designing public consensus

In her latest post on the Planetizen blog, Barbara discusses how public process has changed since the “good old days.”

Two famous quotes from Robert Moses—“Once you sink that first stake, they’ll never make you pull it up” and “Those who can, build, those who can’t, criticize”— sum up the attitude toward public process in those days. In other words, these guys built their reputations on getting something done. Bacon and Moses did not give much attention or credence to the public’s reaction to a project until it was complete—i.e., too late to matter.

But times change, and many recent projects have gone ahead and sunk that first stake only to have to pull it back up again.

Read Barbara’s post.

In her first post on the Planetizen blog, Barbara addresses the basic question underlying all public discussions of planning and design projects: 

As one of my favorite colleagues says, all anyone ever cares about at any public meeting is “where do I live and where do I park?” Public process, in short, asks people to accept changes to their homes and lives. And people generally do not like change.

Read Barbara’s post.

We’re asking professionals who deal in public participation what they see as the issues, trends, and helpful techniques.

This response comes from Joan Isaacson, an EDAW senior associate and coordinator of the EDAW Public Participation Collaborative.

What are some issues you’re encountering in your current projects?

Joan Isaacson: Reaching people who typically are not engaged in public dialogue, which accounts for the majority of people. We typically only hear from people representing more polarized positions. I’ve been working to make use of existing community structures—community groups, service organizations, organized athletics, PTAs, umbrella organizations representing religious institutions, environmental justice, labor, etc.—for disseminating information and collecting input. These exisiting community structures already have established membership and communication channels that can be incorporated into a public participation program. Not only can we reach more people, but we also build stronger relationships and partnerships in the process. This generates trust, a key to any consensus-building process.