Real Participation or the Tyranny of Participatory Practice? Public Art and Community Involvement in the Regeneration of the Raploch, Scotland

Abstract

The language of participation and empowerment has become a convention in urban redevelopment practice. While on first glance there is little to disagree with, a critical literature has emerged around the notion that participation has become a new ‘tyranny’ that, despite its claims, is little more than tokenism. However, it is the contention of this paper that the impacts of participation in community-based urban regeneration projects are complex, usually contested and often contradictory. While an uncritical vocabulary of ‘participation’ has proliferated in both cultural and regeneration policy, the actual practice on the ground reveals significant difficulties which have implications for policy goals of community participation and empowerment, and for the community itself. Rather than seeing it as a problem, or something to be removed as soon as possible from the process, contestation and conflict should be recognised as appropriate reflections of community.

The dark side of public participation: Participative processes that legitimize elected officials’ values

“…What does it mean to “[draw citizens] into new fields of governmental power” (Barnes, Newman, and Sullivan : 65) through public participation? From a Foucauldian perspective, it means that participative mechanisms can “encourage alignment with institutional and government objectives” because they ultimately reflect “a mode of subjection and means of regulating human conduct towards particular ends” (Pollock and Sharp : 3066). In the case presented here, a public participation process was manipulated to guide – or manufacture – majority Canadian support toward a particular policy end.…”

¿Quién decide qué necesitamos? Participación social y toma de decisiones en una política de abordaje territorial en Argentina

“…Así las políticas de abordaje territorial, centradas en la participación comunitaria y desestandarización del accionar estatal, se han tornado una nueva ortodoxia en la formulación de políticas públicas sociales (Maginn, 2007;Pollock y Sharp, 2012;Vigil y Fernández, 2012). El abordaje territorial puede ser comprendido como una nueva concepción en el diseño de políticas que -frente al esquema tradicional en el cual no se consideran las demandas de las poblaciones, ni los entramados sociales (Matus, 1992;Mayntz, 1998;Subirats, 1989)-enfatiza la necesidad de identificar lazos sociales directos entre actores sociales a nivel local, así como las dinámicas propias de los grupos sociales (Abramovay, 2006).…”

“…Tanto en El Club como en Las Piletas, se pudo ver cómo las micro-relaciones de poder barriales contribuyen a definir qué debería entenderse por necesidades locales, cuáles son estas necesidades en el barrio y quiénes están habilitados para definirlas (Healy, 2003;Pollock y Sharp, 2012;Maginn, 2007;Traversa, 2004;Vigil y Fernández, 2012). Lejos de ser un proceso sencillo, la participación y toma de decisión implicó tensiones, contradicciones y disputas: no todos los sujetos tienen la misma legitimidad para decidir y proponer qué es necesario.…”

Trust and participation in urban regeneration

“…Academics have identified trust as an important factor in resident participation in urban governance (Curry, 2012;Fordham et al, 2009;Gallagher and Jackson, 2008;Hibbit et al, 2001;Lister et al, 2007;Pollock and Sharp, 2012;Russell, 2008). Many have focussed on the relationship between residents and institutions.…”

“…Aside from trusting officers and organisations as to whether they will be responsive to their views, residents may also question whether they have the ability to bring about such significant changes to a neighbourhood. A resident who believes that they will be listened to may still not participate because they do not believe the scheme will ever really occur -'The locals had grown wise to officials presenting them with grand-sounding schemes that mostly came to nothing' (Fisher, 2009: 20, cited in Pollock andSharp, 2012). This is quite different to involvement in other forms of local governance or political participation aimed at creating or modifying policies or laws.…”