Newson, Stephen A. "Public Participation in Planning: Correlations between Theory and Objectives"

The term "public participation" is often ill defined, and frequently a programme is implemented without suggesting or defining the objectives to be achieved, but the key to understanding citizen participation depends largely upon the identification of the explicit and implicit objectives intrinsic to the process. In many circumstances, there has been a gap between the policy for public participation and the implementation strategy or process. This thesis endeavors to identify and to discuss the objectives that can underlie such a process. In illustration the Quinpool Road Detailed Area Plan process serves as a case study of the objectives of public participation in terms of policy and implementation.

The development of public participation over the last twenty years is a result of the desire of individuals and groups to be involved in the decision making process. The desire has been met with legislative requirements in several western democratic nations including Canada, at both the national and provincial levels of government. Municipal urban planning, has been another area where public participation is significant, especially at the neighbourhood level.

There are numerous frameworks for studying the objectives of citizen participation. Two of the more frequently used methodologies are the consensus and conflict theoretical perspectives and Arnstein's Eight Rungs on a Ladder of Citizen Participation (1969). A recent and encompassing framework is one developed by Christiansen-Ruffman (1981). Linda Christiansen-Ruffman proposes six models of participation and a typology. The above methodologies are used in this thesis to explore the objectives underlying public participation from a broader societal perspective.

From the 1700's to the 1960's municipalities in Nova Scotia were structured primarily to administer the financial aspects of local government for the Province, with planning often non-existent. The 1969 Planning Act encouraged public participation; however it has from time to time come under criticism for not ensuring public participation in planning.

The City of Halifax has implemented a consultative process for citizen input. The implementation strategy for the Quinpool Road Detailed Area Plan was designed to seek a consensus in what was a conflict situation. There were two main opposing groups who expressed their concerns to the City's Planning Department for the formulation of a plan, making the achievement of a consensus of opinion difficult.

In conclusion there are many objectives for citizen participation that are implicitly or explicitly found in a programme or process. The objectives have to be analyzed according to their legislative mandate, policy orientation and implementation strategy. The study of the Quinpool Road Detailed Area Plan reveals a number of differences that can exist between provincial legislation, municipal policies and the actual implementation strategy. Overall there is a need to have well defined and expressed objectives to ensure the direction of a programme or process.

Atlantic Planners Institute

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This document was last modified on February 20, 2001.