Looking beyond the Simplistic Ideals of Participatory Projects: Fostering Effective Co-production?

ABSTRACT

The article examines coproduction in the neighborhood community development context. The research question in the article is how public service professionals can foster effective coproduction. The article presents an explanatory case study of a participatory neighborhood project where the project activities, the outcomes, and the mechanisms that explain their outcomes are examined. In the analysis, capacities of the actors and motivation are identified as key explanatory mechanisms. As a result, the article argues that understanding the expected outcomes and the complexity of the coproduction are essential for effective participatory projects. Coproduction should be viewed as a way to achieve outcomes, not as a policy outcome per se.

KEYWORDS:

• Coproduction
• neighborhood governance
• outcome
• participation

Notes

^1. The data set has also been used in Tuurnas (2015).