Urban participatory planning
Practical Action
Involving local partners in new approaches to participatory planning gives the potential for
existing institutionalised policies and practices that may not involve local people’s participation
or may be tokenistic at best, to be made more inclusive for those who are the most marginalised
in urban environments.
Organisations of the urban poor: Important new actors in urban participatory
planning
While the heterogeneity of urban
environments poses specific
challenges for building cohesion
and solidarity amongst members of
urban ‘communities’ as noted
above, the number and density of
the poor living in urban
environments means that there is
potential for networks and
organisations to develop to such a
scale for them to potentially
become significant actors in urban
planning and development
processes (see for example the work
of the Slum Dwellers International).
As the world becomes increasingly
Figure 7: Magadi Unit Group, Manyatta A ward, part of
the Neighbourhood Planning Associations, Kisumu,
Kenya
Photo credit: Caroline Cage.
more urbanised the number of
large-scale organisations or
federations of the urban poor have
increased dramatically, as has the
extent of their coverage and their impact in terms of the changes they have made in service
delivery and building social cohesion. In addition, they have become powerful actors in lobbying
for the rights of the urban poor at local, national and even international levels. Partnerships
between local organisations of the urban poor and external actors in urban planning can
potentially lead to significant changes, physically within their local environments, and also
socially and politically in terms of the policies and power relations within the countries that they
are based. Approaches that not only aim to increase participation, but also aim to strengthen
local initiatives and build the capabilities of the urban poor to self-organise have the potential to
have a deeper impact on the root causes of poverty.
Conclusion
This paper has sought to outline some of the complexities that urban environments present that
should be addressed when designing and implementing participatory planning processes. Urban
environments pose specific challenges in terms of their heterogeneity and diversity, while at the
same time they present new opportunities for pro-poor reforms in existing planning processes,
and new forms of partnerships that can potentially strengthen the capacity of the poor
themselves to bring about changes at a much larger scale. While the process of changing current
practices in urban planning may take time, building local institutional as well as urban poor
people’s capacity to articulate and negotiate throughout the planning process will lead to urban
environments that are much more sustainable and social cohesive in the long-term.
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