Implementation Structure and Participation at Neighbourhood Level-A Multiple Case Study of Neighbourhood Development in Sweden

The last decades have seen the emergence of the settings approach in Health Promotion one example is the Healthy City initiative which was launched by European division of WHO in 1990. In 2003, four Swedish municipalities accordingly signed a contract on a Partnership for Sustainable Welfare Development. One of the objectives was to promote participation, influence, and health at a neighbourhood level by focusing on one housing area in each municipality. These housing areas constitute the setting of this study. The purpose is to examine the implementation structures in the municipalities, and how variations in the implementation structure affect differences in integration of community participation. A triangulation of methods was used in building up a case study database: semi-structured key informant interviews with 29 stakeholders in the municipalities; examination of solicited and unsolicited documents; and participatory observations which included repeated visits to the neighbourhoods. The results show that the greater the visibility of community participation policy is in the implementation structure the greater is the integration of community participation in the neighbourhood renewal work. Two explanatory factors have been identified. The first is that making the community participation policy visible in the implementation structure results in more appropriate strategies for mobilizing the community in the neighbourhood renewal work. The second is that the municipal governing of the neighbourhood renewal allows more space for community participation when the policy is visible in the implementation structure.