Democracy Deferred: Lessons for the Future

Abstract

A shared commitment to an ethos of participatory democracy motivated a group of middle-class professionals—urban planners, architects, sociologists, lawyers, business leaders, and others—to found four key post-9/11 civic renewal coalitions to promote healing and hope by creating real opportunities for a citizen voice in rebuilding Lower Manhattan. The Civic Alliance to Rebuild Downtown New York (Civic Alliance) was their joint creation: a network of 75 other coalitions, institutions, and community-based organizations through which they planned and implemented a two-phase effort over a five-year period (2001–2006). As the most visible moments of this extended process, they organized two Listening to the City mass events that were led by civic engagement consultants. America Speaks, the second of these events, brought out more than 5,500 citizens as well as top elected and appointed officials and generated extensive national and international media coverage. Before and after these mass meetings, the Civic Alliance partnered with the Municipal Art Society (MAS) to hold more than 230 smaller, lesser-known “listening” events in neighborhoods throughout the city and the metropolitan region, taking the planning process “to the people” to increase the racial, ethnic, and class diversity of the participants through local sponsorship and accessible locations.