There is enormous demand by local communities for involvement in the planning and management of their built environment. Also, it is now widely understood by people in all sectors of the development industry that such involvement can lead to more appropriate and sustainable development solutions and stronger citizen groups and communities. 2 Lack of knowledge There is almost universal uncertainty as to the best way of involving local communities in any given situation. Currently the choice of approach is largely ad hoc, depending on the experience and knowledge of those initiating activity. There is a shortage of adequate good practice guidance and little knowledge of what does exist.
Most practitioners have experience of only a small range of the options available.
As a result, inappropriate approaches are all too often adopted. 3 Unsympathetic environment Many planning, development and management systems are not conducive to participatory approaches. As a result, public participation activity is all too often unrelated to real development timetables leading to frustration and wasted effort. 4 Clear framework needed An important first step in understanding the options available is the adoption of a simple but workable framework for discussing and analysing community planning activity. This is the framework used in this report.