Participatory planning: ending the controversies

Abstract

The widespread adoption of the language of participation across a spectrum of institutions, from radical NGOs to local government bodies to the World Bank, raises questions about what exactly this much-used buzzword has come to mean. An infinitely malleable concept, 'participation' can be used to evoke and to signify almost anything that involves people. As such, it can easily be reframed to meet almost any demand made of it. So many claims to 'doing participation' are now made that the term has become mired in a morass of competing referents (Cornwall, 2008: 269). Although "participation" is now widely endorsed as an essential component of sustainable development, there is less consensus about what it means and how to achieve it. Participation means different things to different people. This article explores some of the meanings of participation and answers the question what participation actually mean in contemporary times. It concludes by suggesting that there are seven (7) questions to ask whether a process is participatory or not.