Münsters Partizipationslandschaft im Fokus der Situationsanalyse: Politische Arenen der Aushandlung in transformativer Stadtentwicklungspolitik

This paper reports on the examination of the participation landscape in Münster, considering it as a complex and situational structure within the context of transformative urban development policy. Following Adele Clarke’s Situational Analysis methodology, the paper uses social worlds and arenas as a conceptual framework for addressing empirical questions. Clarke’s understanding of arenas is linked to Jacques Rancière’s reflections on momentary political participation, shifting the analytical focus to relational, political, and conflictual negotiation arenas. Using multiple mappings derived from Situational Analysis, the paper examines how and when participation arenas are formed, and what dynamics and constellations of actors they reveal. Moments of political participation within these arenas indicate a basis of mutual understanding and trust between social worlds, enabling tensions, contradictions and conflicts to be recognized and negotiated. Additionally, the applicability of Situational Analysis to questions in urban and spatial research is discussed in this paper.