In search of Inclusive Participatory City-Making

Abstract

Participatory methods have been widely explored in the public sector to democratize city-making projects and foster civic engagement. Although well-intentioned, participatory processes still too often exclude citizens. The current study looks for elements enabling city makers to articulate an inclusive Participatory City Making process. Starting from a review of participatory methods, we distilled the conditions necessary to consider a participatory process inclusive. In order to understand inclusiveness in practice, we performed interviews with a diverse group of city makers in an ongoing local participation process. The result is a framework that offers eight moments of reflection for public sector city makers to articulate more inclusive Participatory City-Making processes.