Facilitating Online Participatory Planning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Problem, research strategy, and findings

The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily shifted participatory planning processes from face-to-face to online meetings. Prior to the pandemic, public participation included online components, but only in support of face-to-face public meetings. Thus, there was very little guidance for practitioners on how to design and host online public meetings. We interviewed 32 professional planners and facilitators with experience hosting public meetings during the summer of 2020 and asked them to discuss their experience moving their practices online. We expected to see drastic changes in how these professionals approached their work, but our expectations were only partially met. Instead of revolutionizing participatory planning, online meetings only required modest adjustments to the practices used in face-to-face meetings. Our findings are limited because they represent a narrow window in time. More substantial changes to participatory planning practices may have taken place because of the pandemic and may not be reflected in our interview data.

Takeaway for practice

Face-to-face and online meetings may not be as different as popular opinion suggests, and many of the practices that planners have used to host face-to-face public planning meetings could be applied to online meetings. Moreover, the successful transition to online meetings during the pandemic also suggests that remote public meetings are a viable and legitimate option for participatory planning processes.

Keywords:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• internet and communication technologies
• online meetings
• online participatory technologies
• participatory planning

Acknowledgments

We thank Samantha Lara, Ariel Mota Alves, and Myles Ritchie for their contributions to this research project and Meaghan McSorley for reviewing an early draft of this article. We also thank Jack Barile and Denise Konan of the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa for their financial and intellectual support of this work.

Research Support

This work was funded by a grant from the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dan Milz

DAN MILZ ([email protected]) is an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Atul Pokharel

ATUL POKHAREL ([email protected]) is an assistant professor in the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.

Curt D. Gervich

CURT D. GERVICH ([email protected]) is an associate professor in the Center for Earth and Environmental Science Department at SUNY Plattsburgh.