Participation in Regional and Social Planning

Abstract

An increasingly common proposition among social planners and administrators is that authentic social development requires increased citizen and consumer participation in the planning process. This proposition is also linked to political movements in support of participatory democracy in the democratic processes of society. An examination of the term “participation”, however, suggests that the users have different ideas as to what is implied, or have taken the term up as a maxim with no clear views of how it can become effective in reality.