Participatory Strategic Planning Research Articles

Vaccination governance in protracted conflict settings: the case of northwest Syria

BackgroundEffective vaccination governance in conflict-affected regions poses unique challenges. This study evaluates the governance of vaccination programs in northwest Syria, focusing on effectiveness, efficiency, inclusiveness, data availability, vision, transparency, accountability, and sustainability.MethodsUsing a mixed-methods approach, and adapting Siddiqi’s framework for health governance, data were collected through 14 key informant interviews (KIIs), a validating workshop, and ethnographic observations. Findings were triangulated to provide a comprehensive understanding of vaccination governance.ResultsThe study highlights innovative approaches used to navigate the complex health governance landscape to deliver vaccination interventions, which strengthened sub-national vaccination structures such as The Syria Immunisation Group (SIG). The analysis revealed several key themes. Effectiveness and efficiency were demonstrated through cold-chain reliability and extensive outreach activities, though formal reports lacked detailed analysis of vaccine losses and linkage between disease outbreak data and coverage statistics. Key informants and workshop participants rated the vaccination strategy positively but identified inefficiencies due to irregular funding and bureaucracy. Inclusiveness and data availability were prioritised, with outreach activities targeting vulnerable groups. However, significant gaps in demographic data and reliance on paper-based systems hindered comprehensive coverage analysis. Digitalisation efforts were noted but require further support. The SIG demonstrated a clear strategic vision supported by international organizations such as the World Health Organization, yet limited partner participation in strategic planning raised concerns about broader ownership and engagement. While the SIG was perceived as approachable, the lack of public documentation and financial disclosure limited transparency. Internal information sharing was prevalent, but public communication strategies were insufficient. Accountability and sustainability faced challenges due to a decentralized structure and reliance on diverse donors. Despite stabilizing factors such as decentralization and financial continuity, fragmented oversight and reliance on donor funding remained significant concerns.DiscussionThe study highlights the complexities of vaccination governance in conflict-affected areas. Comparisons with other conflict zones underscore the importance of local organisations and international support. The SIG’s role is pivotal, but its legitimacy, transparency, and inclusivity require improvement. The potential transition to early recovery in Syria poses additional challenges to SIG’s sustainability and integration into national programs.ConclusionThe governance of vaccination in northwest Syria is multifaceted, involving multiple stakeholders and lacking a legitimate government. Enhancing transparency, local ownership, and participatory decision-making are crucial for improving governance. The role of international bodies is essential, emphasising the need for structured feedback mechanisms and transparent monitoring processes to ensure the program’s success and sustainability.

User acceptance of strategic planning: Evidence from Northern European municipalities

AbstractStrategic planning is core to public administration at all governmental levels. Evidence suggests that when conducted well strategic planning impacts several performance outcomes. Yet, public administration and strategy scholars have argued that strategic planning is not only a technical procedure. Its success is contingent upon the people involved in strategic planning. This study investigates strategic planning using user acceptance theory. It identifies whether formal and participatory strategic planning associate with ease of use and usefulness of strategic planning and, in turn, whether ease of use and usefulness associate with commitment to strategic plans. Results from PLS‐SEM analysis of survey data from 327 municipalities in three Northern European countries or regions (Flanders, Finland, Norway) corroborate the perspective of strategic planning as organizational behavior where design choices shape attitudes and behaviors. These findings support calls to consider strategic planning from a 3Ps perspective, namely connecting people–process–plan, to achieve outcomes.

Becoming knowledgeable stakeholders: Enacting political and epistemic authority in a Swedish strategic urban planning project

Strategic urban planning has long been promoted as an important approach to transitioning to sustainable communities. However, previous literature on the Nordic context has critiqued strategic activities because they often take place outside of statutory planning procedures and therefore present legitimacy deficiencies. While the inclusion of both stakeholders and diverse expertise has been recognised as important in strategic planning, previous planning literature has focused either on the role of politics or knowledge in planning, but not as much on the relationship between the two. This paper aims to deepen our understanding of how political and epistemic authority affect the legitimacy of strategic planning by exploring how participants in an informal strategic planning process enact authority. By applying a theoretical framework of stakeholderness and boundary work, the paper shows how the balance between political and epistemic authority is important when legitimizing strategic planning processes. The paper concludes by suggesting the concept of knowledgeable stakeholders to describe actors’ enactment of political and epistemic authority. This paper argues for a need to repoliticise participation in strategic planning by illuminating the interrelatedness of politics and expertise, to which the concept of knowledgeable stakeholders can contribute.

Converged learning: the spectrum of technology-mediated learning

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), a four-year polytechnic research university in the United States, utilized a participatory strategic planning process to implement an innovative approach to the delivery modes between face-to-face and online instruction. NJIT defines the spectrum of online and on-ground instruction integration as Converged Education. This spectrum allows students to participate face-to-face, join remotely through real-time video conferencing technology (synchronously), or watch classroom instruction asynchronously. The article opens with a general background of NJIT's approach to the new idea of converged instructional delivery. Then, the process of defining and clarifying the terms and conceptions of the various modes to be adopted is presented. Finally, the resulting implementation of the new policy and its reflection on course offerings is shown and discussed.

Organizational democracy at work. Shaping participation through strategic planning in university

This article discusses whether and how strategic planning can promote the development and dissemination of organizational democracy in knowledge-intensive organizations. This research is inspired by the theoretical approach known as strategy-as-practice, in which strategic planning is considered a process of co-construction of meanings and actions involving multiple actors engaged in negotiation dynamics, through situational interactions in daily practice. Adopting a strategic ethnography approach from a methodological point of view, we examine the participatory strategic planning process conducted from January 2022 to April 2023 at the University of Bergamo. By analyzing ethnographic reports, formal documents, and working drafts, four strategic practices (Collective decision making, Platform and process alignment, Emotional coordination, and Organizational diplomacy) are identified as connected to two key enabling factors (synergic approach and consensus on organizational change) that can support and facilitate the spread of work environments more sensitive to the principles of organizational democracy. Implications for both theory and practice are discussed.

Strategic Collaborative Planning for Urban Liveability: A Comparative Review of Metropolitan Area Case Studies

The issue of urban liveability has been extensively debated by global agencies and scholars, as evidenced by the New Urban Agenda, in response to the impact of urbanisation. Urban liveability pertains to the ability of urban communities to achieve a high-quality living environment. While participatory planning is often presented as a means of empowering communities to attain better living conditions, it has presented challenges for decision-makers. Furthermore, dominant actors often influence participation processes, benefiting certain community segments. As a result, collaborative planning has emerged as an approach that seeks to address the interests of multiple urban factors by promoting consensus in decision-making. This paper aims to examinethe collaborative planning methods that have been used in strategic planning that have empowered the community to participate in the planning process.Content analysis was employed as a research method to explore the empirical evidence of collaborative planning that has successfully empowered community participation in strategic planning and its impact on the liveability of metropolitan areas. Correspondingly, the Melbourne, Vancouver, and Helsinki case studies were selected based on five liveable city indices. This study's findings suggest a positive correlation between the implementation of collaborative planning by the selected metropolitan areas and their status as the most liveable cities. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of collaborative planning in promoting urban liveability.

Improving Strategic Planning: The Crucial Role of Enhancing Relationships between Management Levels

Having a fruitful relationship with all levels of management can increase the likelihood of better opportunities within and outside the organization. In some environments, it is known that participation in strategic planning creates better overall conditions for all partners, better conditions for retention, and above all, loyalty to talent. The very acceptance of contributions to this desideratum entails knowledge sharing and knowledge management. Our study examines how the relationship between management levels can disrupt strategic planning, particularly in contexts of resistance to change, situations that can affect talent retention and loyalty. Gathering the essential data to enhance the recommendations and contributions, the organization’s overall robustness takes shape through a combination of participant and nonparticipant observation, alongside interviews and questionnaires administered within the company. Initially, a qualitative approach was employed, involving interviews with a cohort of n = 14 top management executives. Subsequently, a qualitative method was employed, involving questionnaires distributed to a group of n = 204 individuals encompassing middle and lower management levels. Our conclusions, therefore, reflect the continuation of a research study. This paper contributes to the literature of work pursued by exploring how social actors and different stakeholders can make a difference in participating in strategic planning and how they can overcome, in counterpoint, the limitations of possibly not being able to participate in such strategic planning. Our contribution will also result in a critical understanding of the need for talent retention and loyalty, highlighting how retention efforts, especially the small nudges that are absolutely significant in terms of employee participation and even emotional pay purposes, are differentiators and can overcome, very concretely, resistance to change.

Transitioning Electrochemical Technologies into Agriculture via the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center Model

One of the most difficult challenges in translating electrochemical technologies into agriculture is the lag in education about the impact of electrochemical technologies in the field. Other challenges include lack of (1) investment and resources for translational research; (2) effective mechanisms to derisk investment; (3) a workforce prepared to translate and operate such technologies; (4) policy, legal infrastructure, and holistic business growth models; and (5) diverse and inclusive leadership “agents of change” to transition the technologies into the market. Opportunities to translate research into the market require strong partnerships with industry, universities, government, and stakeholders. An effective model is the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center (ERC) model. An NSF ERC Gen-4 launched in August 2022 is the Center for Advancing Sustainable and Distributed Fertilizer Production (CASFER). Industry and other practitioner organizations are actively involved at the very early stage (articulation of the vision) and during operation in activities such as: participation in strategic planning, joint research, providing input into workforce development programs, mentoring students, and engagement in proof-of-concept testbeds. All these activities and engagement are key to accelerating technology transfer and to transitioning technologies from the lab to the market, while training an effective workforce for industry.

Engaging with the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing: recommendations for noncommercial biodiversity researchers

Abstract The Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing provide an international legal framework that aims to prevent misappropriation of the genetic resources of a country and ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use. The legislation was negotiated at the behest of lower-income, biodiverse countries to ensure that benefits derived from research and development of genetic resources from within their jurisdictions were equitably returned and could thereby incentivize conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Despite good intentions, however, rapid adoption of access and benefit-sharing measures at the national level, often without participatory strategic planning, has hampered noncommercial, international collaborative genetic research with counterproductive consequences for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. We outline how current implementation of the Convention of Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol affect noncommercial research, such as that conducted in many disciplines in biology, including mammalogy. We use a case study from Brazil, an early adopter, to illustrate some current challenges and highlight downstream consequences for emerging pathogen research and public health. Most emerging pathogens colonize or jump to humans from nonhuman mammals, but noncommercial research in zoonotic diseases is complicated by potential commercial applications. Last, we identify proactive ways for the mammalogical community to engage with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol, through sharing of nonmonetary benefits and working with local natural history collections. Leveraging international scientific societies to collectively communicate the needs of biodiversity science to policy makers will be critical to ensuring that appropriate accommodations are negotiated for noncommercial research.

Planning the development of rural areas: collisions of regulatory and legal support

The reform of the territory management system in Ukraine significantly expanded the powers of local authorities to increase their capacity to solve a number of socio-economic problems of rural areas. Both approaches to development planning and the document flow of its support has been changed. The purpose of the study is to identify inconsistencies in the legislative and regulatory framework regarding the requirements for the development of planning documents for the development of regions and territorial communities, as well as to develop proposals for their elimination. It was established that the corresponding update of legislation combined the classification features of the new and the old: the number of types of documents that should be formed by local self-government bodies has been increased and the scope of development coverage has been expanded. Believe that this overloads the document flow structure in strategic planning. It was established that using the program-target approach which was introduced in the budget process does not apply to the entire system of planning documents for the development of regions or territorial communities and has a recommendatory character. The need of regulating civil participation in the strategic planning of territorial communities was confirmed by strengthening the status of such a norm by enshrining it in legislation, as well as the transition from the level of informing the public to strengthening the ability to implement joint decisions and developments. In the course of research was revealed duplication of norms, inconsistency of terms of validity of strategic regional development planning documents, lack of uniform procedures for creating development programs, which have been forming by executive power bodies and local self-government bodies. The obsolescence and inconsistency of the norms of the Law of Ukraine "On state forecasting and development of economic and social development programs of Ukraine" in relation to the Law of Ukraine "On the principles of state regional policy" regarding the construction of a hierarchy of program documents for the development of territorial communities was noticed. The expediency of establishing the powers of formation and implementation of local target programs by local self-government bodies, standardizing the procedure for their development and monitoring of implementation has been substantiated. It is proposed to supplement the Law of Ukraine "On the principles of state regional policy" in terms of requirements for the formation of forecasts and program documents of economic and social development at the state and regional level; finalize the Procedure of developing, approving, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of strategies for the development of territorial communities in terms of increasing the responsibility of officials for not ensuring the conditions for citizen participation in strategic planning; develop methodological recommendations regarding the procedure of development, approval, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of local development programs, local (regional) development projects. Key words: regulatory and legal support, Local Government, strategic management and planning, territorial communities, management of community potential.

Modelling the role of strategic planning, strategic management accounting information system, and psychological factors on the budgetary slack

ABSTRACT This study aims to identify the mediating role of strategic management accounting systems, autonomous budget motivation, and affective organisational commitment on the relationship between management participation in strategic planning and budgetary slack variables. It also further extends the topic to multi-layer management contingency theory via agency theory and stewardship theory. By applying structural equation modelling in a public health and medical services setting, the study concludes that the participation of all managers not only does not reduce budgetary slack, but increases it; strategic management accounting systems and affective organisational commitment act as mediating factors, though the autonomous budget motivation cannot perform such a role. Further, for higher level managers, only the strategic management accounting system shows a significant effect on budgetary slack. Evidence regarding middle managers confirms the significant effect of the mediating role of strategic management accounting systems and for operating managers, only affective organisational commitment reduces budgetary slack. Therefore, management levels posit a significant contingency effect on constructs affecting budgetary slack. By identifying the mediator variables, the study extends budgetary slack theory and provides empirical evidence for each level of public health and medical services management.

Organizational innovation and the role of strategic planning: the case of the Dubai hotel industry

PurposeIn today's dynamic and competitive environment, innovation is a key requirement for hotels to survive, be profitable and sustain their competitive advantages. However, because the study of innovation in the hospitality industry has only developed recently, little is still known about its determining factors. Given this, this study aims to theorize and test with empirical data the effects of two key dimensions of strategic planning (i.e. participation and flexibility) on innovation.Design/methodology/approachUsing a fully standardized questionnaire, data were gathered from a sample of 150 hotels in Dubai, by a professional market research firm, through face-to-face interviews. The study hypotheses are tested with partial least squares structural equation models. The study has three limitations: first, its data are cross-sectional and the analyses are post hoc; second, it uses single informants; and third, the sample was primarily from a single setting, i.e. Dubai.FindingsThe study argues that participation and flexibility in strategic planning are positively related. It also argues that flexibility is positively related to innovation and that flexibility mediates the effects of participation in strategic planning on innovation. Empirical support is found for all the examined relationships.Originality/valueThe study takes place in a unique setting (i.e. Dubai, United Arab Emirates) where research on organizational innovation has been rather limited to date. The findings have important implications for the stream of literature in this field and for practitioners and sustaining competitive advantages of hotels.

A participatory approach for building ex ante impact pathways towards a prudent use of antimicrobials in pig and poultry sectors in France.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global public health threat responsible for 700,000 deaths per year worldwide. There is scientific evidence of the causal relationship between antimicrobial use (AMU) along the food chain and AMR. Improving AMU in livestock is therefore a key component in the fight against AMR. To improve AMU in livestock, there is no one-size-fits-all solution and strategies must be context-adapted and socially acceptable for actors in order to increase AMU sustainability. AMU decision-making is based on an interdependent set of economic, behavioral, ethical, and cultural factors that need to be assessed to advise on the potential impacts of measures. We hypothesized that a participatory strategic planning approach may increase the plausibility and the efficacy of the strategies formulated by facilitating the dialogue between actors of diverse backgrounds, stimulating innovative thinking and constant considerations of contextual factors, actors and impacts. We adapted and applied the ImpresS ex ante approach (IMPact in reSearch in the South, https://impress-impact-recherche.cirad.fr/) within a Living Lab engaging actors from the French pig and poultry sectors in co-creation of innovative strategies towards improved AMU. We conducted semi-structured interviews and participatory workshops between April 2021 and March 2022. The results describe 1) an initial diagnosis of the current AMU situation in the pig and poultry sectors in France; 2) a common vision of the future to which participants would like to contribute through the intervention; 3) an identification of the current problems opposed to this vision of the future; 4) a defined scope of the intervention; 5) a typology of actors protagonist or impacted by those issues and 6) outcome maps to solve a priority problem related to indicators and monitoring. This study provides recommendations for decision-makers on plausible and innovative strategies to sustainably improve AMU in pig and poultry sectors in France and evidence of the benefits of participatory strategic planning approaches.

The effect of frontline employee participation in strategic planning on managers’ budget slack creation and evaluation: a lab-in-the-field experiment

ABSTRACT We examined whether participation of frontline employees (FEs) in a firm’s strategic planning using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis mitigates managers’ budget slack creation and whether it improves budget evaluation. Using a lab-in-the-field experiment in an agro-processing firm in Ghana, we found that FE participation in strategic planning enhanced managers’ identification of the number of internal and external factors affecting the firm, enabling the firm to better understand the environment in which the budget process is undertaken. We also found that FE participation reduced managers’ budget slack creation and bias in their performance evaluation. In an additional analysis, we found that FE participation improved managers’ budget allocation, effectively redirecting the firm’s resources to units where they were most needed. Overall, the results showed that FE participation in strategic planning improved the managers’ information environment, thereby positively influencing their choices and actions.

Exploring the Context of Converged Learning: A Case Study in a Polytechnic University

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), a four-year polytechnic R01 research university in the United States utilized a participatory strategic planning process to implement an innovative approach to the modes of delivery for instruction that exist between face-to-face and online instruction. NJIT defines the spectrum of integration of online and on-ground instruction as Converged Education. This spectrum allows students to either participate face to face, join remotely through real-time video conferencing technology synchronously, or watch classroom instruction asynchronously. The article opens with a general background of NJIT's approach to the new idea of converged instructional delivery. It provides a brief history, context, and explanation of its interdisciplinary participatory strategic planning process. Then the paper describes the process of pilot testing that was conducted to determine how best to adopt the new modes of instruction across all disciplines. Next, the process for defining and clarifying the terms and conceptions of the various modes to be adopted is presented. After this, the paper discusses the impact of the shift of Web 1.0 to web 6.0 and how the different departments and sectors of NJIT worked on strategic planning together. Finally, the resulting implementation of the new policy and its reflection in course offerings is shown and discussed.

What about us? Teachers’ participation in schools’ strategic action plans

Schools in various parts of the world adopt plans or projects to improve the quality of school processes and students’ learning. Therefore, it is important to understand the processes of strategic planning such as teachers’ participation on decision making related to school plans. Apparently a limited number of studies have hitherto been conducted on teachers’ participation in strategic planning. The purpose of this paper is to examine teachers’ participation in decision making and strategic action planning in Portuguese schools. A survey employing self-administered scales was taken. Teachers' participation, other stakeholders’ participation, planning, and decision making, professional development, plans’ importance and validation, and ownership were the dimensions considered. Data were collected from 804 Portuguese teachers. Participants reported moderate to high levels of participation in strategic action plans, but they also reported moderate to low levels of participation in overall school decisions, plans’ importance and validation, sense of ownership and recognition of relevant opportunities for professional development. These results indicate that participation and collaboration are essential determinants of plan and action success in educational contexts. The participative nature of decision making and strategic planning seems to underscore the relevance, value and adequacy of schools’ plans from the perspective of teachers. However, differences in these dimensions related to teachers’ experience and professional roles also point to lower levels of participation from some teachers, which may hinder their involvement in school actions and improvement. This study suggests the need to explore the dominant types of participation and collaboration in Portuguese schools and to analyse the importance of other variables.

The Egyptian Tourism and Hotel Sector Crisis Management Strategy: Application to the Coronavirus Crisis

The study aims to identify the impact of strategic planning in reducing the crises faced by the tourism and hotel sectors, and to identify the importance of strategic planning and its dimensions in addition to the elements of effective strategic planning, and the factors that must be taken care of by the administration that help in mitigating the effects of crises, with the aim of minimizing Among the risks facing the tourism sector in general, and tourism and hotel establishments in particular. The results of the study showed that strategic planning in the tourism and hotel establishments contributes to reducing potential problems. The low rate of employee participation in strategic planning is considered an obstacle to solving problems, as well as reveals strengths and weaknesses in the facility. And that strategic planning provides information useful in decision-making and solving problems and increases the clarity of workers' vision in crisis management. The results of the study also revealed that the application of strategic planning needs workers with appropriate scientific qualifications and sufficient experience in the field of strategic planning. The study recommended several recommendations, the most important of which were: Work to prepare a strategic plan to confront crises in general and the new Corona virus pandemic in particular, and that workers should be informed and involved in developing the strategic plan. The necessity for tourism and hotel establishments to adopt strategic planning in their business, especially long-term. And must refer the development of the strategic plan to employees with competence and long experience, provided that the strategic plans include programs, systems and clear policies for crisis management, and that planning is done in advance and not when crises are discovered in the facilities.

The role of the cable car in sustainable mobility: management choices and an assessment of environmental sustainability. The Trento-Monte Bondone project

Purpose of the paper: The aim is twofold: a) to analyse the contexts best suited to, and to identify the best practices for, designing sustainable cable car mobility; b) to evaluate and compare the environmental impact of the management of cable car systems by defining two possible scenarios. Methodology: In the first phase, two examples of excellent cable car systems and intermodality in the alpine area (Innsbruck and Alpe di Siusi) were examined in order to identify good practices as applicable to the evaluation of the (T-MB) project. Seven key dimensions were identified to evaluate the origins and implementation of the two completed cableway projects. In the second phase, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was carried out to evaluate the environmental sustainability of the project. Findings: From a managerial point of view, the T-MB project was initiated by public actors and adopts the instruments of participatory strategic planning widely used by the municipality of Trento over the last twenty years. The evaluation of environmental sustainability highlights the cable car as a valuable alternative transport mode because it reduces CO2 emissions and pollution and it can be constructed with minimal impact on the territory. Research limits: The T-MB project is still in the evaluation phase. It was not possible to access all the data necessary for either a detailed evaluation of the managerial implications or for the LCA analysis. Practical implications: Identification of key dimensions and best practices for the implementation of sustainable cable car mobility projects. Originality of the paper: The use of LCA analysis for the calculation of the environmental impact of cable care structures is innovative and it is one of the first studies in the field.

Análise da Influência da Cultura Organizacional no Planejamento Estratégico Participativo de uma Universidade Estadual Multicampi na Região Centro-Oeste do Brasil

Objetivo do estudo: Descrever como a cultura organizacional influenciou no processo de elaboração do Planejamento Estratégico Participativo (PEP) de uma universidade estadual multicampi na região centro-oeste do Brasil.Metodologia/abordagem: Adotou-se uma abordagem qualitativa com o método estudo de caso Ex-post facto, com entrevistas semiestruturadas e observação direta participante. A análise baseou-se na técnica pattern-matching e análise da narrativa, sob a ótica de dois elementos constitutivos de análises: (i) Estratégia como processo coletivo e (ii) O PEP como instrumento de fortalecimento da cultura organizacional.Originalidade/Relevância: As instituições de ensino são consideradas complexas, que dificultam a aplicabilidade de ferramentas e gestão comumente utilizadas nos demais tipos de organizações. O gap desse estudo foi a junção de pesquisar a cultura organizacional juntamente com o tema de planejamento estratégico em uma instituição de ensino superior e com isso ampliar as pesquisas sobre a gestão universitária.Principais resultados: Verificou-se que a interação propiciada pelo processo de discussão e construção do PEP contribuiu com o fortalecimento da cultura organizacional, possibilitou aos indivíduos interiorizar valores e crenças organizacionais por meio de um processo de socialização, aculturamento e da integração social entre os diversos atores envolvidos.Contribuições teóricas/metodológicas: Destacamos a importância do planejamento estratégico em diferentes culturas organizacionais, principalmente em instituições de ensino superior. Os métodos adotados contribuíram para confirmar a necessidade de utilizar diversas fontes para o aprofundamento necessário do desenvolvimento de um estudo de caso.Contribuições sociais / para a gestão: Fortalecimento da cultura organizacional.

Designing the Participation on Local Development Planning: From Literature Review to Adaptive Framework for Practice

This exploratory review of the literature provides a comprehensive overview of the settings that are available to the planner when managing participatory strategic planning of spatial socio-economic development on the local level. We contextualize individual potential configurations of participation in local development planning practice, documented in a number of case studies from different parts of the world, in order to reflect the multidimensionality of the participatory planning process. These reflections are used to build a participation plan model, which aimed to help local planners, especially local governments, to optimize the participation of local stakeholders, according to the specifics of the local environment. The paper evaluates the options of planners to manage the participation from perspective of the organization of participation, the determination of its scope, selection of stakeholders, methods and techniques of communication, decision-making and visualization, as well as the deployment of resources, or the possibility of promotion and dissemination of information. As a practical implication of this review, we compose a participation matrix, which is intended to be an auxiliary tool for planners to establish own locally-specific participation plans and that can serve as tool for education, or life-long learning of planners.