The document discusses various approaches to public consultation and engagement between governments and citizens. It begins with a brief overview of direct democracy in ancient Athens and references theories from Habermas, Lefebvre, and Arnstein on deliberative democracy and citizen participation. It then examines cases of public engagement frameworks in England, including the Localism Act of 2011 and Local Enterprise Partnerships. In contrast, it discusses India's 74th Amendment Act that aimed to empower local governments but implementation has faced challenges. The document raises questions about applying communicative rationality in practice and balancing critical and normative approaches to community engagement.

1. CONSULTATION,
PARTICIPATION &
ENGAGEMENT
Forms and processes of deliberative interaction
between the State & Proletariat
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MODULE (Part I)SPA URBAN DESIGN

2. “concerns about the vagueness
of some of the powers granted
in the constitution and its lack
of a Bill of Rights”
– Shay’s Rebellion
(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daniel_Sh
ays_and_Job_Shattuck.jpg)
State must re-engage with
peasantry
- Farmer suicides and Land
Bill
(https://revolutionaryfrontlines.files.wordpr
ess.com/2014/11/9881a-land1.jpg)
Egypt crisis: President Hosni Mubarak
resigns as leader
Modernist /
Brutalist Council
Estates are unfit
for housing, yet
affordable
-
http://creativeclass.typepad.co
m/thecreativityexchange/imag
es/2007/12/20/new_orleans.jp
g
Women still feel
unsafe
http://im.rediff.com/news/201
3/dec/15sd3.jpg
…The beginning of every major political
and policy shift!!
PREREQUISITE: FREEDOM /
A DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY

3. HISTORY - The Ancient Greek City-State
 Athenian democracy developed around the fifth century BC in the Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Athens, comprising the
city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica. Athenian democracy is the first known democracy in the world. Other
Greek cities set up democracies, most following the Athenian model, but none are as well documented as Athens.
 It was a system of direct democracy, in which participating citizens voted directly on legislation and executive bills. Participation
was not open to all residents: to vote one had to be an adult, male citizen, and the number of these "varied between 30,000 and
50,000 out of a total population of around 250,000 to 300,000."[1] At times, the opinion of voters could be strongly influenced
by the political satire of the comic poets at the theatres.[2]

4.  “Society”…If we posit a human population inhabiting a given territory, "society" is the sum of
participants in the overall set of rules, norms, and practices whereby social goods (e.g. rights,
privileges, powers, property) are produced and distributed.
 This larger society will encompass sub-societies with specialized rules and norms; the
interaction between sub-societies helps to determine the structure of the whole society.
 "State" denotes the arrangement by which formal political power (legitimate coercive
authority backed by physical force) is distributed among recognized institutions and
deployed by them.
- The Ancient Greek City-State (MOGENS HERMAN HANSEN, 1992)
 “Proletariat” on the other hand…
 1.a. The class of industrial wage earners who, possessing neither capital nor production m
eans, must earn their living by selling their labor.
 b. The poorest class of working people.
 2. The propertyless class of ancient Rome, constituting the lowest class of citizens.
Society, State & The People

5. Politicisation Vs. Action
 The volatile period of civil unrest in France during May
1968 was punctuated by demonstrations and
massive general strikes as well as the occupation of
universities and factories across France. At the height of its
fervor, it virtually brought the entire advanced
capitalist economy of France to a dramatic halt.
 On 22 March far-left groups, a small number of prominent
poets and musicians, and 150 students, occupied an
administration building at Paris University at Nanterre.
 Following which, workers join the students, Sud Aviation,
Renault…
https://libcom.org/files/images/rioters.jpg
It is forbidden to forbid!
-
https://libcom.org/files/images/history
/Situationist.jpg
Underneath the paving stones, the beach -
http://www.justseeds.org/blog/images/France-01.jpg
French student poster. In
English, "I participate,
you
participate, he
participates, we
participate, you
participate...they
profit."

6. Planners, Theorists… & Philosophers
Eight rungs on the ladder of
citizen participation – Sherry
R. Arnstein
The Theory of
Communicative Action–
Jürgen Habermas
Critical Theory & The
Situationists –
Henri Lefebvre
The theory of communicative action
(1981) is a critical project which
reconstructs a concept of reason
which is not grounded in
instrumental or objectivistic terms,
but rather in an emancipatory
communicative act
Three interrelated concerns: (1) to develop
a concept of rationality that is no longer
tied to, and limited by, the subjectivistic
and individualistic premises of modern
philosophy and social theory; (2) to
construct a two-level concept of society
that integrates the lifeworld and systems
paradigms; and, finally, (3) to sketch out,
against this background, a critical theory
of modernity which analyzes and accounts
for its pathologies in a way that suggests
a redirection rather than an abandonment
of the project of enlightenment.
Henri Lefebvre (1901 –1991) was a
French Marxist philosopher and sociol
ogist, best known for pioneering the
critique of everyday life, for
introducing the concepts of the right
to the city and the production
of social space, and for his work
on dialectics, alienation, and criticism
of Stalinism, existentialism,
and structuralism.
In finding alternative means to conventional
planning methodology, especially in the
context of the right to the city, one is faced
with the challenge of negotiating between
critical and normative action.
While, Harvey focuses on politicising the
issues, policy makers and practitioners are
left with the problem of engagement and
action

7. The quandary of the “Practioner”
?
Community
Citizen
Public
?
Participation
Engagement
Consultation

8. COMMUNICATIVE RATIONALITY –
And applications to planning
 Building on Habermas’s theory on ‘communicative action’, Forester (1985) developed the communicative
approach to planning practice. He questions the “instrumental rationality that leaves values undiscussed or
unspecified.” - Foley, 1997
 “In recent years practitioners - from government officials to citizen groups, nonprofits, and foundations - have
increasingly devoted time and resources to strengthening citizen engagement through deliberative forums.” –
Carpini, et al, 2004
 “largely determined by the nature of the planning enterprise being undertaken.” – Lane, M.B., 2005
Lane, M.B., 2005

9. PLANNING APPROACHES

10. Embedding Engagement in Public Policy –
A CASE OF ENGLAND
Localism Act 2011 stated "Duty to Cooperate", which is a rule that when establishing Development Plan an establishment body of a Local Plan (such as
local councils) must cooperate with adjacent planning authorities and related organizations on cross-boundary strategic issues. The exemplified issues
that should go through cooperation process are; homes and jobs, commercial development, infrastructure, health, security and cultural infrastructure,
climate change mitigation and adaptation, etc.
Local Enterprise Partnerships
After the abolition of RDAs, establishment policy of Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) was presented in Budget 2010 in order to advance regional
economic development. LEP is a business-lead partnership of public, private and academia of which more than a half of committee members are to be
from private sector, and it takes functional economic area in account. Currently in 2013, 39 LEPs are approved to cover the whole area of England. Some
of the LEP areas overlap each other.

11. INDIA – By Comparison
74th Amendment Act of the Constitution in 1992. At
that time it was considered a path breaking
amendment because it aimed at the creation of local
governments and dissolution of powers to them in
the respective states. It outlined a broad framework
of institutions that would act as the local
governments and would ultimately bridge the gap
between the government and the governed. The 73rd
Amendment Act, which is known as the sister
amendment aimed at the creation of stronger, active
bodies at the local level in the rural areas. - Hamid,
2004
The 74th CAA requires the state
governments to amend their municipal
laws in order to empower ULBs “with such
powers and authority as may be
necessary to enable them to function as
institutions of self governance”
THE CASE OF DELHI:
• Delhi Masterplan
• Zonal Development Plan
• Local Area Plans
• Civil Society?
• RWA?
• Bhagidari?
• MLAs, Councillors?