Public Involvement and Planning: Looking beyond the One to the Many

Abstract

A central theme in both current theoretical debate within planning and policy statements by the British Government is the perceived need for enhanced public involvement. Implicit in these concerns is the assumption that the existing structures of local governance should be modified. Government in the form of politicians and their paid staff acting on behalf of the wider community is increasingly conceptualized as unrealistic, ineffective and out-moded. Consequently, terms such as 'decentralization', 'community empowerment', 'collaboration' and 'public participation' have become the phrases of the moment. There is considerable ambiguity surrounding these terms but at their core lies the notion that those outside the town hall should be given more influence over local decision making. The parallels between New Labour's rhetoric about community empowerment and normative theorizing in planning which stresses the importance of open inclusionary dialogue is striking. Much of the existing literature concerning public involvement focuses on the failure in practice of many initiatives to achieve an often unspecified notion of 'true' or 'full' participation. As a result there has been a tendency to concentrate on attempting to refine the approach adopted, frequently leaving to one side how community-led initiatives can be reconciled with the existing structure of representative democracy. Most of the reasoning underlying current debate about public involvement seems to be founded on the belief that it is simply a good thing. Research in the Bay Area of California is drawn upon, where public willingness to articulate views and the associated mechanisms to foster such an activity are a much more taken-for-granted part of local government practice than is usually the case in Britain. The purpose is to look beyond the operational concerns to explore in detail what happens to government when people participate. The analysis is based on a conceptual framework which focuses on the interests served by public involvement. The findings emphasize the need for planners to be much more sophisticated in the way they handle the problematic of balancing personal interests with the collective good, including how different forms of knowledge can be reconciled.