Community Consultation Research Articles

Meeting unique requirements: Community consultation and public disclosure for research in emergency setting using exception from informed consent.

Exception from informed consent (EFIC) regulations for research in emergency settings contain unique requirements for community consultation and public disclosure. These requirements address ethical challenges intrinsic to this research context. Multiple approaches have evolved to accomplish these activities that may reflect and advance different aims. This scoping review was designed to identify areas of consensus and lingering uncertainty in the literature. Scoping review methodology was used. Conceptual and empirical literature related to community consultation and public disclosure for EFIC research was included and identified through a structured search using Embase, HEIN Online, PubMed, and Web of Science. Data were extracted using a standardized tool with domains for major literature categories. Among 84 manuscripts, major domains included conceptual or policy issues, reports of community consultation processes and results, and reports of public disclosure processes and results. Areas of consensus related to community consultation included the need for a two-way exchange of information and use of multiple methods. Public acceptance of personal EFIC enrollment is commonly 64% to 85%. There is less consensus regarding how to assess attitudes, what "communities" to prioritize, and how to determine adequacy for individual projects. Core goals of public disclosure are less well developed; no metrics exist for assessing adequacy. Multiple methods are used to meet community consultation and public disclosure requirements. There remain no settled norms for assessing adequacy of public disclosure, and there is lingering debate about needed breadth and depth of community consultation.

Predicting Risk of Hospital Admission in Patients With Suspected COVID-19 in a Community Setting: Protocol for Development and Validation of a Multivariate Risk Prediction Tool.

BackgroundDuring the pandemic, remote consultations have become the norm for assessing patients with signs and symptoms of COVID-19 to decrease the risk of transmission. This has intensified the clinical uncertainty already experienced by primary care clinicians when assessing patients with suspected COVID-19 and has prompted the use of risk prediction scores, such as the National Early Warning Score (NEWS2), to assess severity and guide treatment. However, the risk prediction tools available have not been validated in a community setting and are not designed to capture the idiosyncrasies of COVID-19 infection.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to produce a multivariate risk prediction tool, RECAP-V1 (Remote COVID-19 Assessment in Primary Care), to support primary care clinicians in the identification of those patients with COVID-19 that are at higher risk of deterioration and facilitate the early escalation of their treatment with the aim of improving patient outcomes.MethodsThe study follows a prospective cohort observational design, whereby patients presenting in primary care with signs and symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 will be followed and their data linked to hospital outcomes (hospital admission and death). Data collection will be carried out by primary care clinicians in four arms: North West London Clinical Commissioning Groups (NWL CCGs), Oxford-Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC), Covid Clinical Assessment Service (CCAS), and South East London CCGs (Doctaly platform). The study involves the use of an electronic template that incorporates a list of items (known as RECAP-V0) thought to be associated with disease outcome according to previous qualitative work. Data collected will be linked to patient outcomes in highly secure environments. We will then use multivariate logistic regression analyses for model development and validation.ResultsRecruitment of participants started in October 2020. Initially, only the NWL CCGs and RCGP RSC arms were active. As of March 24, 2021, we have recruited a combined sample of 3827 participants in these two arms. CCAS and Doctaly joined the study in February 2021, with CCAS starting the recruitment process on March 15, 2021. The first part of the analysis (RECAP-V1 model development) is planned to start in April 2021 using the first half of the NWL CCGs and RCGP RSC combined data set. Posteriorly, the model will be validated with the rest of the NWL CCGs and RCGP RSC data as well as the CCAS and Doctaly data sets. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee on May 27, 2020 (Integrated Research Application System number: 283024, Research Ethics Committee reference number: 20/NW/0266) and badged as National Institute of Health Research Urgent Public Health Study on October 14, 2020.ConclusionsWe believe the validated RECAP-V1 early warning score will be a valuable tool for the assessment of severity in patients with suspected COVID-19 in the community, either in face-to-face or remote consultations, and will facilitate the timely escalation of treatment with the potential to improve patient outcomes.Trial RegistrationISRCTN registry ISRCTN13953727; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN13953727International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/29072

Participatory design and qualitative evaluation of a decision guide for workplace human immunodeficiency virus self-disclosure: The importance of a socio-ecological perspective.

BackgroundDisclosure of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐positive status in a workplace can be a complex social decision for a person living with HIV.ObjectiveTo design a Decision Guide to support people living with HIV in assessing contexts, risks and benefits of workplace disclosure in choosing whether or not, or to what extent, to disclose. In this report, we review the participatory design of a Decision Guide prototype and focus on its evaluation.MethodsWe began with stakeholder input through an environmental scan and community consultation that informed the development of an online Decision Guide prototype. To evaluate the comprehensiveness, acceptability and usability of the prototype, we used qualitative methodology involving individual interviews and the think‐aloud technique. Interviews were transcribed and analysed qualitatively.ResultsFourteen people, including people living with HIV and service providers, participated. We identified benefits of the Decision Guide related to comprehensiveness, acceptability and usability. Additional interview themes focused on disclosure concerns, mitigating risks associated with disclosure and additional considerations for the Decision Guide.ConclusionsThe Decision Guide was perceived to be acceptable, comprehensive and useful. The findings endorse the application of a socio‐ecological perspective when designing decision support aids for complex social decisions.Patient or public contributionPeople with lived experience of HIV were involved in the prototype design phases as research team members. They, along with community leaders and service providers, also participated in a community forum and were key informants for the evaluation of the Workplace Disclosure Decision Guide prototype.

The Negotiation of Space and Rights: Suburban Planning with Diversity

The increasing suburbanization of immigrant settlement in Canada’s major receiving cities has created unprecedented challenges for municipalities. Despite emerging research about the rise of ethnic suburbs in Canada and abroad, the role of suburban municipalities in facilitating immigrant integration and planning with diversity remains unclear. Based on mixed-method ethnographic research, this article investigates how immigrant and racialized communities in the Greater Toronto Area have significantly transformed suburban places and built institutionally complete communities. However, the rapid development of these spaces has not been fully recognized or supported by municipal planning authorities. Conflicts related to land use, public engagement, and public realm development expose planning’s failure to keep pace with the diverse needs of immigrant communities, who must continually negotiate and fight for their use of space. Furthermore, the lack of effective civic engagement not only ignores immigrant and racialized communities as important stakeholders in suburban redevelopment, but also threatens to destroy the social infrastructure built by these communities and their ‘informal’ practices that are often not recognized by the planning ‘norm.’ Without appropriate community consultation, planning processes can further sideline marginalized groups. Lack of consultation also tends to prevent cooperation between groups, impeding the building of inclusive communities. It is imperative for municipalities to better understand and encourage community engagement and placemaking in ethnic suburbs. This study offers several recommendations for suburban planning with diversity.

“We don’t want you to come in and make a decision for us”: Traversing cultural authority and responsive regulation in Australian child protection systems

AbstractThe Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort (Our Children Our Heart) project conducted extensive Elder and community consultation to develop principles and practice recommendations for child protection governance in Western Australia. We explore these principles and practice recommendations and highlight the need for culturally safe community consultation and governance with a focus on repairing damage incurred by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community from past child protection policies. We argue that using principles of responsive regulation and the inclusion of Elder voices in child protection decision making is critical to closing the gap between current practice and what is “best practice” for Aboriginal children and families. We also identify important considerations for preventing further harm through consultation processes, and issues of authority.

Erasing queerness in the neoliberal city: The democratic limitations of community consultation in planning

Tension between anti-normative queer politics and the assimilative pull of liberal identitarianism are a fixture of queer life and queer space (Cohen, 2019; Warner 1999; Nash, 2006; Nash, 2013). Recently, this is visible in the actively contested commodification and gentrification of queer neighborhoods that often sterilize spaces of their queerness (Nash & Gorman-Murray, 2015; Bell & Binnie, 2004; Patrick, 2014; Doan & Higgins, 2011; Renninger, 2018). Through this lens, it comes as no surprise that a condo development proposed on the site of a prominent Toronto drag bar has been met with strong community concern or opposition. While the developer is leading a community consultation process that ostensibly seeks to maintain the presence of the bar and to support the cultural legacy of the community (Bousfields Inc., 2020), the possibility of the continued sterilization of Toronto’s gay village demands critical investigation. This study applies a queer approach (Cohen 1997; Cohen 2019; Browne & Nash 2010; Foucault 1978) that makes visible the forces of normalization at work, to assess the capacity for community consultation to protect queer interests. I raise several concerns over the democratic limitations of community consultation in planning. The neoliberal logics of urban growth at work are fundamentally anti-queer. As such, the capacity of existing planning frameworks to make space for queer life in Toronto is questionable. At this nexus of shifting queer geographies, community consultation, and urban development in the neoliberal city lie important questions about how power is geographically structured, deployed, and contested.
 ReferencesBell, D., & Binnie, J. (2004). Authenticating Queer Space: Citizenship, Urbanism and Governance. Urban Studies,41(9), 1807-1820
 Bousfields Inc.. (2020). Public Consultation Strategy Report: 506-516 Church Street. Prepared on behalf of Graywood CM GP. Retrieved from, https://506churchstreet.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PublicConsultation-Strategy-Report.pdf
 Browne, K., & Nash, C. (2010). Queer methods and methodologies: an introduction. In K. Browne, & C. Nash,Queer methods and methodologies: intersecting queer theories and social science research (pp. 1-24). Ashgate.Butler, J. (1999). Gender Trouble . Routledge.
 Cohen, C. J. (1997). Punks, Bulldaggers and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics? GLQ, 3(4),437-465.
 Cohen, C. J. (2019). The Radical Potential of Queer? Twenty Years Later. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and GayStudies, 25(1), 140-144.
 Doan, P. L., & Higgins, H. (2011). The Demise of Queer Space? Resurgent Gentrification and the Assimilation ofLGBT Neighborhoods. Journal of Planning Eduation and Research, 31(1), 6-25.
 Foucault, M. (1978). The History of Sexuality. Random House Inc.
 Nash, C. J. (2006). Toronto's gay village (1969-1982): Plotting the politics of gay identity. The CanadianGeographer, 50(1), 1-16.
 Nash, C. J., & Gorman-Murray, A. (2015). Recovering the Gay Village: A Comparative Historical Geogrpahy ofUrban Change and Planning in Toronto and Sydney. Historical Geography, 43, 85-105.
 Patrick, D. (2014). The matter of displacement: a queer urban ecology of New York City's High Line. Social &Cultural Geography, 15(8), 920-941.
 Renninger, B. (2018). Grindr Killed the Gay Bar, and Other Attempts to Blame Social Technologies for UrbanDevelopment: A Democratic Approach to Popular Technologies and Queer Sociality. Journal of Homosexuality,66(12), 1736-1755.
 Warner, M. (1999). The Ethics of Sexual Shame. In, The trouble with normal: Sex, politics, and the ethics of queerlife (pp. 1-40). Free Press.

Improving Post-Disaster Housing Reconstruction Outcomes in the Global South: A Framework for Achieving Greater Beneficiary Satisfaction through Effective Community Consultation

The purpose of this paper was to examine the community consultation practices carried out by implementing agencies when managing post-disaster housing reconstruction (PDHR) projects, identify the obstacles they face, and evaluate the effect these obstacles have on the quality of information obtained in relation to achieving a high level of beneficiary satisfaction. The aim was to develop a framework for community consultation in PDHR, which ensures that the needs of beneficiaries are more accurately reflected in the housing produced. A qualitative research methodology was adopted with data first being obtained through a literature review of relevant publications and implementing agency reports as a means of establishing common themes among community consultation practices and identifying indicators that influence beneficiary satisfaction. This was followed by a case study analysis to further an understanding of how these indicators were affected by the community consultation practices undertaken in a real-world context. The results of the research indicate that community consultation often forms a central role in the planning and delivery of PDHR projects, however, despite the implementing agencies’ best intentions, there are often obstacles that prevent the process from achieving the desired result. The community consultation framework proposed here has been developed to address the identified obstacles with the aim of ensuring that beneficiary requirements are included in housing design as a means of improving the level of beneficiary satisfaction in the housing provided.

A reporting format for field measurements of soil respiration

Field observations of the soil-to-atmosphere CO2 flux—soil respiration, RS—are a prime example of ‘long tail’ data that historically have had neither centralized databases nor an agreed-upon reporting format. This has hindered scientific transparency, analytical reproducibility, and syntheses with respect to this globally-important component of the carbon cycle. Here we propose a new data and metadata reporting format for RS data, based on engagement with a wide range of researchers in the earth and ecological sciences as well as expert advisory panels. Our goal was a reporting format that would be relevant and useful for synthesis activities, optimizing data discoverability and usability while not placing an undue burden on data contributors. We describe previous RS data collection efforts, lessons learned from related databases and data-oriented networks (e.g., FLUXNET) in earth and ecological sciences, and the process of community consultation. The proposed reporting format focuses on chamber-level data and metadata, specifying measurement conditions and, for a given measurement period defined by beginning and ending timestamps, a mean RS flux (or CO2 concentration) and associated ancillary measurements. With input from the research community, we have also developed research data and metadata templates to support data collection adhering to the reporting format. Fundamentally, this format aims to enable findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable data, while providing ‘future-proofing’ capabilities to support reanalyses using as yet unknown algorithms or approaches. This proposed RS reporting format is openly available online and is intended to be a dynamic document, subject to further community feedback and/or change.

Early Adopters’ Philosophies, Practices and Perspectives on Eco-Tourism and Eco-Certification: The Case of Ecotourism in Jamaica

This paper examines business philosophies, sustainable practices, and attitudes towards eco-certification of pio-neering tourism operators engaged in ecotourism in the mature ‘sun and beach’ destination of Jamaica. We conducted a thematic analysis of the data collected from semi-structured interviews with managers and owners, and observations from on-site visits with establishments identified as ecotourism operators in Jamaica. We identified five distinct busi-ness philosophies that guided our participants' operations: presenting Jamaica in a holistic way, preserving the natural and cultural environment, community support, economic sustainability and incentivized preservation, and operational independence. The tourism operations in our study primarily engage in sustainable practices as a means of attaining operational independence. Meanwhile, participants held mixed attitudes towards eco-certification. There was signifi-cant overlap between our findings and the existing conceptual UNWTO framework for ecotourism. We found strong evidence for the role of education as the defining characteristic of ecotourism. Varying attitudes towards and awareness of sustainability and conservation of the country’s cultural and natural assets limit the amount of community consulta-tion in planning and development of these enterprises.

Consulting the Community on Strategies to Strengthen Social Capital for Community Disease Control.

Excluding communities in planning and implementing research maximizes internal risks that are otherwise visible and avoidable when there is adequate community consultation. Communities might not meaningfully use research results if majority of the researched people have minimal or no participation in information generation and dissemination. However, effective participation of researched communities in research is key to transferring knowledge to action. Using a qualitative approach, the study identified barriers to, and relevant strategies for improving health research uptake, particularly for schistosomiasis (commonly known as bilharzia) in the Ingwavuma area, uMkhanyakude District of KwaZulu-Natal. Data was collected through modified ethnography using participant observation, focus group discussions, unstructured in-depth interviews, and ethnographic conversational interviews. Results reveal that research uptake is inhibited by reduced opportunities for habitual interaction between residents, a paucity of innovative and inclusive health education activities and unsafe recreational facilities. The community's strategies on strengthening social capital for disease control include using existing social systems and power hierarchies to mobilise and organise and using the performing arts to facilitate habitual interaction and knowledge sharing. The study recommends a community consultation flow which facilitates openness about the benefits and the community's role in research, a pre-condition for community wide efforts in local disease prevention and control.

‘More than a Thought Bubble…’

‘More than a Thought Bubble…’

PENGAWASAN KEPADA KLIEN PEMASYARAKATAN (Tantangan dan Alternatif Penyelesaian)

This study aims to determine the implementation of the supervision of prisoners on parole by the Community Guide. This research used descriptive qualitative method with data collection techniques in the form of observation and supported by literature studies. A prisoner undergoing parole needs to be supervised to ensure that there is no violation of the provisions of the guidance contract agreed upon by the client and the community advisor at the beginning of the mentoring period. Community Advisors as law enforcement officials are tasked with carrying out this supervision. In its implementation, there are several obstacles experienced by community counselors related to the background and competence of officers, high workloads, and coordination between community counselors and law enforcement officials. Community involvement strongly supports the successful achievement of program objectives because parole is implemented in the community. Analysis of the needs of community counselors is also needed to increase the effectiveness and professionalism of officers.

The material foundations of a low-carbon economy

The material foundations of a low-carbon economy

Disrupting landscape: Enacting zones of socio-material entanglement for alternative futures

Emerging discussions frame sites of extraction as ‘zones of entanglement’, and this article considers the condition of mine closure and the decision-making processes around post-mining landscape planning as one of these zones. Focusing on the recently closed Leigh Creek coal mine in South Australia, this article compares the transformation of a specific area of the mining lease by nonhumans with the community consultation processes that occurred during the mine's closure. Drawing from Karen Barad's theory of Agential Realism with the concepts of ‘interaction’ and ‘intra-action’, this comparison considers the way in which discursive frameworks create enclosures that prevent individual community members from enacting their ambitions for the post-mining landscape. Framing nonhumans as agentic actors this paper presents their landscape transformation as an example of what can happen if actors act both below the threshold of company awareness and from within their own worldview. It similarly explores what happens if actors reject or are unable to engage in the dominant discourses that restrict final landscape possibilities. This paper proposes that actors using distributed agency to enact socio-material landscape change presents a methodological alternative to individualistic forms of landscape planning embedded within risk management and economic viability frameworks.

Green Infrastructure for Sanitation in Settlements in the Global South: A Narrative Review of Socio-Technical Systems

In the developing economies of the Global South, a fundamental challenge in the transition of settlements from rural or periurban to urban is increased environmental contamination as a result of poor sanitation and sanitation management. With governments’ limited ability to connect all neighbourhoods to a city’s existing municipal water, sewerage and other services, decentralised approaches using green infrastructure offer potential to address this challenge. In addition, green infrastructure might facilitate a move towards a holistic response to manage the full water cycle. This paper presents a narrative review of green infrastructure projects, involving constructed wetlands or their variants for wastewater treatment, within vulnerable communities in the Global South. It describes the scale and scope of each project, identifies the challenges of implementation, and reflects on their outcomes for different stakeholder groups. The review demonstrates that decentralised sanitation programs using constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment can provide a range of advantages/benefits/services, dependant on the specific sociocultural, political and biogeophysical contexts of each. Issues of governance and sociocultural appropriateness, rather than technical issues, challenged the implementation of green infrastructure for sanitation in these projects. Projects must be a collaboration between the government, nongovernment organisations and the community. Whether the project is organised from top-down or bottom-up, community consultation is essential. Context will determine the role of the community in the consultation process and the type of information required to guide the design, implementation and governance of the system. In every project to provide decentralised sanitation systems, the community must be participants, not simply beneficiaries.

The Degree of Success in Environmental Mitigation Measures of Development Projects in Sri Lanka with Special Reference to Peraru Water Supply and Sanitation Project

Human life and element of nature is well connected. Man-made activities can destroy the natural system which sustains the human life. In many parts of the world, economic development projects directed at improving levels of material comfort have had unintended detrimental effects on people and natural resources. Water, land, and air have been degraded to the point where they can no longer sustain existing levels of development and quality of life. Economic development in developing countries has been focused on immediate economic gains environmental protection has not been a priority because the economic losses from environmental degradation often occur long after the economic benefits of development have been realized. Environmental Management Plans (EMP) are used in development projects to mitigate the anticipated impacts due the project intervention. EMP is monitored periodically using performance indicators shown in the Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMoP). As per National Environmental Act, all the mega development activities must have an   EMP. Some development projects effectively implement the EMP but there are cases that the implementation is not being practiced as per the EMP. This study assessed   how effectively EMP was implemented in Per Aru Water Supply and Sanitation Project. A structured interview guideline was used to collect and obtain information from the target group. The study analysed impact and mitigation on key environmental factors such as air, water, land, fauna and flora. Throughout the study, it was found that the implementation of EMP was successful. Project had planted around 176,972 plants for removing 1600 trees; Followed enough mitigation measures riprap and turfing to control the erosion in the bund; less mobile species were translocated to similar habitat area; no degradation occurred to the water body surrounding the project area; however project had failed to take enough mitigation measures on dust, translocating the flora and releasing the environmental flow. It is recommended to release the environmental flow, form a grievance redress mechanism to solve environmental related peoples’ complains and grievances, improve the community consultation, increase the project approving agencies monitoring on the implementation of EMP, and control the invasive plants Muntingia calabura (Jam fruit tree). Further, recommended to donor agencies to evaluate the successfulness of the implemented EMP after project completion

Research in forced displacement: guidance for a feminist and decolonial approach

The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened inequities and undermined health, human rights, and gender equality for forcibly displaced populations The ongoing pandemic has also exposed persisting power hierarchies between researchers and forcibly displaced populations These populations experience power asymmetries in their position as the so-called beneficiaries of humanitarian research and action, and are often excluded from participation in decision making about the research intended to benefit their communities Forcibly displaced women and girls are consistently categorised as vulnerable and needing protection or rescuing, which takes away their agency and power of action, while risking exploitation or abuse by the same humanitarian actors that supposedly aim to protect them We believe that applying a feminist lens is not merely about demolishing problematic structures, but also about collaboratively building up new ones for a more just world (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

The effect of local neighbourhood park redevelopments on park visitations and user physical activity levels: a pre–post test evaluation

To examine the influence of redeveloping two parks based on consultation with local community and stakeholders on park visitation rates and activity levels of park users. Pre–post design. Two local neighbourhood parks located in low socioeconomic areas in the regional city of Bundaberg, Australia. Number of park visitors and park users’ activity levels were assessed using SOPARC pre (April–August 2013) and post (April–May 2014) park redevelopment. Park data were pooled for analysis. Pre–post differences in the park visitors and park user activity levels were examined overall and also by sex and age group (children, teen, adults, seniors) using a negative binomial generalised linear model (Stata MP 15.1, α = 0.05). Average daily visitors (baseline: 5.08; follow-up: 45.09; p < 0.001) and the number of child, teen, adult, and senior visitors increased from baseline to follow-up. The daily number of park users engaged in sedentary (baseline: 1.56; follow-up: 8.30; p < 0.001), moderate-intensity (baseline: 2.61; follow-up: 26.23; p < 0.001) and vigorous activity (baseline: 0.91; follow-up: 10.56; p < 0.001) also increased. Redeveloping local parks, informed by community, local government and researcher stakeholder consultations increased the number of and activity levels of park users.

Access to a scheduled psychiatric community consultation for prisoners with mood disorders during the immediate post-release period

• Transition from prison to community for patients with mood disorders is challenging. • In 30%, no appointment for a psychiatric consultation upon release can be scheduled. • When a psychiatric consultation is scheduled, the median delay is 21 days. • Specific interventions targeting this period should be prioritized in France. For incarcerated people, the immediate post-release period is characterized by a range of negative outcomes. The appointment scheduling delay for a psychiatric community consultation in this period is unknown. A fictional 24-year-old patient with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder with comorbid cannabis use disorder was created and implemented in two different contexts: (1) a release from a prison of the French North district within 48 h ( prison-released patient ), (2) a move from another district to the French North district within 48 h ( outpatient-moving patient ). An independent investigator called the 39 outpatient psychiatric clinics of the French North district to get an appointment as quickly as possible for the two fictional patients. In 12 centers out of 39, no appointment could be scheduled for the prison-released patient . For the 27 other centers, there was no statistical difference between the 2 fictional patients’ delay. Three centers refused to make an appointment for the prison-released patient while an appointment was given for the outpatient-moving patient . For the prison-released patient , the median delay was 21 days, which is not consistent with optimal support during the high-risk period of release. Only outpatient psychiatric clinics of the French North district were called. Caution is then needed before generalizing the results. French mental health system does not allow for a proper management of the transition from prison to the community for people with mood disorders during the immediate post-release period.

Interim reuse in urban derelicts: Uncovering the community's attitudes and preferences through scenario-elicitation

Over the last decades, interim reuse has emerged as a possible solution for vacant land and abandoned spaces in cities. It is presented as an alternative to conventional regeneration projects, opening up new possibilities for the occupation of formerly derelict spaces. However, in addition to such opportunities, it also poses a number of risks which need to be mitigated, calling for new mechanisms that foster the consultation and participation of communities within the scope of urban planning. The present research seeks to fill this gap by introducing scenario-elicitation, an innovative participation methodology, which relies on new visualisation and communication techniques in planning. Application of the methodology to an abandoned industrial lot in Barreiro – a shrinking city in the suburban belt of Lisbon, Portugal – yielded the following conclusions: (i) scenario-elicitation constitutes a potential tool for the consultation of communities, as a complement to other visualisation and communication techniques in planning; (ii) interim reuse is embraced by communities as a useful device to respond to vacancy and urban abandonment situations; (iii) citizens' adherence to types of interim reuse is geared, primarily, towards collective space options linked to healthy living practices and the combination of different functional and spatial assets.