Participatory Planning Process Research Articles

Cognitive Urban Planning Enhancing Decision-Making in Local Governments.

According to the United Nations (UN), a "continuous, participatory, and inclusive urban planning process should be the starting point and framework for improving population living conditions," and this research emerges from examining trends in smart cities. It explores the impact of collective intelligence, geographical information systems, and cognitive systems as a way of supporting the decision-making of local governments (municipalities) to face the challenges announced by the UN in the Urban Agenda 2017. This methodology employs an exploratory approach using the participatory action research method. The model was tested in three municipalities in Ecuador using a technological and collaborative platform called Cognitive Urban Planning (PUC). The results highlighted improvements in the decision-making process in urban planning, since the interactive participation processes through the PUC allowed for the suggestion of a group of strategies for an emerging neighborhood plan developed with the citizens working together in the municipality in real-time. In conclusion, the effects of the decision-making plan could be applied to improve and enhance community participation through city co-creation, supporting the decision-making process of municipalities in a way that promotes inclusive urban planning and stakeholders' awareness, as the recommended plans are supported by the desires and needs raised by citizens.

Mapping and Assessing Effective Participatory Planning Processes for Urban Green Spaces in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Diverse Communities

The multicultural landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand presents a rich tapestry of diversity and community needs, underscoring an imperative for inclusive participatory planning processes. This paper presents findings from an investigation of the challenges and opportunities inherent in community engagement initiatives, particularly within the context of New Zealand’s major ethnic groups, including New Zealand European, Māori, Chinese, and Pasifika. Drawing from the importance of community participation in reshaping public open spaces, this research addressed the gap in understanding which participatory planning processes are most effective across diverse cultural groups. To investigate the effectiveness of various approaches to community engagement, this research involved focus groups from the Wellington suburbs of Newtown and Porirua, utilising both on-site and online meetings. The findings identify the most effective participation processes for planning public open spaces in relation to each ethnicity. Correlations between participant preferences and their unique cultural backgrounds were assessed. In addition, the least effective participation methods along with several relatively effective participation methods are discussed. By highlighting engagement methods that can foster inclusivity, equity, and a sense of community, this research advances a collective goal of building a more cohesive and effective society for all its inhabitants.

The right fit: Acceptance of nature-based solutions across European cities

European cities consistently seek to improve urban environments for their residents, yet often struggle to find solutions to address urban issues while engaging citizens. The European Union funds research and innovation projects proposing nature-based solutions to address climate change, biodiversity, human health and wellbeing in cities under the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe programs. The presented research from the project UPSURGE is based on a survey of 5,990 urban residents in 6 European countries. The study focuses on the planning phase of nature-based solutions in cities, in which trade-offs have to be made between different options, such as the design, effectiveness, financial contributions from residents or participatory options. Based on an innovative survey including a choice experiment, the aim is to assist public participation processes in various countries, help planning teams define priorities and design governance measures which ensure long-term dedication to development plans. The results reflect respective exposure to climate change across the continent; such as Greek respondents being more affected by high temperatures compared to those from the United Kingdom. However, the study also revealed different preferences in regard to a participatory planning process, willingness to pay and importance of biodiversity.

Planning Strategies for Slum Improvement in Bathinda City

Slum improvement is a critical challenge faced by urban planners and policy-makers globally as burgeoning urban population outstrips the capacity of cities to provide adequate housing and services. This paper explores comprehensive strategies for the improvement of slums focusing on sustainable development, community involvement and policy innovation. By analyzing successful case studies from diverse urban contexts, the paper identifies key elements that contributes to effective slum upgrading including secure land tenure, provision of basic services, economic opportunities and participatory planning process. The research highlights the importance of integrating slum communities into the broader urban framework to ensure social equity and economic inclusiveness. Recommendations are provided for policymakers and urban planners on designing and implementing holistic slum improvement programs that can adapt to the unique needs of each community, fostering resilience and sustainable urban growth. This study also involves finding locational attributes of slums and assessment of present status of slums. The study is focused on the Bathinda Municipal Corporation and information for the analysis is culled from secondary sources. Slums in Bathinda tend to cluster around undeveloped regions, empty lots, and water features (such as the Sarhind canal) and other forms of urban sprawl. As they find it the most suitable and safe place to live. They settle near industrial areas because of their work. The vast majority of slum inhabitants own property and live in permanent residences. However, the actual causes of the difficulties include substantial property prices and a lack of critical amenities such as drainage, sewage, water supply, and solid waste disposal. Furthermore, in the informal home supply sector, there is insufficient land accessible to the poor in Bathinda.

National–Local Synergies for Development: How a Local Political Machine Delivered Infrastructure Results in Iloilo City

The upsurge in big-ticket infrastructure projects in Iloilo City for the past two decades owes much to the developmental alliance amongst Senator Franklin Drilon as the national government benefactor, multi-term city mayors, and the local business sector. These government officials’ prolonged tenure in office afforded a stable political leadership that ensured long-term planning around key infrastructure projects and continued access to national government funding. Robust institutional and informal ties between political and economic elites enabled consensus-building on the virtues of market-driven growth for which infrastructure is key. The Drilon political machine orchestrated a diverse but astutely networked group of local businesses by involving them in formal participatory planning processes, thereby facilitating approval of big-ticket items, and by influencing bureaucrats from national government agencies to approve the projects.

Urban planning as ‘great dialogue’? Developing polyphonic planning practices in a process of hybrid participation, case Viiskorpi, Espoo, Finland

ABSTRACT This article delves into participatory urban planning practices through the lens of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of polyphony. We explore how polyphonic planning, which requires multiple voices in a dialogue and representations revealing various perspectives, can be achieved in a hybrid participatory planning process. Our action research, conducted as part of an actual planning process, reveals that while hybrid participation can foster dialogue and increase polyphony, it requires participatory knowledge sharing, public assessment of planners’ interpretations, and a clear definition of concepts. We also suggest improving the vertical dialogue between planning levels.

Perencanaan partisipatif taman tematik Perumahan Kampoeng Semawis Semarang

This community service focuses on participatory planning of thematic parks at the Kampoeng Semawis Housing Complex, Semarang. This area has great potential to be developed into a useful public space, but currently the existing green open space is still less than optimal in its use. The focus of this service is to create a thematic park that not only functions as a green open space, but also as a place for social interaction and education for residents. The main issue faced is the lack of community involvement in planning and managing public spaces, which results in a lack of sense of ownership and concern for existing facilities. Through a participatory approach, this program aims to increase citizen participation in planning and managing public spaces. It is hoped that with this thematic park, the level of citizen participation in maintaining and utilizing public spaces will increase, which will ultimately improve the quality of life for the residents of Kampoeng Semawis. This community service aims to examine the participatory planning process for thematic parks in Kampoeng Semawis and its impact on community participation and the quality of life of local residents. It is hoped that the results of this program can become a model for the development of public space in other residential areas in Semarang.

Children as Key Actors in Participatory Planning: Co-Working Experience of Community Planning for Walking Safety Around Bongrae Elementary School in South Korea

This study conducted a participatory planning process with children and applied it to a case study aiming to improve road safety in a school zone in Busan, South Korea. The planning project was conducted with children in a three-step planning process: field work, solution and location proposals, and plan construction. During the participatory planning process, children presented various opinions based on their experiences and selected preferred solutions and locations. The results show that children can serve as key actors in community planning. Planners must reinterpret planning problems based on children’s characteristics to ensure their active participation.

A participatory approach to move towards a One Health surveillance system for anthrax in Burkina Faso.

The One Health approach calls for collaboration across various sectors and different scales to improve understanding of complex health issues. Regarding epidemiological surveillance, this implies the development of integrated systems that link several surveillance components operating in different domains (human, domestic animals, environment) and involving several actor networks. However, surveillance continues to operate in a very compartmentalized way, with little interaction between sectoral institutions and with the community for the governance and operation of surveillance activities. This is partly explained by the insufficient consideration of the local context and the late involvement of national stakeholders when developing programmes that aimed at strengthening the integration of surveillance. In low- and middle-income countries in particular, there is a strong influence of external partners on the development of intersectoral programmes, including surveillance systems. In this context, we developed and implemented a participatory planning process to support stakeholders of the surveillance system of anthrax in Burkina Faso, in the definition of the One Health surveillance system they wish for and of the pathway to reach it. The workshop produced an action plan that reflects the views and perspectives of representatives of the different categories of stakeholders and beneficiaries of surveillance. In addition, the participation of stakeholders in this participatory co-construction process has also improved their knowledge and mutual understanding, fostering a climate of trust conducive to further collaboration for surveillance activities. However, the quality of the participation raises some questions over the results, and contextual factors may have influenced the process. This underlines the need to include a monitoring and evaluation plan in the process to assess its implementation and ability to produce One Health surveillance modalities that are appropriate, accepted and applied over the long term.

Recipe for a scenario: Moving from vision to actionable pathways towards sustainable futures

In this paper we present an overview of future-oriented research in sustainability science and place-based research and offer a tool for researchers and community partners to use to guide participatory scenario planning activities that result in actionable steps toward achieving sustainable futures. Within place-based community-engaged research projects, future-oriented methods, such as visioning and participatory scenario planning, have been increasingly utilized as an approach to integrate diverse voices and foster positive change. However, this emerging literature contains some overlapping concepts and approaches that require clarification before adoption. We review common definitions of scenarios, visions, and participatory scenario planning; benefits and challenges of conducting a participatory scenario planning process in place-based research; and three actionable frameworks (Three Horizons, Nature Futures Framework, Sustainable Futures Scenarios) that can inform participatory scenario planning. We then highlight gaps in the literature regarding how to conduct a participatory scenario planning process and introduce a tool named “Recipe for a Scenario” to guide the facilitation of scenarios workshops and co-create actionable pathways towards desirable futures. Our tool (and accompanying workbook that structures a scenarios workshop) supports cross-disciplinary community-engaged projects focused on bringing about positive change in a medium-term timeframe (approximately 20 years) to support more sustainable human-environment dynamics.

The Decentralised Governance in Kenya: Implications on Citizen Participation in the Local Governance

Abstract This study sought to examine the extent to which decentralisation efforts have affected citizen participation in local governance in Kenya. Survey research designs was employed. 371 questionnaires were administered and 16 interview conducted with key stakeholders. The findings revealed that decentralisation influences citizen participation in devolved Governance. 77.3% of the respondents agreed decentralization had promoted political entrepreneurship while 75% contended that decentralization had influenced citizen participation in development of policies and legislation. Moreover, 57.2% of the respondents felt that citizen participation in decentralized policy-making was high while 69% of the respondents were satisfied that decentralization had made it possible for citizens to participate in county budgeting. Only 49% approved the effectiveness of decentralization in promoting citizen participation in participatory budgeting and planning process. The national and county governments should put in place measures to safeguard the independence of the counties in realizing the objective of citizen participation in governance.

“We don’t have a lot of trees, but by God, do we have a lot of fish”: imagining postcolonial futures for the Nunatsiavut fishing industry

Telling stories can be an empowering exercise, providing important insights into the values and priorities of the storytellers. This article shares stories told during a participatory scenario planning process among Inuit, an Indigenous People of northern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska, USA. This research takes place in Nunatsiavut, a land claim area in Labrador, Canada, to explore how visions provide insights into postcolonial futures for the fishing industry. Beginning in 2019, a group of fisheries stakeholders and managers came together to create a visioning process that would help them to develop consensus around priorities for the industry. Facilitated by university researchers, Inuit in the commercial fishing industry participated in an iterative data-collection process that involved interviews and a workshop. This article shares what was found during the scenario-planning process and position stories of the future within the context of Indigenous sovereignty.

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.

Abstract P132: Paso a Paso, Designing a Culturally Relevant Diabetes Prevention Intervention for Hispanic/Latino (H/L) People That Adheres to Evidence Based, Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) Intervention Principles in the Hispanic/Latino (H/L) Community of Salt Lake County

One of five Salt Lake County residents identify as Hispanic/Latino(H/L) and are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes(T2D) compared to non-Hispanic whites. Evidence-based interventions to reduce T2D have not been as effective for H/Ls as for non-H/L whites. This study uses a shared-leadership, community-engaged approach to develop a model for H/L T2D prevention based on DPP with members of the H/L community, community-based organization partners (Utah Mexican Consulate; University Neighborhood Partners), and an interdisciplinary University of Utah team. Two groups of 10-15 people each (one for community members (CM) eligible to participate in a diabetes prevention program; one for community organization members(CBO) potential DPP-like program implementers). As part of a comprehensive participatory planning and evaluation(CPPE) process, each group met to (1)review existing Spanish DPP program components, learning objectives, and materials, (2)identify barriers to successful T2D prevention, and (3)suggest facilitators and areas for adaptation specific to H/L audiences. Participants in each group rated the DPP program structure and content related to healthy eating, increasing physical activity (PA), self-monitoring and meal planning using validated measures of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility. In addition, qualitative data was gathered and reduced to provide directions for potential adaptations. Quantitative data (Figure 1) indicates CM and CBO agree on importance of DPP program structure and content, however CBO members rated the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility more neutrally than CM participants. Qualitative data indicated a stronger focus on collective support, culturally aligned healthful eating options, and PA promotion that addressed safe activities for laborers. Conclusions CM and CBO participants found DPP to be an important resource for the H/L community, but also identified adaptations that could improve program reach, retention, and effectiveness.

Exploring citizens' perspectives on participatory design and planning: A comparative study across three capital cities

Participation is often employed by authorities as a unilateral tool for gathering data from citizens, informing them about processes, and obtaining legitimacy and accountability, rather than truly empowering or collaborating with citizens. However, many scholars emphasize the vital role of civic consciousness and collective intelligence (CI) in addressing chronic issues and global crises related to shared interests and values. To achieve this with effective participatory design and planning (PD&P) processes, it's essential to understand citizens' perspectives rather than imposing ‘one-size-fits-all’ approaches.We explored how citizens evaluate existing PD&P mechanisms in three capital cities: Ankara, Bogota, and Madrid, representing developed, developing, and least-developed countries. Through collective experiments using conjoint analysis, we conducted citizen interviews based on the CI genome consisting of key dimensions and attributes of PD&P for public spaces. Crowdsourcing applications were integrated to enhance field studies. Additionally, chord diagrams and scatter charts visually depict interrelations among the grouped and ranked genome attributes. Our analysis explores variations and commonalities across cities and includes reflections from students.The results show that PD&P is perceived as significantly important, while top-down political decisions are perceived as dissatisfactory by most respondents. Notably, Madrid stands out positively in certain dimensions, including the willingness for active participation, multi-functionality as a capital, and diversity of initiatives. In addition, the political culture, respondents' education, age, and attachment to the city have significant influences on preferred methods, prioritized issues, and attitudes. Despite its limitations, conjoint analysis holds promise as a method to understand citizens' demands and design robust PD&P settings for deeper and broader involvement.

Privately-directed participatory planning

The second wave of smart cities emerged in response to criticism of the top-down methods used to manage early smart cities, and promised a new, ‘citizen-centric’ approach. To understand the application of this approach in the smart city planning process there is a need for further empirical research. This paper offers a case study of the participatory planning process used in Quayside, a smart city planning effort in Toronto (Canada). Through semi-structured interviews (N=35), participant observation, and document analysis, this research finds that although Quayside included a lengthy engagement program, citizen influence was limited. This is a result of a lack of participation in initial project visioning, and the direction of the subsequent citizen engagement process by a private technology company, enabled through a public-private partnership. Based on these findings, I argue that a smart city planning process cannot be citizen-centric if citizens are unable to determine project goals. I also suggest that privately-directed engagement processes can amplify the power discrepancies that are well studied within government-directed processes and introduce new accountability challenges.

Toward an operational tool to integrate land degradation neutrality into land use planning: LUP4LDN

AbstractLand use planning (LUP) to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) needs methods and tools that support the identification of best LUP solutions in terms of transitions from current degradative land use (LU) and land management (LM) practices to better LU and LM options. A crucial need is the identification of context specific sustainable land management (SLM) options. Addressing this need must aim at not only reversing/recovering past degradation (e.g., via restoration or rehabilitation in land degradation hotspots), but also avoiding “new” degradation possibly caused by unsuitable LU and LM. This requires SLM planning based on anticipated impact assessment of the LU‐LM transition scenarios set to achieve LDN, which can be achieved through a participatory planning process that integrates interests/needs and knowledge of stakeholders with science‐based supportive tools to identify rational, plausible, and socially relevant options. The geoinformatics Land Use Planning for LDN (LUP4LDN) conceptual procedure and tool have been designed for this purpose. Their aim is to support national and subnational planners by (i) mapping geographic patterns of past land degradation (LD) utilizing the LDN indicators adopted by the UNCCD (SDG 15.3.1 indicator) for user‐defined regions of interest (RoI); (ii) helping users anticipate future LD by identifying land that is unsustainably managed and that will likely become degraded during the planning period; (iii) partitioning the LD areas into spatial domains of socio‐ecological contextual similarity (i.e., contextual similarity units) to which the LU‐LM transitional options will be fitted; and (iv) providing an interactive procedure for participatory LU‐LM transitional scenario development over selected contextual similarity units and timeframes. LUP4LDN uses the Global Database of the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT), ICARDA's Geoinformatics Options by Context (GeOC) tool, and ELD (Economics of Land Degradation) indicators to identify context‐relevant SLM that are available in the RoI, suggests candidate SLM options, and visualizes related expected levels of impacts on ecosystem services via maps and graphs. The generated maps inform users about trade‐offs upon which users can discuss or negotiate transitional pathways. LUP4LDN has been codeveloped with national stakeholders in Tunisia and Burkina Faso. The piloting implementation in the two countries assessed how LUP4LDN fits with existing LUP processes and the benefits achieved by using the tool to support LUP for LDN.

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.

TRANSLATING SCIENCE INTO PRACTICE: APPLYING IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE TO STREAMLINE FUTURE HIH ROLL-OUT

Abstract The delay between establishing evidence-based practice and translating effective practices is well documented. This presentation will focus on the application of implementation science principles to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital-In-Home program using a staged approach. The stages are: 1) assessing current program implementation, 2) measuring organizational readiness with new sites, 3) developing tools and resources to assist new HIH sites, and 4) working with new sites interested in adopting the HIH program using a participatory implementation planning process guided by system dynamics. In this session we will profile our use of theories, models and frameworks including the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) and Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance (REAIM) framework. The CFIR Expert Recommendation for Implementing Change (ERIC) Mapping Tool will be introduced as useful to identifying strategies to overcome barriers to implementation. We will apply the participatory approaches for implementation planning, including Implementation Mapping, development of Implementation Logic Models, and Group Model Building to plan for the implementation of HIH in prospective sites. Key implementation science concepts and techniques will be introduced, along with a description of how participatory approaches will facilitate informed planning and stakeholder engagement in future implementation, adaptation, and roll-out of an evidence-based systemic program. Key anticipated outputs include a framework for the core components of HIH intervention, a catalog of important determinants of HIH implementation success, a profile of existing strategies to enhance implementation and sustainability, and a roadmap for the participatory planning of HIH implementation in future contexts.

The Productive Role of Future Expectations in Participatory Spatial Planning. A Case Study on Urban Park Development in The Netherlands

Spatial planning is an inherently future-oriented practice charged with future expectations. Strikingly, the productive role of these expectations has received little scholarly attention. We adopted a grounded theory approach to study the participatory planning process for Seelig Park in Breda, the Netherlands. We observed that expectations are flexible, dynamic and diverse and they can be tuned to fit and justify actions and decisions while keeping the planning process in motion. We conclude that expectations become productive as a means for ‘recalibration,’ reflecting the continuous quest for equilibrium between action and legitimacy in the politically negotiated context of spatial planning.