What are common elements of good practice? 

Early. Engage the public at the beginning of a project or even before the project starts. Early engagement matters because:

 1) It builds trust and fosters collaboration:  people are more likely to feel included and invested in the outcome and more likely to support the final plan, and 2) The input can then be used to inform the following planning process. 

Early engagement can also help avoid conflicts that might arise later on in the process. Planners and community participants should identify their concerns and disagreements and set clear expectations at the beginning of the process before issues become major obstacles to the planning process.

Continuous. Keep participants informed throughout the process and return to communities with feedback on a regular basis, especially to show what has been done with their input. 

This continuing dialogue fosters mutual trust and understanding. When community members feel heard and respected and that their feedback is valued, they are more likely to support and participate in the implementation of those decisions. It is undesirable when a planner emerges to ask input from the community and then disappears, without feedback and updates. This can erode trust as community members may feel ignored or undervalued. 

Transparent. Communicate clearly and thoroughly the following elements of the planning process as clearly and completely as possible: 

1) The purpose of engaging the community; 

2) The scope of the issues and their relevance to the community;

3) The goals of all interested parties; 

4) The process of planning, decision making, and implementation; and

5) Identify the responsible entities behind decisions and their decision-making rationale. 

Transparency fosters trust and promotes accountability. This helps to prevent corruption, nepotism, or other unethical practices from influencing urban planning decisions. It is also important that planners communicate their level of responsibility in the decision-making process, and not over-promise to the community how much they can accomplish or influence the final product. 

Inclusive. People have different needs and experiences. Those differences should be embraced in the planning process. The planning process should include people with a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, age, race, ethnicity, gender, education, and abilities. Inclusivity also means making the extra effort to include communities that have historically been excluded from the planning process, such as immigrants, indigenous populations,  low-income persons, and children. 

Inclusivity is especially important when it comes to refugee communities who often face unique challenges in accessing services and participating in decision-making processes. Including refugee communities in urban planning can help to build trust between the community and local government, which can help to facilitate integration and reduce tensions. It can also ensure that the specific needs of refugees, such as access to affordable housing, healthcare, and education, are taken into account.

Equally important in inclusivity is accessibility. Accessibility removes financial, social, cultural, and communication barriers so people from various backgrounds can participate (UN-Habitat 2023). This can entail providing financial, social, and cultural assistance/resources to groups that were intentionally or unintentionally excluded from the decision-making process for their effective participation. 

Effective. Participation is effective when stakeholders are able to bargain and influence the policy arena  (UN-Habitat 2023). This means:

 1) Participants are adequately informed regarding the issue at stake; and 

 2) Participants have the power to make impacts on decisions. 

Effectiveness operates on the dimension of power dynamics between stakeholders, which ensures the right of people to self-determination by participating, contributing, and enjoying the development process and gains (United Nations General Assembly, 1986).

To ensure effectiveness, the process should provide participants with information that is relevant, accessible, and complete, taking into account issues of language and cultural barriers, socio-economic conditions, and others. The process should also empower participants, so they have a real impact on the decision-making.  

Relevant. Relevance relates to the extent to which the objectives and design of the planning process respond to beneficiaries’ needs and priorities, as well as alignment with national, global, and partner/institutional policies and priorities. Understanding disadvantaged groups’ dynamics and reflecting on the commitment to “inclusion” is crucial in understanding relevance. If circumstances change, the participation process should look at whether interventions remain relevant. (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2021)

Coherent. The extent to which planning, particularly policies,  supports other plans. This includes internal coherence and external coherence. Internal coherence addresses the synergies and interlinkages between the new plans and other activities carried out by the same institution/government, as well as the consistency of the intervention with the relevant international norms and standards to which that institution/government adheres. External coherence considers the consistency of the intervention with other actors’ interventions in the same context. This includes complementarity, harmonization, and coordination with others and the extent to which the intervention is adding value while avoiding duplication of effort (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2021)