ALPHA. Demokratiskolan.se is a PROTOTYPE · Content review in progress
Demokratiskolan
The Public spaces card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 82 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaPlaces & infrastructure
  • Centre of gravityThe municipality
  • Points of influence2 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe municipal election
Places & infrastructure

Public spaces

Where to wait, meet, think & gather

The square, the park and the library are democracy's living rooms: places where you can be without paying. Almost everything here is owned and looked after by the municipality, but the right to gather and demonstrate is protected by constitutional law and examined by the police.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · owns, plans & maintains · approx 70 %
  • State · constitution, public order act & police · approx 30 %

Few areas are this municipal: the municipality owns the places and writes the local rules. But freedom of assembly is guaranteed by constitutional law, not by the town hall.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe owner of the place · centre of gravity
The regionOn the sidelines
Central governmentThe freedoms & the order
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige), the technical committee and the urban planning committee, plus the parks administration.
No formal role for squares and parks.
The Riksdag, the Police (Polismyndigheten) and the County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen).
What do they decide?
Squares, parks, playgrounds, libraries, local public order regulations and permits for market trading and outdoor seating.
The region's public transport still decides how many people pass the place.
The constitution's freedom of assembly and demonstration, the public order act and the police's permits for gatherings in public spaces.
Where are decisions made?
In the committees and the council. The public order regulations are decided by the council.
Not applicable here.
In the Riksdag. Permits are applied for from the police, the County Administrative Board can overturn local regulations.
Who pays?
The municipal tax: maintenance, lighting and renovation.
No direct responsibility.
The central government budget: police and the justice system.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election A citizen's proposal (medborgarförslag) about the square, consultations (samråd) on plans, report broken lighting.
Regional election No direct route here.
General election A referral response (remissvar) on the public order legislation. And use freedom of assembly.
EUThe EU has no direct power over your squares and parks, but freedom of assembly is protected by European law too.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case The square gets a makeover
  1. State

    The constitution keeps the place open

    The freedom of assembly and the freedom to demonstrate in the Instrument of Government apply in public spaces. The public order act governs how the place may be used, and the police examine permits for gatherings.

  2. Municipality

    Public dialogue about the worn-out square

    The municipality invites dialogue: what works, what is missing? Sketches are put on display in the library and views are collected, often digitally too.

    Point of influence

    Attend the dialogue meeting or respond digitally. Early views weigh heaviest, before the drawings are locked.

  3. Municipality

    The committee decides and budgets

    The technical committee or the urban planning committee chooses a proposal and sets aside money. If the detailed development plan (detaljplan) needs to change, it goes out for consultation (samråd).

    Point of influence

    Follow the committee's documents, email the members, respond to the consultation if the plan changes.

  4. State

    The County Administrative Board checks the rules

    If the municipality changes its local public order regulations, for example on posters or alcohol in the square, they are reported to the County Administrative Board, which can overturn rules that go too far.

  5. Municipality

    The build and the opening

    The parks administration and procured contractors rebuild it: new paving, trees, seating, a stage. The market traders get new spots through the municipality's permits.

  6. Your everyday life

    Saturday on the new square

    Market stalls, chess players and a demonstration by the statue, all on the same hundred square metres. The place is the municipality's, but the freedom to use it is the constitution's.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. Which public place in your municipality means the most to you, and who decides over it?

  2. What may you do in a square, and what should you be allowed to do: play music, sleep, demonstrate, sell?

  3. How much of the city should be usable without money, and who watches over that?

  4. Which groups feel at home in your public spaces, and which do not?

  5. If your square were rebuilt tomorrow, what would you propose?

Glossary

Allmän plats
Streets, squares and parks that under the detailed development plan are meant for everyone.
Ordningslagen
The law on order and safety in public spaces, including permits for gatherings.
Lokala ordningsföreskrifter
The municipality's own rules for public spaces, reviewed by the County Administrative Board.
Medborgardialog
The municipality's way of collecting views outside the formal consultations.
Mötesfrihet
Constitutionally protected right to gather and demonstrate in public spaces.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.