Citizen participation
Citizen participation is the involvement of inhabitants in decisions about their city, from the mandatory consultation on a plan to participatory budgeting or neighbourhood management of a space. Sherry Arnstein arranged it in 1969 on a ladder running from manipulation to citizen control, and most processes stay on the lower rungs.
Porto Alegre invented participatory budgeting in 1989 and exported it to thousands of cities; tactical urbanism and urban commons are ways of participating by building rather than opining. Elinor Ostrom showed that communities can govern shared resources without state or market if certain rules hold.
Videos on this term (9)
- Public space
Innovation or Disguised Austerity in Tactical Urbanism?
Tactical urbanism was born as a rehearsal for the permanent and often ends as cuts with colours: Lydon and Garcia,…
3 min read - Public space
The Participatory Theatre That Deceives Us
When you are invited to participate, are you given power or asked to legitimise? Arnstein's ladder, Spain's Auken…
3 min read - Urban history
Patrick Geddes: regionalism and cities in evolution
Who Patrick Geddes was and what he gave urban planning: regionalism, environmental planning, the city as an…
Patrick Geddes 2 min read - Public space
Interstitial Spaces: Resistance and Creativity in the City's Gaps
Interstitial spaces, vacant lots, warehouses and motorway undersides, are where the city reinvents itself.
3 min read - Public space
Tactical urbanism: testing the city before building it
Tactical urbanism tests plazas, bike lanes and pop-up gardens to find out what works on the street before it is…
2 min read - Urban geopolitics
Urban Governance: Models, Challenges and Citizen Participation
Urban governance shares power over the city among governments, businesses and residents. Jon Pierre's four models,…
3 min read - Public space
Inclusive Citizen Participation: Forester and Irazábal Explained
Inclusive citizen participation means reaching those left out. What John Forester teaches about deliberation and…
3 min read - Public space
Citizen Participation in Urban Governance: Keys and Limits
Citizen participation decides who shapes the city. What Neil Brenner and Saskia Sassen explain, which mechanisms…
2 min read - Urban form
Postmodern Urban Planning: Assemblage, Participation and Critique
What postmodern urban planning is: Sandercock and insurgent planning, Healey, the assemblage theory of Farías and…
2 min read
