scholarly journals The political ambivalences of participatory planning initiatives

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabet Van Wymeersch ◽  
Stijn Oosterlynck ◽  
Thomas Vanoutrive
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Participatory Planning ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Planning Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Empirical Reality ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Planning Approaches

This article explores the relevance of combining multiple understandings of democratic politics to analyse the ambivalent and contentious dynamics of citizen participation in spatial planning. Building forth on the ongoing efforts in critical planning theory to overcome the deadlock between collaborative and agonistic oriented planning approaches, we argue for the refraining from ‘over-ontologising’ the question of democratic politics in planning processes, and start from the assumption that participatory planning processes as an empirical reality can accommodate radically different, even incompatible views on democracy. In addition, it is argued that while current planning scholars predominantly focus on the applicability of the collaborative and (ant)agonistic approach to democratic politics, a third approach – based on Jacques Rancière’s notion of political subjectification grounded in equality – may be discerned. By mobilising an empirical study of a contentious participatory planning initiative in Ghent (Belgium), that is, the Living Street experiment, we illustrate that while different approaches to democratic politics do not necessarily align with each other, they are often simultaneously at work in concrete participatory planning processes and indeed explain their contentious nature.

Participatory planning in Israel: from theory to practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Batel Eshkol ◽  
Alon Eshkol
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Participatory Planning ◽  
Planning Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Theory To Practice ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Neighborhood Level

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the gap between the declarations regarding participatory planning and its actual implementation in practice within the Israeli spatial planning context. Design/methodology/approach The paper explores the gap between theory of participatory spatial planning and its implementation in practice by a comparative analysis of three participatory case studies in the Israeli planning context. The data collected to analyze the case studies is secondary data, including previous research on the three case studies and their re-evaluation on the basis of indicators for participation. Findings Participatory spatial planning processes are not often implemented in the Israeli context, as they are not required by law. All the three case studies explored in this paper deal with local spatial plans at the neighborhood level, but each expresses a very different participation mode: one is a national, government-led program; the second is a residents-led opposition to a municipal plan; and the third is a third-sector initiative offering an alternative plan to an existing one. The findings suggest that there is a correlation between the initiating body, its commitment to participation and the level of success of the participatory process. Research limitations/implications This paper focuses on three specific participatory spatial planning projects in Israel. Further exploration of additional participatory projects may prove useful to verify or refute the conclusions reached in this paper. Originality/value There is very little exploration and evaluation of participatory spatial planning processes in Israel. This paper provides a valuable, although limited, analysis, linking participatory planning theory to practice within the Israeli context.

Popular Access to the Decision‐making Process in Switzerland: The Role of Direct Democracy

1979 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie Mowlam
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Popular Control

CENTRAL TO THE STUDY OF DEMOCRATIC POLITICS IS THE IDEA of popular control over the activities of elites. More specifically, how can the preferences of citizens be aggregated into a political choice for a government policy or government personnel? Popular control, the effects of citizen participation in political life, is the basis of a major value orientation in the discipline: the notion of participant democracy. The degree of citizen participation becomes the key to the nature of democracry in a society : the more participation, the more democratic the political life of a country becomes. Political participation may take a variety of forms, e.g., running for office, holding office,voting, soliciting votes, and campaigning for, or contributing funds to, I the party of one's choice. However, voting is the most emphasized aspect of citizen participation, since it is the only form of active participation many engage in. The limitations placed on voting as a mechanism for popular control over political choices are well documented. Voters do not choose when to vote, nor the agenda. They have minimal input into the selection of candidates and the choice of issues which divide the parties at elections. Public participation in the selection and resolution of important policy issues between elections is severely restricted.

Participatory planning in a low-income neighbourhood in Ontario, Canada: building capacity and collaborative interactions for influence

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 622-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tessa F Nasca ◽  
Nadine Changfoot ◽  
Stephen D Hill
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Participatory Planning ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Planning Theory ◽  
Collaborative Interactions ◽  
Quality Of Urban Life ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Planning Experts

AbstractThis research evaluated a community-led participatory planning process that sought to involve citizens who are often marginalized within planning processes. Participatory planning – which is theoretically informed by communicative planning theory – may shift the legacy of power and marginalization within planning processes and improve planning outcomes, foster social cohesion, and enhance the quality of urban life. The two-year Stewart Street Active Neighbourhoods Canada (ANC) project aimed to build capacity among residents of a low-income neighbourhood in Peterborough, Ontario and to influence City planning processes impacting the neighbourhood. The project, led by a community-based organization, GreenUP, fostered collaborative interactions between residents and planning experts and supported residents to build and leverage collective power within planning processes. The participatory planning approach applied in the Stewart Street ANC transformed – and at times unintentionally reproduced – inequitable power relations within the planning process. Importantly, we found that GreenUP was a vital power broker between marginalized residents and more formal power holders, and successfully supported residents to voice their collective visions within professionalized planning contexts.

scholarly journals The social and political realities of marine spatial planning: some land-based reflections

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 1535-1541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Kidd ◽  
Dave Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Planning Theory ◽  
Marine Spatial Planning ◽  
Planning Systems ◽  
Plan Implementation ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
Planning Processes

Abstract This paper highlights the value for marine spatial planning (MSP) of engaging with terrestrial planning theory and practice. It argues that the traditions of reflection, critique, and debate that are a feature of land-based planning can inform the development of richer theoretical underpinnings of MSP as well as MSP practice. The case is illustrated by tempering the view that MSP can be a rational planning process that can follow universal principles and steps by presenting an alternative perspective that sees MSP as a social and political process that is highly differentiated and place-specific. This perspective is discussed with reference to four examples. First, the paper considers why history, culture, and administrative context lead to significant differences in how planning systems are organized. Second, it highlights that planning systems and processes tend to be in constant flux as they respond to changing social and political viewpoints. Third, it discusses why the integration ambitions which are central to “spatial” planning require detailed engagement with locally specific social and political circumstances. Fourth, it focuses on the political and social nature of plan implementation and how different implementation contexts need to inform the design of planning processes and the style of plans produced.

Why agonistic planning? Questioning Chantal Mouffe’s thesis of the ontological primacy of the political

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 384-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arata D Yamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Planning Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
Consensus Formation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Present Possibility ◽  
Planning Approaches

The thesis of the ontological primacy of antagonism, thus the political, is central to Chantal Mouffe’s call for taming antagonism into agonism, or agonistic pluralism. Within planning theory, Mouffe’s conflictual ontology that underpins this call has raised questions over the ontological assumption of the presently prominent and consensus-oriented communicative and deliberative planning approaches. This is because these approaches consider consensus formation as a normative ideal and always at least a potential outcome from open and inclusive deliberation, that is, ontological. Yet, the notion that antagonism is also an ever-present possibility for all social relations and therefore an ineradicable risk for consensus-building effort in planning practices appears to be increasingly accepted even by communicative planning theorists. In this article, I trace the origin of Mouffe’s thesis of the ontological primacy of antagonism back to both her original collaborative work with Earnest Laclau, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, and Carl Schmitt. With Derrida and Laclau, I then argue that this Mouffean thesis does not hold: antagonism operates at the ontic level in the social and it is only but one way of discursively inscribing the experience of exclusion and the use of power. This insight supports a new, post-antagonism approach to politics and the political based on the ontology of radical negativity. Finally, I discuss how this approach can be linked with planning theory by adopting a de-ontologised notion of the political. I conclude by arguing that since agonism is not the only option for dealing with antagonism for the socially established actors, for example, planners, its implementation in planning practice can appear merely as a top-down imposition of a democratic ethos. Sometimes, depoliticisation of agonistic planning might therefore be necessary.

scholarly journals The condition of participatory planning in Serbia and how it can be improved

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-12
Author(s):  
Margita Vajović
Keyword(s):  
Planning Process ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Participatory Planning ◽  
Planning Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Current State ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
Political Background ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Spatial Plan

Participatory planning theory, as a system of planning which is sensitive to the aspirations of citizens and protects public interest and values, is present in Serbian planning practice for more than a decade. It has legal basis and methodology modeled on global experience, but it is still very much reactionary model - thus it failed to fulfil its primary purpose, which is to include the citizens in the planning process from the very beginning. This article will address the current overview of the planning process in Serbia. It will briefly explain the legislative framework of public participation in spatial development, the steps in plan drafting process in which citizens are included and the political background of this process. It is important to mention the existing models of informing citizens and show why they work so poorly. It will also give a brief overview on the structure and work of the committee for approval of the plans. This summarizing of the current situation will show the problem of indifference of citizens to engage in the planning process as a coherent group with problems, visions and goals about their city. It will also address inadequate models of informing the citizens and almost non-existing models of active participation of citizens in the planning process. Besides the review of the current state, this article will feature a description of participation techniques from a literature review on the subject of participatory planning that can be applied in Serbia. Shifting the scale from national to municipality level, this article will also depict the opportunities and administrative constraints when it comes to drafting a spatial plan on a local scale, on the example of municipality of Požega. This is one of the rare examples of good practice when it comes to the communication of municipality and its inhabitants involved in the planning process.

Reimaging socio-spatial planning: Towards a synthesis between sense of place and social sustainability approaches

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 514-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie ◽  
Marita Basson
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Place ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Planning Theory ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Spatial Studies ◽  
Societal Context ◽  
Planning Processes

Socio-spatial planning forums are shedding light on how people embrace, contest or reject social changes. These understandings are now being used to explore sense of place and social sustainability approaches in spatial studies, and provide input into the formulation of socio-spatial planning interventions. Research evidence, however, suggests that the integration of elements from each approach into a unified working model can help overcome existing conceptual confusions and revitalise socio-spatial planning processes. Our research therefore seeks to identify these confusions, as well as the supplementary elements in each approach, resulting in the creation of a conceptual framework that reimages socio-spatial planning. We argue that there are elements conceptually linked in each approach that could be re-conceptualised into a more robust framework for socio-spatial planning. The article further proposes that the synthesis will not only negate the shortcomings inherent in each approach but will also provide a more responsive medium for the current dynamic societal context of socio-spatial planning. Our findings advance socio-spatial planning theory and contribute to a foundation for the future research aimed at improving the understanding of background theories.

scholarly journals Approaching Sustainability in Local Spatial Planning Processes: A Case Study in the Stockholm Region, Sweden

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2601
Author(s):  
Johan Högström ◽  
Peter Brokking ◽  
Berit Balfors ◽  
Monica Hammer
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Planning ◽  
Metropolitan Regions ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Complex Settings ◽  
Planning Approaches

The quest for cogent responses to sustainability goals challenges local spatial planning practices across growing metropolitan regions to develop planning approaches that enable transformative capacity in increasingly complex settings. Based on a case study conducted in the Stockholm region, this paper explores the design and organization of local planning processes to provide a basis for a discussion of alternative approaches that may enhance sustainability in plan and project development. More specifically, it aims to analyze the conditions for embedding and consolidating sustainability issues in local planning processes. The results show that the municipalities need to create conditions for an effective interplay between the planning work carried out in individual projects and the organization of resources, knowledge, and skills on which the projects depend to handle sustainability issues. This study contributes to the understanding of the challenges associated with putting sustainability into practice at the local level by identifying and conceptualizing three important barriers. By acknowledging the temporal, locational, and procedural dimensions of knowledge in local planning processes, planning practices may become better at knowing when, and in what ways, different forms of knowledge can become created, introduced, and used in a synergistic manner to aid the realization of sustainability goals.

scholarly journals Transdisciplinary planning approaches towards resilience

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizelle Juanee Cilliers ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Planning Theory ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Disciplinary Identity ◽  
African Context ◽  
Lateral Thinking ◽  
Planning Approaches

Urban functions are no longer separated spatially or socially, and the contest between diverse land-uses is reaching a peak due to growing populations and increasing urbanization that inflates the pressure on already strained resources within the urban fabric. The trend of depletion of green spaces is an increasing global phenomenon, intensifying the growing carbon footprint, impairing water quality and compromising health and overall quality of life, ultimately leading to cities that are far removed from the safe, clean, and livable environments, as envisioned in planning theory. Green spaces are often viewed as a “luxury good”, despite the comprehensive literature on the extensive benefits of such spaces to their host cities and communities. Misconceptions relating to the notion of green spaces are reflected in the undervaluation of these spaces, under-prioritization in the budgeting process and ultimate negligence in terms of broader spatial planning approaches. The lack of function and ownership further exacerbate the social- and economic value of these green spaces, especially within the South African context, apparent by the disproval of the compensation hypothesis and rejection of the proximity principle. Much effort will be needed to change perceptions and sensitize decision-makers to understand green spaces as a “public good” and “economic asset”. Resilience thinking could pose solutions in this regard, drawing on transdisciplinary planning approaches to manage change and steer Spatial Planning towards the era of transurbanism. It would however, require the emancipation of the disciplinary identity of Spatial Planning as crucial driver towards resilience, departing from theoretical and methodological frames of supplementary disciplines, as well as the indigenous knowledge and living experiences of communities, to co-produce urban innovations. Conveying strategic and lateral thinking, contemporary Planners would need to become generative leaders, with socio-emotional intelligence, to generate innovation and co-create solutions for strained social contexts, for depleting scare resources, for managing change of contemporary urban landscapes.

Defining and assessing walkability: a concept for an integrated approach using surveys, biosensors and geospatial analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Dörrzapf ◽  
Anna Kovács-Győri ◽  
Bernd Resch ◽  
Peter Zeile
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Measurement Methods ◽  
Transport Mode ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Spatial Environment ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Valuable Complement ◽  
Definition Of

AbstractWalking as a transport mode is still often underrepresented in the overall transport system. Consequently, pedestrian mobility is usually not recorded statistically in the same manner as it is performed for motorised traffic which leads to an underestimation of its importance and positive effects on people and cities. However, the integration of walkability assessments is potentially a valuable complement in urban planning processes through considering important quantitative and qualitative aspects of walking in cities. Recent literature shows a variety of approaches involving discrepancies in the definition of walkability, the factors which contribute to it, and methods of assessing them. This paper provides a new understanding of the concept of walkability in the European context. Our approach relies on the extension of methodological competence in transportation, spatial planning and geography by linking new measurement methods for evaluating walkability. We propose an integrated approach to assessing walkability in a comprehensive methodology that combines existing qualitative and GIS-based methods with biosensor technologies and thus captures the perceptions and emotions of pedestrians. This results in an increased plausibility and relevance of the results of walkability analysis by considering the spatial environment and its effect on people.

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