Building Citizens: Participatory Planning Practice and a Transformative Politics of Difference

Abstract

Decision makers frequently use separate participatory activities to involve marginalised groups. This approach can generate valuable insights, but it has limitations. We discuss the benefits and limits through two examples involving young people, and outline how the approach can be modified, thereby building citizens who are responsive to other perspectives.

Keywords:

• Community consultation
• politics of difference
• young people
• regional planning
• public space planning

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the invaluable work and comments of Helen Duckworth, former Education Officer with the SEQ 2021 Regional Resource Unit, and Casey Mitchell, former Honours student from the School of Environmental Planning, Griffith University, currently a Town Planner at Gold Coast City Council. The authors acknowledge the funding support of an Australian Research Council Linkage grant and the support of the authors' Industry Partner, the Queensland Department of Local Government and Planning. Thanks also to the referees for their helpful suggestions.

Notes

1 The two authors are involved in an Australian Research Council–Linkage project (with the Queensland Department of Local Government and Planning as Industry Partner) evaluating the broad public consultation program of SEQ 2021 (see Cameron & Johnson, 2004). Although a rigorous assessment of the youth program was not part of the research brief, the authors attended and observed SEQ 2021 youth program events, and have been present at meetings where the results were presented and discussed. These activities along with the final program report—prepared by the youth officer, Helen Duckworth—provide the basis for the observations made in this article.

2 This is particularly of concern in a regional planning exercise where the scale is unfamiliar for many people, including young people. One of the difficulties is that people find it difficult to translate their local and everyday activities and concerns onto the broader regional scale.

3 After the Queensland government elections in mid-2004, the SEQ 2021 Regional Resource Unit, which was responsible for overseeing the development of a framework for growth management in south-east Queensland and associated consultation activities, was moved to a new Office for Urban Management. This Office reports directly to the Deputy Premier. At the time of writing, it had been agreed that the timeframes for finalising the SEQ 2021 Regional Plan would be shortened considerably (Urban Management & Infrastructure Co-ordination Committee, 2004).

4 This does not necessarily mean having to hold additional consultation events. It is entirely feasible to run one event in which the first part operates as a “protected enclave” and the second part involves a mixing of participants. In some circumstances, however, it might be more appropriate to hold two separate events allowing participants time to reflect on the first before contributing to the second. Indeed, as one referee for this article pointed out, in some situations where there are deep-rooted differences it may be necessary to proceed even more gradually, for example, working first with a group of young Muslim women, before running a multi-ethnic group of young women and then joining a wider community group.