Straume - en ny by: En studie av planer og visjoner for Straume med vekt på samarbeid, medvirkning og landskapsverdier

Abstract

Straume - a new city. A study of land use plans and visions for Straume with emphasis on participation and landscape values.

This master thesis is a case study that focuses on a spatial planning process in Straume, the administrative center of Fjell municipality. Straume is a classic example of a small city where industry, infrastructure and shopping malls have been built without any consistent overall planning. Because of the bridge that was built in 1973 and witch connects the island community in Fjell with the mainland and the city of Bergen, the region is one of the fastest growing regions in Norway when it comes to residents. In 2007 the municipality resolved an informal land use plan that would form the basis for further planning and regulation for the future city of Straume.

My two main questions are: How has Fjell municipality and the business community in the area collaborated on the preparation of the land use plans of Straume. Which values associated with the landscape underlie the public land use plans and plans and visions initiated by property managers.

My theoretical background is governance theory and power theory. For the analysis of the underlying landscape values, I use Jones (1993) different types of value associated with the landscape; economic values and amenity values.

To answer my questions I have chosen a qualitative research strategy. My main method has been studying planning documents and the Plan- and building act. I also interviewed property man agers and a representative for the municipality’s spatial planning department.

Governance is the study of the formal and informal actors involved in decision-making and implementing the decisions made and the formal and informal structures of cooperation between the government, in this case the municipality of Fjell, and other actors such as the political parties, the military, the business community etc.

I found that the business community in the area had the opportunity to speak their mind early in the planning process, while the public in general was included later on in the process when the drafts of the land use plans where published in the consultation period. I argue that the cooperation between the government and the business community does not enhance the democracy in this particular planning process. The most important decisions are made in the informal phase of the spatial planning.

When it comes to underlying landscape values in this particular spatial planning process, I have found that although the city of Straume is based on, and will continue to be based on economic values related to shopping, tourism, building apartments etc., amenity values related to aesthetics, the local identity and cultural uniqueness is also an important part of the plans for the future city of Straume.