to increase health in the municipality and also the management of resources (Grums council, 2008: 34). This measure by the municipality is interpreted as an environmental action, because the resource-intensive society is an important part of sustainable environmental development. Create new nature reserves to protect areas that are of value to nature. Mainly in areas that can be regarded as unusual and therefore highly valued (Grums council, 2008: 43). The
municipality has suggested that it may be relevant to introduce a new nature reserve as there are areas that are considered valuable for wildlife, especially birds. This is thus a way for the municipality to maintain the natural values through the extended protection a nature reserve provides.
Table 1. Planning areas covered by Grums municipality
Economic sustainability: 9 Social sustainability: 16 Ecological sustainability: 11
Promote Local trade Prioritize agricultural interests
Right Education for businesses
Strategical locations for the industry
Develop work commuting possibilities
Develop infrastructure to the industry
Compete in housing market Promote hospitality industry Responsible forestry
Improve common areas Maintain a high level of service
Create paths for biking and pedestrians
Create appealing housing Preserve areas that citizens think is important
Improve public transport Improve accessibility to nature
Improve accessibility for the rural areas
Reduce noise levels in residential areas
Create a common identity Make rural living easier Meet the need for proximity values
New infrastructure will follow social values
Plan for security and safety Service will follow
democratic values Plan for future risk management
Reduce carbon dioxide emissions from traffic Preserve biodiversity Create housing with low environmental impact Minimize environmental impact from businesses Develop companies in low risk areas
Low noise levels in nature areas
Poison free environment Clean water
Evaluations of air pollution Create new nature reserve Improve recycling
Sermons
The material analyzed is not as detailed when it comes to policy instruments. However, in Grums, the municipality plans for schools to be located close to nature. This should be done to disseminate knowledge about natural values in different ways. This will in the long term create an understanding of natural values among citizens (Grums council, 2008: 36). The municipality has strategically chosen to place schools in close proximity to nature in order to be able to conduct teaching that creates knowledge and understanding of nature. This is seen as a Sermon because the idea is to disseminate knowledge in order to influence citizens' views on something in the long run.
Sticks
The municipality has chosen to create regulations that prioritize agriculture and forestry over housing construction in certain areas of the municipality. This has been done to prevent settlements that risk disturbing or otherwise adversely affecting land and forestry (Grums council, 2008: 14). This type of regulation clearly creates obstacles to housing construction which means that they use the instrument stick.
The municipality has described in its plans that the location of companies that include environmental risks should only be established in areas, with no risks of ruining the environment (Grums council, 2008: 25). This means that the municipality governs the companies by regulate them into certain areas. This means that they use the instrument stick. The municipality also plans to introduce regulations on the use of firewood by private persons to generate heating, as this can lead to certain hazardous emissions which are unhealthy (Grums council, 2008: 26). This regulation is about controlling what the citizens are doing. This means that they are using the stick because the policy is of prohibitive type.
Carrots
The municipality wants to make public transport more used by making it more attractive. This should be done by reducing prices, creating more comfortable places and minimizing travel time (Grums council, 2008: 16). These three things should promote the use of public transport. Therefore, this is considered part of the policy instrument carrot.
The municipality plans to attract companies by offering good conditions in infrastructure (Grums council, 2008: 5). There will also offer good locations for companies to establish themselves on (Grums council, 2008: 12). These two ways are opportunities that the municipality believes they should use to attract companies. This means that they use policy instrument carrots to attract companies.
Table 2: Policy instruments planned by Grums municipality
Sermons: 1 Sticks: 3 Carrots: 2
Educations to create understanding of environmental values.
Locate companies in places with now risk of damaging the environment.
Prioritize agriculture over housing in locations of good agricultural land.
Regulate the use of firewood for heating.
Give companies good locations.
Promote usage of public transport.
Analysis of Vellinge municipality
Economic sustainability
The municipality has a unique location with proximity to several major cities such as Malmö and Copenhagen. This contributes to the fact that there are many residents who work in cities other than those in the municipality. These cities also have other offerings such as
entertainment. At the same time, the municipality of Vellinge contributes to a calm and natural living. These are values that the municipality takes responsibility for in their planning
(Vellinge council, 2013: 8). The municipality lists several values that are important aspects that matter a lot both financially and environmentally in the municipality. They for example state the importance to maintain commuting opportunities because it makes the municipality attractive to live in, and thus generates tax-paying residents. However, they also mention that their competitiveness is related to their fine environment, and that they should take
responsibility for it in order to be attractive. This means that the municipality seeks to take care of both the nature and commuting in order to stay attractive.
The municipality believes that by promoting trade in various major urban areas will improve sustainability by offering a closeness that minimize long travels. It will also create more work opportunities for the citizens, that means that the work commuting also will be minimized.
