Towards Sustainable and Just Cities: Capacities, Capabilities, and Intersectional Power Dynamics in Co-Production

Funded by the College for Social Sciences and Humanities (UA Ruhr) between 2026 and 2027

Project summary

The working group explores co-production in the field of spatial planning as a key concept for facilitating transformative change towards more sustainable and just futures in the face of accelerating environmental and societal challenges. Increasingly recognised in planning research and practice, co-production refers to multi-stakeholder collaboration that positions citizens as active partners in shaping their communities and seeks to ensure that diverse voices – particularly those of historically underrepresented groups – are meaningfully included in decision-making processes. However, the potential of co-production to foster inclusive, spatially just, and sustainable planning outcomes can only be realised when participants possess the capacities and capabilities needed to contribute effectively and meaningfully. This, in turn, requires an intersectional approach that recognises and addresses the diverse social positions and structural barriers faced by vulnerable groups.

Against this background, the working group aims to investigate how intersectional power hierarchies – shaped by participants’ capacities, capabilities and positionalities – affect the potential for inclusive co-production in urban planning, and how participants can address these power imbalances to create conditions conducive to meaningful co-production. Planned outputs include a joint study examining a number of case studies in the Ruhr region, based on in-depth interviews with participants involved in local initiatives. The findings will be presented at academic conferences and published in a co-authored journal article. In addition, the researchers will organise two key events: an academic workshop at the College for Social Sciences and Humanities with interested colleagues to facilitate knowledge exchange and networking aimed at developing future research collaboration, and a public event bringing together co-producers from the case studies and the wider public to discuss the findings.

Group members

Dr Dahae Lee

Dr Patricia Rinck (University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of Political Science)

Dr Celine Janssen (Veldacademie, Municipality of Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

Helen Sophie Esser

Related publications

Lee, D., Kränzle, E., Lehner, J., Vitkutė, E., Budrytė, P., Weger, K., & Surizehi, K. (in press). From artistic strategies to placemaking and capability development: Approaches to youth participation and trust. Planning Theory and Practice.

Presentations

Lee, D., Janssen, C. Understanding the dynamics – How capacities and capabilities both enable and emerge from co-production and co-creation. Paper to be presented at the 2026 World Planning Schools Congress. Helsinki.

Lee, D., Janssen, C. What makes co-concepts successful? Understanding the dynamics of capacities and capabilities through a systematic review and an urban living lab Paper to be presented at the 2026 EURA Conference. Venice.

Further information can be found here.