It takes more than good intentions : institutional and attitudinal impediments to engaging young people in participatory planning

While participatory processes have become an important part of planning, young people are a particularly vulnerable group in terms of potential marginalisation and exclusion from effective participation. Including the views of young people in participatory planning is not simply a matter of bringing them into existing processes. Instead, participatory processes must find ways to integrate and accommodate their needs and ways of expressing their views. Without these adjustments young people may simply move from being kept outside the planning process to a situation where, although they are formally included, their claims are not taken seriously and they are not treated with equal respect. In this paper we reflect on the success of a community advisory committee, formed to consider water planning issues, in integrating the views of young people into their deliberations. Using Iris Marion Young’s (1995) ideas of communicative democracy we highlight the challenges and opportunities presented by this participatory approach, as articulated by both the young people involved and the adult participants. We specifically consider how the elements of greeting, rhetoric and narrative were reflected in the committee process. We argue that both planners and adult participants need to ensure that participatory processes allow for the equal engagement of all participants and place equal value on their contributions. Our research shows that this involves both an institutional and attitudinal commitment to include the views of young people. The institutional commitment requires young people to be included in processes and for their involvement to be supported. However, the attitudinal commitment it is equally important and requires that adult participants be prepared not only to accept the views of younger participants but to actively encourage and support their full participation.

Building citizens : participatory planning practice and a transformative politics of difference

Decision makers frequently use separate participatory activities to involve marginalised groups. This approach can generate valuable insights, but it has limitations. We discuss the benefits and limits through two examples involving young people, and outline how the approach can be modified, thereby building citizens who are responsive to other perspectives.

Little boxes : changing perceptions and including young people in socially sustainable participatory planning

In recent years, a great deal has been written about the benefits and ethics of including young people in participative decision-making. This has been accompanied by a burgeoning interest in including their views in participatory planning exercises that has not always been realised in practice. Drawing on a detailed analysis of the perceptions of adults and young people involved in a participatory planning exercise on Australia‟s Gold Coast, we believe that there are two major hurdles to the „full‟ engagement of young people that are in some respects two sides of the same coin: the sometimes paternalistic perceptions and often dismissive attitude that many adults have towards the participation of young people; and the perceptions that young people may have of themselves and their subordinate place in an adult-dominated planning environment. Together, such views act to place limitations on the participation of young people because they set up unrealistic expectations for both adult and younger participants in terms of how and why young people participate, and what this participation should „look and feel‟ like. In this paper, through the metaphor of boxes, we propose a number of issues that should be addressed when involving young people in participatory planning processes to ensure the most from their participation for all involved.

Children, the environment and participatory planning

Public participation in the planning system is well established in both academic and practice based research. The failure to engage the 'public' effectively has resulted in costly and unpopular decisions and produced a debate about how, when and with whom to participate. Children have tended to be marginal or ignored in land use planning but this paper suggests that, given the right techniques, they can be articulate, reasonable and clear thinkers about the type of environment they live in and how it should change. It draws on Mental Mapping and Environmental Affordance methodologies to show how eleven year old children can read their neighbourhood, identify barriers and highlight the benefits they extract from a deeper cognitive understating of their place. The paper concludes by suggesting that these techniques are transferable globally, especially where literacy and numeracy is weak and where planners reliance on formalised consultations reflect the interests of state and economic elites rather than the wider population.

Informe del Seminario-ZOPP sobre Políticas para el control y la fiscalización de la contaminación urbana e industrial" = Report on the Participatory Planning by Objectives Seminar on "Policies for the detection and control of urban and industrial contamination""

Incluye Bibliografía

A brief project completion report of "Pilot project on participatory planning of sustainable land use in Chancho Obi Kebele"

Description of project activities and accountancy report.

Participatory planning guide.

"July 1993."

The practice of participatory planning at Mapoon Aboriginal settlement: Towards community control, ownership and autonomy

The practice of participatory planning in discrete Indigenous settlements has been established since the early 1990s. In addition to technical and economic goals, participatory planning also seeks community development outcomes, including community control, ownership and autonomy. This paper presents an evaluation of one such planning project, conducted at Mapoon in 1995. The Plan successfully improved physical infrastructure and housing, but had mixed success in terms of community development. Despite various efforts to follow participatory processes, the Plan was essentially a passing event, community control progressively diminished after its completion, and outcomes fell short of notions of ownership and autonomy. This suggests some misunderstandings between the practice of participatory planning and the workings of governance.

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING PILOT CASE STUDY IN CHINA: REALITY, CHALLENGES & LESSONS LEARNED FROM US

Urban planning in China is in a period of change, where participatory planning may supplement the traditional planning system. Since the beginning of the 21st century, several pilot participatory planning projects have responded to the new challenge. The author collected eight cases from the Chinese planning institution to explore the possible models of and barriers to participatory planning. On the other hand, public participation has been a concrete component of planning and implementation process in the United States. The author will also elaborate on one practical case of the planning process in the United States to compare the two countries on planning methods and barriers.

Engaging young people : reflections from a participatory water planning exercise

While participatory processes have become an important part of water planning, young people are a particularly vulnerable group in terms of potential marginalisation and exclusion from effective participation. Including the views of young people in water planning is not simply a matter of bringing them into existing processes. Instead, processes must be modified to accommodate their needs and ways of expressing their views. Without these adjustments young people may simply move from being kept outside the process to a situation where although they are formally included, their claims are not taken seriously and they are not treated with equal respect. In this paper we reflect on the success of the community advisory committee, formed to develop the Gold Coast Waterfuture Strategy, in integrating the views of young people into their deliberations. Using Young's communicative democracy we highlight the challenges and opportunities presented by this approach, as articulated by both the young people involved and the adult participants, and specifically consider the how the elements of greeting, rhetoric and narrative were reflected in the committee process.