- Title
- Putting people in planning: participatory democracy, inclusion and power
- Creator
- Cameron, Jenny; Grant-Smith, Deanna
- Relation
- Australian Environmental Planning: Challenges and Future Prospects p. 197-205
- Relation
- http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138000711/
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2014
- Description
- Like other Western nations, since the nineteenth century Australia has been a representative democracy, in which citizens elect parliamentary representatives to make decisions and develop policies on their behalf (see chapter 5). These representatives are supported in their decision-making by an 'arm's-length', 'techno-bureaucratic administration', which includes experts such as environmental planners (Fung and Wright 2003, p. 3). However, as the issues for decision-making become increasingly complex, and societies increasingly diverse, the idea of citizen participation in decision-making is ever more accepted. There is now a significant body of political theory arguing for a more participatory model of democracy (participatory democracy), a model that strives to create opportunities for all members of a society to contribute meaningfully to decisions about the matters affecting their lives. Advocates for participatory democracy have advanced three main reasons for why more participation is positive. First, there is the normative (or ethical) argument that citizens have a right to contribute to decisions about the things that affect them, particularly when societies value an active citizenry and promote principles of fairness, equity and social justice (Chilvers 2009, p. 402). Second, from an instrumental (or practical) point of view, public participation is a better means for making decisions. When people have more input, they are more likely to have confidence in the final decision and less likely to oppose the outcome. Third, there is a substantive argument that public participation results in better decisions because a range of different views and insights will have helped shape the outcome. Although the instrumental and substantive arguments are frequently put forward, there is debate about whether a participatory approach actually results in better processes and outcomes in a representative democracy (Chilvers 2009, p. 402). As a result, some accept public participation as a now-necessary step in the decision-making process, but treat it with a degree of disdain or cynicism, while others are strongly committed to making participation work as a vital element of contemporary democratic life. Perhaps the strongest commitment to participation comes from those who promote more deliberative approaches that bring together people with different views to deliberate over the issue at hand. The goal is that by discussing, debating and questioning, participants learn to put aside their own self-interest, consider the viewpoints of others, and arrive at a decision that reflects the 'common good'. Ideally, elected representatives agree to endorse the decisions made through this type of public deliberation. Just as participatory democracy has its critics, so too this deliberative approach has drawn criticism mainly for underestimating the practical challenges of establishing the conditions for deliberation and overestimating citizens' ability and willingness to deliberate with diverse others (e.g. Hopkins 2010; Mutz 2006). Given people's various commitments to, and experiences of, representative, participatory and deliberative approaches, it is easy to see why there are such different understandings of what it means for citizens to make a meaningful contribution to decision-making. For some it is simply enough that people have an opportunity to record their views so that elected representatives can take these into account in their decision-making; for others, citizens have a right to a more active voice, even to the extent of deliberating among different points of view and determining the decision. In this chapter we explore how these different, even competing ideas of democracy 'play out' in planning practice. In the next section we introduce some of the familiar ways that participatory approaches are talked about, and we use examples of planning exercises to illustrate how participatory approaches have been applied. We then explore some of the tensions that emerge in practice, and by drawing on examples of planning exercises we highlight some of the issues that environmental planners need to be aware of.
- Subject
- democracy; representative democracy; decision-making; planning practice
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1061331
- Identifier
- uon:16945
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781138000704
- Language
- eng
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