Deregulation as socio-spatial transformation:Dimensions and consequences of shifting governmentalities in the Danish construction industry

The paper analyses main dimensions and consequences of deregulation in the Danish construction industry. Previous research has often conceptualized deregulation in terms of either the dismantling of states’ regulatory capacity or the layering of initiatives upon existing structures. Using Foucault’s concept of governmentality, we contribute further to this discussion by conceptualizing the process of deregulation as a socio-spatial transformation. This is a complex process of transformative change involving the opening and reconfiguration of institutional spaces. Drawing on an analysis of historical and current developments and changing modes of construction governance in Denmark, we show how the construction sector in the 1940–1960s was rendered governable by disciplinary power in order to achieve national modernization. We then illustrate how the developments since the early 1990s have been moulded in a neoliberal governmentality, with a focus on deregulation and the establishment of free markets. On the basis, we discuss the consequences of a shift in governmentalities, suggesting that new deliberative spaces in the form of mediating and interstitial institutions are likely to be in demand for in order to transgress the bounds of neoliberalism and ensure commitment for alternative development agendas.The paper analyses main dimensions and consequences of deregulation in the Danish construction industry. Previous research has often conceptualized deregulation in terms of either the dismantling of states’ regulatory capacity or the layering of initiatives upon existing structures. Using Foucault’s concept of governmentality, we contribute further to this discussion by conceptualizing the process of deregulation as a socio-spatial transformation. This is a complex process of transformative change involving the opening and reconfiguration of institutional spaces. Drawing on an analysis of historical and current developments and changing modes of construction governance in Denmark, we show how the construction sector in the 1940–1960s was rendered governable by disciplinary power in order to achieve national modernization. We then illustrate how the developments since the early 1990s have been moulded in a neoliberal governmentality, with a focus on deregulation and the establishment of free markets. On the basis, we discuss the consequences of a shift in governmentalities, suggesting that new deliberative spaces in the form of mediating and interstitial institutions are likely to be in demand for in order to transgress the bounds of neoliberalism and ensure commitment for alternative development agendas

From partnership to firm:Hybridity as source of routine change

Strategic partnerships have recently gained foothold in the Danish construction industry as a novel collaborative interorganisational relationship. Strategic partnerships have so far been used in major construction programmes and can be seen as a hybridised organisational form that draws on multiple existing organisational forms in creating new interorganisational routines and developing collective knowledge. The objective of the paper is to explore how a strategic partnership creates new routines by developing collective knowledge, and how these routines are transferred to the constituent organisations as firm-specific routines. Empirically, we draw on data from a strategic partnership between the City of Copenhagen\u27s client unit, ByK, and a group of six AEC firms that constitutes the consortium named TRUST. Data is collected in the period 2017-2019 and consists of 22 interviews describing developments in the strategic partnership and in the constituent firms. In the analysis, we apply an institutional theory perspective in a parallel analysis of developments in the strategic partnership and in two of the constituent firms (the client and the contractor). We show that the strategic partnership creates new interorganisational routines in pursuit of collective knowledge and that the constituent firms learn from their engagement in the strategic partnership, which leads to creation of new routines and changes in existing routines. As such, the paper contributes to an understanding of how new intraorganisational routines created in a strategic partnership ramify to firm-specific routines in the constituent firms

Den bæredygtige byggeproces:Evaluering af impact af et udviklingsprojekt

Denne rapport opsummerer de væsentligste resultater fra en evaluering, der er gennemført af BUILD, Aalborg Universitet, af Værdibygs aktiviteter i forbindelse med gennemførelse af udviklingsprojektet ”Den bæredygtige byggeproces”.Formålet med evalueringen er at belyse, i hvor høj grad Værdibygs arbejde bidrager positivt til udviklingen af bæredygtige byggeprocesser, som kan bidrage til en bæredygtig omstilling af byggeriet.Evalueringen blev gennemført i perioden maj til november 2023. 10 interviews blev gennemført med udvalgte repræsentanter fra byggebranchens virksomheder. BUILD vil gerne takke samtlige personer for deres store imødekommenhed og deltagelse i dette arbejde

Ethnography, impression management and shifting practices

The use of ethnographic methods in construction management is increasing.Impression management challenges the ethnographic researcher, who follows one actor on a building site. Shadowing allows a researcher to follow particularparticipants to observe their bodily movements and use of artefacts. Impression management happens when the observee acts in a different way than he/she would routinely, due to the presence of an audience. In the case of shadowing, the researcher can become an audience, as will the readers of the findings from the investigation. A study into contract managers' practices on-site uses shadowing as its primary method for data collection. A contract manager is being observed to gain an insight into the practices in which he participates. However, impression management presents a very noticeable challenge from the beginning of the study. We show how the researcher is perceived as an audience and how this prompts the observed contract manager to reflect on the practices on-site in dialogue with the researcher. On this basis, we raise the question, whether the continued performance of impression management by practitioners due to prolonged fieldwork can lead the observed practice to shift. In conclusion, we argue that the use of shadowing on a building site allows for insights into the complicated practices on site, but it may also influence and displace these practices