Public participation and local environmental planning: Testing factors influencing decision quality and implementation in four case studies from Germany. (July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Drazkiewicz, Anna; Challies, Edward; Newig, Jens
• Is Part Of: Land use policy. Volume 46(2015:May)
• Page Start: 211
• Page End: 222
• Publication Date: 2015-07
• Subjects: Participation -- Environmental governance -- Conflict resolution -- Water resources planning -- Urban planning -- Germany; Land use -- Periodicals; Land use -- Government policy -- Periodicals; Sol, Utilisation du -- Périodiques; Sol, Utilisation du -- Politique gouvernementale -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 333.7305
• DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.02.010
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-8377

Abstract

Highlights: We present fieldwork on four cases of local participatory environmental governance. We study the effect of participation on environmental decision quality and delivery. Participation had predominantly positive impacts on environmental outcomes. Intervening factors include influence of key interests and provision of lay knowledge. Context and surprises can determine successful conclusion of participatory processes. Abstract: Public and stakeholder participation in environmental planning is often assumed to enhance effectiveness through improving the environmental quality of decisions and enhancing implementation. We draw on the literature on participatory environmental governance in order to derive key participation-related factors that are hypothesized to impact on decision quality and implementation. We then outline four cases of decision-making processes in local environmental planning in Germany, representing a variety of forms of public participation, and what we suggest can be seen as four different pathways to 'success' in participatory planning. The case studies, recounted on the basis of stakeholder interviews and secondary research, are subjected to a cross-case analysis in order to examine the influence of participation in each case. We consider how key participation-related factors played out across the cases, and assess both decision quality and implementation against counterfactual non-participatory, or less-participatory, scenarios. In moving beyond accounts of 'what happened', and considering how participation changed the order of things relative to 'what would have happened' under different scenarios, the research highlights how very different pathways may lead to 'success' in participatory environmental planning from the viewpoint of process organizers and planners sympathetic to environmental issues. We conclude that, given the significance of context and surprises, planners and process organizers must be open to different pathways to the successful conclusion of participatory planning processes.