Community Building through Public Engagement: Variety in Europe and China
Public participation in the regeneration of neighborhoods has increasingly become a key objective in public planning. However, the extent to which such processes are anchored in the community varies greatly. To ensure inclusive community building, one must pay close attention to the groups of actors involved in the processes. This chapter investigates different examples of community building in Europe and China, focusing on who is participating. A variety of cases show the importance of a deep-rooted process analyzed through a modified participation ladder, and classification of bottom-up and top-down initiatives. The role of formal procedures and regulations of participation are also examined, particularly with respect to China. When superficial forms of participation are utilized, the processes can run the risk of merely legitimize top-down plans. On this basis, we argue that a wide variety of actors should be involved early in the process to ensure that residents also have a say in the definition of the issues at hand, and also the methods and tools used for participation.
