The complexities of citizen participation through collaborative governance

Abstract.

In recent years, a number of collaborative planning programmes have been introduced in American cities, providing an opportunity for traditionally marginalised citizens to participate formally in inner-city revitalisation tasks. However, this process of citizen participation is quite complex. This paper explores the complexities of citizen participation through the case of Milwaukee's Neighborhood Strategic Planning process. It contends that the NSP process has been shaped by neo-liberalism and contains a number of barriers to participation. It has also implemented a more technocratic approach in participatory planning. However, skilled navigation of it has given citizens opportunities to change their urban space.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all of the reviewers for their comments. I am particularly grateful to Hilda Kurtz for her wonderfully insightful comments and suggestions. I am also grateful to Sarah Elwood for her extremely valuable comments throughout the years, for her useful framework that I followed in this paper, and for permitting me to use our data in this paper. Finally, my deep gratitude to the editor Ronan Paddison for facilitating the publication process.

Notes

1. The troubled conditions of neighbourhoods such as Metcalfe Park are evident when compared with the data on Milwaukee city: the population is 49.98 per cent White and 37.34 per cent African American; only 25 per cent of the total population are not High School graduates; median household income is $32 216; the average property value is $118 786; 67 per cent of houses are owner-occupied and there are overall fewer board-ups and vacant lots (City of Milwaukee).

2. Some of that time is spent in accessing GIS-generated maps and tables free of charge to community organisations through a CBGA-funded organisation called Data Center.

3. Tax Incremental Financing enables a municipality to undertake a public project in order to simulate beneficial development or redevelopment that would otherwise not occur. This is a mechanism that local government agency employs to finance development project in underdeveloped or blighted areas.