Scale and Public Participation: Issues in Metropolitan Regional Planning

Abstract

Public participation is as important at the metropolitan regional scale as it is at the neighborhood scale, yet most of the approaches to participation are grounded in experience or theory appropriate to the smaller scale. At the metropolitan regional scale, three issues—the magnitude of the spatial extent and population; inequalities of power; and the resources needed—demand that approaches to metropolitan regional participation are given special consideration. This paper explores these three issues through two case studies: one in South East Queensland and the other in Metro Vancouver. The examples help identify the difficulties of metropolitan regional public participation and draw attention to issues about effectiveness and capacity that dog debates about participation and democracy.