Bridging the Gap between the Academic Discourses of Participatory Planning and Local Democracy

Abstract

Cities are central arenas and actors in enabling resilient and low-carbon urban development, as well as healthier urban environments. Thus, new strategies and instruments of democratic steering of such transformation processes emerge. One of the most important instruments is urban planning. Here, participatory processes and citizen input are emphasized, for example by developing innovative methods for social participation in land use planning procedures. The panel will include papers that try to bridge the academic planning discourse with the local democracy discourse.