The Internet aids community participation in the planning process

Abstract

This paper looks at community participation in the planning process. In some ways citizens are the forgotten part of collaborative planning, but changes in the political system since the 1960s demand significant input from the community. Experience and the literature show citizen participation is much more effective if it is channeled through a community organization. The community organization has significant communication problems in needing both to interact with various officials at the planning table and to interact with its constituency to inform and represent them. The Internet is proving to be a useful tool for this purpose. This paper examines how the Internet is beginning to affect that process in one urban area, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.