Why public participation is important?

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, either directly or through freely chosen representatives. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country (UN Human Rights). Planning decisions impact people’s lives. Those who are affected by those decisions have a right to be involved in the decision-making process. It is an essential part of democratic governance. The call for open and multi-stakeholder governance models builds on the enabling role of participatory decision-making in the advancement of human rights (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2018)

Sustainable Development Goals (UN General Assembly, 2015) and New Urban Agenda  (UN-Habitat, 2016 b) emphasize the importance of public participation, specifically SDG Goal 16, SDG Target 16.7, SDG Target 11.3, and New Urban Agenda paragraph 26, 41, and 48.

Community empowerment. Public participation gives community members a voice in shaping their communities. It improves communities' general capacity for civic engagement. The process, in turn, strengthens social networks and enhances community cohesion. All this makes a community stronger and more resilient.  

Building Trust. Public participation can help to build trust between institutions and community members, leading to more productive and sustainable partnerships in the long term. 

Social Justice. Public participation can help to ensure that planning decisions are equitable and inclusive and that the needs of marginalized and underrepresented groups are taken into account. This can help to advance social justice and to reduce social exclusion and polarization. 

Sense of Belonging. Belonging is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity for an individual as a part of a group. Feeling a sense of belonging contributes to the health, resilience, and long-term prosperity of a community. Participation is the mechanism to make planning a nexus to connect community members under a shared vision, and hence, to enhance a sense of belonging.  

Fostering behavioral changes. Some communities have suffered collective trauma or have been marked by historical events that left them with a legacy of prejudice, division, and conflict. Public participation must recognize that there will be special circumstances that have marked the way communities are today and the way they perceive their future. That is why while planning for public participation there must be a multidisciplinary approach that builds empathy to the fears and perceptions of all groups in the community. 

Best practices show that sometimes different groups cannot be put together to discuss an issue and expect that they will reach agreements from the start. Occasionally the planning process has to take special steps to create a sense of community first and earn trust from leaders of distinct (and sometimes antagonistic) groups before the process can lead the community to positive and constructive discussion and collaboration.   

Better Decisions. Public participation provides valuable insights and local knowledge that can help planners to make informed and effective decisions. It also helps to identify potential conflicts and challenges early on in the planning process, which can lead to better outcomes. 

Through collective deliberation on the planning decisions, an inclusive participatory process fosters acceptance of the planning outcome, including priorities and implementation. In addition, through increasing transparency and accountability, public participation helps to ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of the community and are accountable to the public. 

Better Justification. In many cases, public participation is a legal requirement that must be fulfilled before any planning decision can be made, especially when decisions will have a significant impact on the public. The recommendations from a participatory process are also more likely to be justified and defensible.

Better Implementation. Public participation helps to identify potential issues and opportunities that might not have been considered otherwise. This can help to avoid delays, conflicts, and costly mistakes that can arise when community concerns are not adequately addressed.  Moreover, public participation can help to build a sense of ownership over the plan being developed, making it more likely that projects will be successfully implemented.

Architects work on buildings. Engineers work on structures. Planners work with communities, tackling complicated issues which have significant social impact. Urban planners should have a commitment to ensuring an inclusive participation process in their work. Like architects and engineers who need to know their clients, planners need to know the community. Planners cannot succeed without working closely with the people living in the community. While planning is a profession involving strict training, planners have limits in their knowledge and perspectives and therefore need community knowledge and input.