"Can our field present a united front to the new Administration? Let's start by seeing if we can develop a set of principles for public engagement we can all endorse..."

1. • CommentAuthortianshahyd
   • CommentTimeMar 6th 2009

    

   When discussing strategies to increase participation among marginalized groups, the discourse tends to focus greatest attention on increasing the individual capacities of people to participate in civic life through trainings and education.

   However, lack of civic education is often not the primary barrier to increasing engagement in public discussions and meetings. Structural and social barriers to participation are often more difficult to identify and address because they may require adjusting what many consider as “normal” to account for diverse needs and points of view.

   Structural barriers such as meeting times and location can impede people’s ability to participate. Lack of child care or language translation services can also informally regulate who can and who cannot participate in public meetings.

   Social barriers to participation include issues like the meeting's social setting and/or enviroment, the pre-established parameters of the discussion [what are acceptable options/alternative proposals and what are not] and the form of decision-making at the meeting.

   For instance, in community or neighborhood planning meetings facilitated by professional planners it is important to be aware of the academic and epistemological biases carried into the conversation by the facilitators. These biases will by default legitimate certain input and point of view while deligitimizing others. In doing so, input provided by certain members of the community will carry greater influence than others because they are delivered in the manner and/or are within the parameters of the pre-conceived biases of the facilitator, who's "expert" opinion validates knowledge.

   These barriers to engagement must also be addressed to ensure an open system fully accessible to those who desire to participate.

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