Planning for Public Participation: The Design of Implementable Strategies

In the hope of improving the performance of public participation programs in practice, this paper applies a perspective drawn from the recent literature on implementation assessment to the design of such programs. Viewing participation not only as a way of structuring the relationship among groups, but as itself an object of varying interests and perceptions, the paper proposes the concept of a strategy of participation which implies the need to take into account the likely actions and points of view that the actors might take vis-à-vis the participation program. The paper presents a framework whereby alternative participatory strategies may be designed and methods selected. This framework is based on a set of six decision variables: the type of issue; goals and objectives; definition of the public; the power relationship; the stage in the planning process; and types of resources.