Participatory Instruments Research Articles

Land Value Capture and Tax Increment Financing: Overview and Considerations for Sustainable Urban Investment

The paper reviews the notion of Land Value Capture (LVC), its advantages and disadvantages and relevance to for urban growth management. LVC encompasses a wide range of mechanisms, applied in very diverse contexts to monetize ‘windfall’ gains, accruing to landowners because of growth, infrastructure or place-making projects. Despite widespread conviction that a proportion of these ‘unearned increments’ should somehow be harvested for the wider public good, contention, legal and pragmatic challenges remain. As policy makers confront population pressures, transport needs and inequality, LVC can help bridge infrastructure funding gaps, accelerate housing provision and temper polarization. Betterment taxes, Tax Increment Finance (TIF) or participatory instruments like land readjustment can target ‘planning gains’ capitalized into land and property values near stations, historic monuments or upgraded precincts. As well as flagging instrument diversity and variable contexts, the literature suggests LVC mechanisms work best in a joined-up policy context. Ironically, spatial LVC schemes like TIF are most likely to fail when the regeneration need is most acute. In America, inadequate governance, scrutiny or auditing undermined schemes to fund transport or improve the public realm. In Europe LVC exists in a variety of modalities but three European examples, suggests it remains underutilized. London megaprojects, UK regional housing schemes and French sprawl, illustrate that policy makers have yet to adequately capture unearned increments.

National Park Declassification in Mexico: Between Propaganda, Legitimisation and Bargaining

This article analyses the discursive, participative, and negotiation practices in the territorialised public action that occurred during the category change of the Nevado de Toluca Protected Area in Mexico—i.e. the declassification from a high conservation status to a more flexible one. We use a sociological approach for the analysis of the three public policy instruments, namely discourse, participatory mechanisms, and negotiation agreements, implemented by the Mexican government to accompany this change. The analysis reveals how the government instrumentalised this declassification in order to construct an environmental problem to legitimise public intervention and neutralise existing conflicts around specific scientific and democratic controversies. As a result, despite the use of supposedly more democratic and participatory instruments, Mexican conservation policies remain rooted in top-down approaches.

Resident participation in neighbourhood audit tools - a scoping review.

BackgroundHealthy urban environments require careful planning and a testing of environmental quality that goes beyond statutory requirements. Moreover, it requires the inclusion of resident views, perceptions and experiences that help deepen the understanding of local (public health) problems. To facilitate this, neighbourhoods should be mapped in a way that is relevant to them. One way to do this is participative neighbourhood auditing. This paper provides an insight into availability and characteristics of participatory neighbourhood audit instruments.MethodsA scoping review in scientific and grey literature, consisting of the following steps: literature search, identification and selection of relevant audit instruments, data extraction and data charting (including a work meeting to discuss outputs), reporting.ResultsIn total, 13 participatory instruments were identified. The role of residents in most instruments was as ‘data collectors’; only few instruments included residents in other audit activities like problem definition or analysis of data. The instruments identified focus mainly on physical, not social, neighbourhood characteristics. Paper forms containing closed-ended questions or scales were the most often applied registration method.ConclusionsThe results show that neighbourhood auditing could be improved by including social aspects in the audit tools. They also show that the role of residents in neighbourhood auditing is limited; however, little is known about how their engagement takes place in practice. Developers of new instruments need to balance not only social and physical aspects, but also resident engagement and scientific robustness. Technologies like mobile applications pose new opportunities for participative approaches in neighbourhood auditing.

Varieties of Participatory Security: Assessing Community Participation in Policing in Latin America

SummaryThe language of community and societal participation in the context of crime prevention has become ubiquitous throughout Latin America, as governments increasingly turn to police–community partnerships as a means of addressing the seemingly intractable problems of rising crime and insecurity. But to what extent has such “participatory security” had any influence on the capacity of the state to provide security? I argue that in order to understand whether and how these participatory instruments shape what police actually do, we must look to variation in institutional design and how community participation operates in practice. I develop a typology of participatory security that considers how different institutional features may differentially affect police and other state agencies by alternatively serving as channels for the flow of information and oversight mechanisms or simply as a tool for improving the police's image. Drawing on evidence from participatory security institutions in Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia, I illustrate the impact of institutional design on police and state capacity to provide security. I conclude by considering the unintended consequences of institutional design, including the degree of police resistance that different institutional models will generate. This opposition, may, in turn, affect the durability of the participatory institution. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Participatory Turn? Comparing Citizens’ and Politicians’ Perspectives on Online and Offline Local Political Participation

The paper presents a participatory framework for online and offline participation (participatory rhombus).Most democratic innovation such as referendums, new advisory boards are primarily implemented at the local level, which can be regarded as a laboratory for democratic innovation. Some are online instruments (e-petitions, e participatory budgeting). The paper presents results from a broad representative national survey within 27 cities in Germany analyzing the attitudes of citizen and local politicians. Citizen as well as elected politicians and the administration are generally quite open regarding these new online participatory instruments. Participatory budgeting as well as Online participation is regarded less attractive?

Equity, sustainability and governance in urban settings.

In this commentary the urban setting is explored from the perspective of ecological sustainability and social equity. Urban-related issues are highlighted related to social inequality, deficits in urban infrastructures, behavior-related illnesses and risks, global ecological changes, and urban sprawl. Approaches to addressing these issues are described from the perspective of urban governance, urban planning and design, social determinants of health, health promotion, and personal and community empowerment. Examples of successful strategies are provided from Latin America, including using participatory instruments (assessments, evaluation, participatory budgeting, etc.), establishing intersectoral committees, increasing participation of civil society organizations, and developing virtual forums and networks to channel participatory and collaborative processes. A way forward is proposed, using the urban setting to show the imperative of creating intersectoral policies and programs that produce environments that are both healthy and sustainable. It will be important to include new forms of social participation and use social media to facilitate citizen decision-making and active participation of all sectors of society, especially excluded groups.

Between Neoliberal Governance and the Right to the City: Participatory politics in Berlin and Tel Aviv

AbstractBased on a comparison of Berlin and Tel Aviv, this article investigates the ways in which ensembles of participatory instruments mediate between neoliberal urban regimes and political agency shaping differentially the meaning of participation and the types of claims that can be advanced. The article gives an overview of the recent history of both cities through the lens of participatory politics. Two in‐depth case studies further examine the relationship between participatory politics and claim making in each setting: the recent conflict over a social center in the district of Friedrichshain‐Kreuzberg in Berlin and the Levinsky tent city of 2011 in Tel Aviv. In the concluding section, the article suggests that, rather than assuming that participatory tools either co‐opt movements or can be appropriated by them, we need to rethink the relationship between participatory tools, rights and recognition, and ask how participatory structures and political agency constitute each other in interwoven dynamics.

Uma contribuição à ciência pós-normal: aplicações e desafios da ampliação da comunidade de pares em contextos socioambientais e de saúde

GIATTI, L. L. A contribution to the post-normal science. Applications and challenges for the extended peer community in socio-environmental and health contexts [associate professorship thesis]. Sao Paulo: Faculdade de Saude Publica/USP; 2013. Socio-environmental issues of high impact on human health are attuning intensely to contemporary transitions and dilemmas, also in respect of the classic science, in ways of backing political decisions. This context asks for the participation of the subjects of risks in the production and control of the quality of knowledge, as well as in the processes of governance by means of the increasing scale of uncertainties and decision stakes. As a starting point there is this experience in participatory research in indigenous land, in the Brazilian Amazon, which is being used in this thesis as a critical evaluation of different aspects of research and intervention projects, focusing on socioenvironmental and health contexts. Conjoining the presuppositions of the post-normal science, a classification of selected articles, through a systematic review on the theme, was made, categorizing aspects of the application of participatory instruments, scales of approach and functionality of the described experiences. Among the 170 selected articles, only 10 represented de highest grade of participatory dialogic by means of cyclic combinations of instruments and focus on emerging phenomena. All the others performed very successful participations, although not representing a perspective of sustainability, once they didn’t converse with prospective future scenarios and/or didn’t offer means of connection by global-local dynamics, which are constant inductors of risk reproduction. By means of the panorama offered by the bibliographic review, it was possible to identify that a new paradigm of relations between science, society and politics is just beginning.

Wprowadzenie do badań nad problemami rozwoju współczesnego miasta

Współczesne miasta borykają się z wieloma problemami rozwojowymi, którestają się obecnie przedmiotem intensywnych badań w Polsce i za granicą,w środowisku naukowym i jednostkach samorządowych. Badania nad problemami rozwoju współczesnego miasta są aktualnie prowadzone w Urzędzie Miasta Poznania przy okazji realizacji projektu międzynarodowego Cities of change – cooperation of cities in the field of city development finansowanego przez Komisję Europejską w ramach programu „Europa dla Obywateli”.Badania nad problemami rozwoju współczesnego miasta zostały szczególnieukierunkowane na problemy związane z zarządzaniem miastem, w tym zwłaszcza te odnoszące się do monitoringu strategicznego, konsultacji społecznych oraz badań jakości życia. Zawężenie badań do tych trzech grup problemów w istotnym stopniu zostało zdeterminowane przez samych uczestników projektu Cities of change, którzy w trakcie wymiany wiedzy i doświadczeń zwrócili uwagę na ich aktualność i rosnące znaczenie, zarówno w wymiarze naukowym, jak i praktycznym. Należy podkreślić, że istotność poruszanych problemów w wymiarze międzynarodowym najlepiej odzwierciedla fakt, że uczestniczą w nim przedstawiciele środowisk samorządowych i naukowych wielu miast i regionów europejskich, jak: Bolonia, Bukareszt, Dyneburg, Dublin, Florencja, Haga, Hengelo, Kłajpeda, Murcja, Padwa, Poznań, Rennes, Wolverhampton, Region Metropolitalny Hanower-Brunszwik--Getynga-Wolfsburg.Celem przyświecającym badaniom nad wybranymi problemami współczesnegomiasta przy okazji realizacji projektu była integracja wysiłków badawczych możliwie szerokiego środowiska naukowego i praktyków zarządzania wokół wybranych kwestii o strategicznym znaczeniu dla rozwoju dzisiejszych miast oraz wydanie tego zeszytu. Osiągnięcie tego celu zachęciło do wykorzystania zasobów wiedzy profesorów o wielkim i uznanym autorytecie naukowym, a także ośmieliło do sięgnięcia do wyników badań młodych naukowców stawiających odważne pytania naukowe i ciągle poszukujących na nie odpowiedzi. Dodało jednocześnie odwagi do skorzystania z wiedzy i doświadczenia wybitnych przedstawicieli samorządu, którzy podjęli badania na kanwie praktycznych obserwacji.Dzięki integracji wysiłków badawczych tak szerokiego i zróżnicowanegospektrum autorów udało się osiągnąć efekty synergii w spojrzeniu na problemy rozwojowe współczesnych miast. Należy jednak podkreślić, że niektóre kwestie w artykułach zostały jedynie wywołane, a po lekturze innych można mieć odczucie o niedoskonałości pewnych treści, najczęściej w związku z nieprecyzyjnymi jeszcze rozstrzygnięciami w literaturze przedmiotu co do aparatu pojęciowego.Objęte badaniami problemy rozwojowe współczesnego miasta nie poddałysię grupowaniu w bloki tematyczne wynikające z nazwy czasopisma „RuchPrawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny”, a więc na problemy: prawnicze,ekonomiczne i socjologiczne. Niemożliwe okazało się również jednoznacznepogrupowanie problemów na związane z: monitoringiem strategicznym, konsultacjami społecznymi oraz badaniami jakości życia. W rezultacie niezbędne okazało się wprowadzenie nowej kategoryzacji problemów, wyodrębniono więc ostatecznie następujące obszary tematyczne: strategia rozwoju miasta, formy uspołecznienia planowania przestrzennego, partycypacyjne instrumenty zarządzania, gospodarka miasta, perspektywy rozwoju miasta. Takie pogrupowanie problemów rozwoju współczesnego miasta podkreśla, że badania zaprezentowane w zeszycie miały wielowymiarowy, a przez to nieszablonowy charakter – są interdyscyplinarne.

Annotated bibliography on participatory consultations to help aid the inclusion of marginalized perspectives in setting policy agendas.

The purpose of this bibliography is to present studies from peer-reviewed and grey literature that used consultations and other participatory strategies to capture a community’s perspective of their health priorities, and of techniques used to elevate participation from the implementation phase to a more upstream phase of prioritization, policymaking and agenda setting. The focus here is of those studies that worked with marginalized populations or sub-populations. This bibliography contains four areas of research. It begins by first offering some philosophical and conceptual frameworks that link participatory interventions with inclusive policy making or agenda setting, and a rationale for prioritizing marginalized populations in such an undertaking. After situating ourselves in this manner, the second section looks at various participatory instruments for participatory consultations, for reaching out to marginalized populations, and for communicating the results to policymakers. Two sets of distinctions are made here: one between external (non-invitation) and internal (stifling of opinions) exclusion, and between mere participation and from active inclusion within consultations and within the policies. In the third section, examples of consultations that created or changed policy in various jurisdictions are shared, followed by a final section on a reflective and evaluative look at the recruitment, instruments and examples. An earlier iteration of this bibliography was created to assist a multi-country research project by the author to inform the UN Post-2015 development framework of the views of several diverse and highly marginalized populations around the world on their health-related priorities.

Infrastructure Planning in Spain – Public Participation and Legal Protection

This article deals with infrastructure planning in Spanish law. It first describes the role of public participation in planning procedures and analyzes the main participatory instruments foreseen in both general and sectoral administrative law. The distance between a rather adequate administrative legislation on participatory instruments and an unsatisfactory administrative practice in terms of promoting citizen’s participation and seeking acceptance harms the quality of administrative decisions and increases litigation. The article then focuses on the regulation of legal remedies against those decisions and describes recent developments in both academic doctrine and case-law. The main problems related to the effectiveness of judicial protection in this area of law are finally explored.

Los centros de formación y educación profesional: una alternativa para el desarrollo local.

Este artículo presenta una propuesta educativa de índole técnico pero con bases enraizadas en la educación popular (Freire, 1970). La misma pretende dar luces de cómo la educación profesional podría tener una vinculación para el desarrollo local del territorio. El desarrollo local tiene sus máximos exponentes en los ámbitos de la recuperación de las fuentes endógenas y en la articulación del tejido asociativo (Herrera, 2009), con el consecuente beneficio de la potenciación de instrumentos participativos que mejoren los intercambios democráticos del territorio. Los centros educativos pueden tener una visión privilegiada del territorio, ya que confluyen en el mismo algunos elementos, actores y actrices clave, y si además, el centro tiene el cometido formativo de trabajar por el desarrollo desde la articulación de los elementos productivos, tenemos un recurso de excelentes características para el desarrollo local. La propuesta es por tanto, la vinculación de los centros para la educación y el trabajo con una perspectiva de desarrollo local, especialmente en ámbitos con comunidades con baja estructuración social, es decir, altos índices de desempleo, desescolarización, dificultades económicas, etc. Estos escenarios son muy habituales en periferias urbanas tanto de Europa como de América, pero también podemos encontrar dichos ámbitos, en determinadas comunidades rurales latinoamericanas, aunque con características diferenciadas. La actuación por la promoción local, en estos casos, tendrá una responsabilidad especial, ya que el trabajo por la escolaridad inconclusa y la inclusión educativa, trabajarán, sin género de dudas, por el desarrollo comunitario (Torrent, 2012). This paper presents an educational proposal of a technical nature but with bases rooted in popular education (Freire, 1970). It aims to provide lights on how vocational education, could have a link to the local development of the territory. Local development has its maximum exponents in the fields of the recovery of the endogenous sources and in the articulation of the associative network (Herrera, 2009), with the consequent benefit of enhancing participatory instruments that improve the democratic exchanges of territory. The educative centers may have a privileged territory view, converge in the same few elements, actors and actresses key, also if the Centre has the role of formative work development from the articulation of the productive elements, we have a resource of excellent characteristics for local development. The proposal is therefore, the linkage of the Centers for education and work with a perspective of local development, especially in areas with low social structuring communities, i.e., high rates of unemployment, schooling, economic difficulties, etc. These scenarios are very common in urban peripheries both in Europe and in America, but these fields, can also be found in certain rural communities, Latin American, although with different characteristics. The incidence in the local promotion, in these cases, will have a special responsibility, since the work by the unfinished schooling and educational inclusion, without doubt, work for community development (Torrent, 2012).

Shares and Other Participatory Financial Instruments in Italian Law

Following the last comprehensive reform of company law, the funding channels provided for the public companies have been greatly increased through the removal of certain limitations on the atypicity principle in creating share classes. The traditional dichotomy between shares (venture capital) and bonds (debt capital) has definitely fallen apart leaving space for a wider and more comprehensive system of company funding channels, within which the highly innovative element is represented by the introduction of participatory financial instruments. This paper analyzes share’s general characteristics and their circulation, special classes of shares (preferred shares with economic rights, limited voting shares, additional services shares, savings shares and participatory financial instruments).

Online participation: from 'invited' to 'invented' spaces

As a result of growing protests and demonstrative participation, new forms of participation are being implemented by government (invited space) and by the civil society (invented space). These democratic innovations mix conventional representative forms of participation with new direct as well as deliberative participatory instruments (hybrid democracy). Democratic innovation is also characterised by new digital, online instruments. Additionally it comes to a mix between offline instruments and new online instruments (blended democracy). Online participation often lacks quality in its discourse. Research shows that it is frequently not an open reciprocal deliberation. It is more often 'third space discussion' and 'enclave dialogue'. Here the argument is that some online participatory instruments, which were originally developed for deliberation and dialogue, seem to refocus towards the function of demonstrative participation (internet metamorphosis). They are more oriented towards the constructions of identity and community building than towards political dialogue and deliberation.

Smart Mobility – Encouraging sustainable mobility behaviour by designing and implementing policies with citizen involvement

The paper discusses the theoretical concepts, design considerations and preliminary findings from Smart Mobility, a research project currently being undertaken with the City of St. Gallen. The project aims at designing measures to encourage the increased use of public and non-motorised transport by integrating behavioural economic principles into public policy. The extensive involvement of citizens and their participation in the design of the measures are to support their democratic legitimization and later acceptance. The paper describes the energy policies behind the project and outlines the theoretical framework for integrating behavioural insights into public policy. The strategies envisaged include participatory instruments and methods, especially the use of existing social media channels, capitalizing on social processes and norms to increase the motivation of individuals to use public transport, creating an open innovation space by means of crowdsourcing as well as the proper framing of political communication to achieve changes in mobility patterns.

Mapeamento de vulnerabilidades socioambientais e de contextos de promoção da saúde ambiental na comunidade rural do Lamarão, Distrito Federal, 2011

OBJETIVO: realizar atividade de ensino e extensão com alunos de graduação para construção de diagnóstico participativo sobre as condições de vida, ambiente e trabalho em núcleo populacional rural, visando subsidiar ações de promoção da saúde pela equipe de agentes comunitários da Estratégia Saúde da Família. MÉTODOS: trabalho realizado no Núcleo Rural do Lamarão, no Distrito Federal, de outubro/2010 a janeiro/2011. Alunos, conjuntamente com agentes comunitários de saúde, por meio de entrevistas, visitas e oficinas, aplicaram instrumentos de Estimativa Participativa Rápida e de construção de mapa de vulnerabilidade socioambiental e de contextos de promoção da saúde ambiental. RESULTADOS: identificaram-se como promotores da vida na comunidade: diversidade de produção de alimentos, liberdade e segurança, união e organização da comunidade, geração de empregos e natureza. Foram considerados ameaçadores à vida: cultura alimentar, uso inadequado de agrotóxicos, uso incorreto de equipamentos de proteção individual, pulverização aérea, falta de lazer, falta de transporte, uso de drogas lícitas e ilícitas. CONCLUSÃO: a partir do diagnóstico, será construído um projeto de intervenção participativo que incorporará características de ensino, pesquisa e extensão na relação Saúde, Trabalho, Ambiente e Nutrição.

Développement durable urbain et démocratie locale : des espaces de transactions tacites et multipolaires

Sustainable urban development and local democracy – tacit, multipolar areas of transactions. This contribution examines the repertoire of sustainable urban development from the point of view of local democracy, which is often put forward as the cement between the environmental, economic, social and cultural domains of “sustainable” public action, in particular through inviting citizen participation. Based on the expectations, but also the “expectations of expectations” of all parties, without a sole hierarchical principle, these issues are upheld through tacit transactions between elected representatives and the technical and administrative services of local authorities, with the citizen in the background. The transactions are overlapped with multi-polar transactions with the “civil society” and inhabitants, within the frame of participatory instruments set up as centres of intermediation. Due to this transactional approach, some distance can therefore be taken in relation to the usual discourse on the “sustainable town”.

Playground or Democratisation? New Participatory Procedures at the European Commission

In the previous decade, the European Commission has promoted direct citizen involvement in European Union (EU) affairs via institutions such as deliberative polls, citizen conferences, online consultations or citizens' initiatives. Do these instruments foster EU democratisation? In this article, the Commission's participatory turn is re‐constructed. Against the yardstick of a democracy theoretical framework, two participatory instruments (European Citizens' Consultations and the Commission's online consultations) are assessed. Both instruments are seriously flawed: the ECC cannot resolve the trade‐off between demanding and egalitarian participation, and remains almost unrecognised outside the forum (bridging problem). Online consultations suffer both from a lack of active participation and of the symbolic accountability of the Commission to the contributions of ordinary citizens.

Law and Participation

AbstractThe main problem discussed in this paper is that the legal system might be dysfunctional to various political participatory ambitions. Participation implies inclusion, but we see examples of exclusion that originate from internal operations of the legal system. Considering the many instances of participatory instruments embedded in legal frameworks in many sectors of society, it is important to ask what kind of problems the law might cause and the reasons behind these problems. With environmental law and regulation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as examples, this essay analyses the paradoxical tendencies of the legal system to exclude citizens even when regulations have the purpose of including them. The scientific residence of this essay is sociology of law.

Introducing SMURF: A software system for monitoring urban functionalities

Urban land-use planning and management are in constant mutation throughout the world. With sustainability as a goal, the use of participative GIS is becoming more and more in demand. Given the willingness of local authorities to test participatory models and instruments, this paper presents an original implementation of information and communication technologies to support public participation. A system for monitoring urban functionalities (SMURF) was created for supporting participatory planning and management in African cities. The software instrument consists of a geographic database and of spatial indicators, for sharing information, editing information, and evaluating city development. To collect and update data, the model begins with the gathering of the data from each stakeholder, who, in return, gets a better knowledge of the land and a planning support tool. However, the implementation of these technologies presents several challenges: create an adapted interface, elaborate a relevant set of data and indicators, manage the data, and institutionalize the instrument. After an introductory presentation of the context and use of information technologies for the management of African cities, this paper focuses on SMURF and its components. It then shows the experimental application of the software in the city of Thies, Senegal, before concluding with a more general discussion on the relationship between technology, information, knowledge, and participation.