Projects, participation and planning across boundaries in Göttingen

This paper explores efforts to coordinate strategies promoting sustainable development – with specific focus on mobility and transport in climate change mitigation – across administrative boundaries in the city and county of Göttingen, Germany. The paper questions the possibility to develop and align strategic objectives and implementation across administrative boundaries when relying on short-term project funds. The experiences of key stakeholders in Göttingen are presented, with reference to empirical data from a document and interview study. Results indicate that reliance on short-term, project-based funding from external sources offers both opportunities and challenges for locally and regionally integrated strategy formulation and implementation. Five factors shaping the strategy space of actors are used to frame the analysis, with findings suggesting the need for further research on how local authorities overcome capacity and resource limitations, particularly with respect to complex challenges such as climate change.