The conclusion from all this is that participation is necessary - but as part of a package. That package must include the contributions of professions, including social professionals. The professionals involved in a project must attend all public processes. We can safely scale down the role that participation is now fulfilling as long as we keep in mind that we are planning for people. Uninformed public officials are setting too high requirements for participation that burden the public and developers unnecessarily.
Much more research is needed to separate the wheat from the chaff.
This should preferably be done by all the development delivery sectors and not only water. A ladder of citizen participation. Development Report 1998. In Public Administration and Development, Vol. Community Non-Compliance with Basic Water Supply Projects.