PUPLIC
PARTICIPATION
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND PARTICIPATORY PROCESSES
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WHAT
IS PUBLIC PARTICIPATION?
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DIFFERENT
WAYS
TO INVOLVE THE PUBLIC
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ROUND TABLES IN CANADA
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USING
ROUND TABLES IN THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR IN POLAND
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URBAN
GREENING. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN
BANGKOK
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ENLISTING THE PUBLIC TO CLEAN UP CITIES
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EMPOWERMENT
AND PUPLIC PARTICIPATION
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ICSC'S
ROLE AS A BROKER
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ICSC'S
CANADIAN TEAM-
PUPLIC PARTICIPATION AND MULTI-PARTY PROCESSES
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Challenges &
Lessons
This project has run into a number of small difficulties. For
example, the land along the canal where Bangkapi's community garden
is planted is privately owned. A letter of agreement between the
Keht, the landowner and the community was signed allowing the
community to plant their garden. In December of 2000 the landowner
contacted the community and indicated that he was no longer interested
in supporting the project. While this problem seems to have been
resolved, the issue of land tenure will always be a problem. Such
projects work with communities that will never have formal access
to land. As a result, problems of this sort are inevitable and
must be dealt with on a case by case basis.
In Bangkok Noi, where incomes are higher and residents were busy
with paid employment, it was difficult to sustain high levels
of excitement or activity. To counter this, TEI visited the area
regularly and organized frequent training workshops. Projects
of this sort are really more appropriate in low-income communities
where unemployment is high, and people have little access to green
space.
Health Impacts
of Urban Greening
Urban greening can help reduce micro-nutrient deficiencies
by providing low-income families access to family-run vegetable
plots. Urban greening can also reduce poverty through the
sale of vegetables and by reducing the family's food bill.
Also, if urban greening works in conjunction with community
composting initiatives, urban greening projects can ensure
that organic matter does not pollute drinking water and is
turned into valuable fertilizer. Finally, urban green space
can be developed on poorly drained areas, reducing the habitat
for some mosquito species that carry diseases such as dengue
fever and malaria. |
In Bangkapi, a Buddhist community, women and men
are equally represented at all functions. In Bangkok Noi, a Moslem
community, TEI staff have made concerted and regular efforts to
ensure women participate in this project. Despite these efforts,
TEI staff estimate that women only participate in about 30% of
activities and the only female member of the working group joined
after TEI staff brought up this issue with residents directly.
The project is trying to overcome a significant cultural barrier
and the fact that one woman is now part of the working group indicates
some progress.
TEI and ICSC have learned that there is a need for
a flexible, yet clear and simple process that communities could
go through to plan, implement, and maintain their urban green
space. This process has to achieve a delicate balance between
being flexible enough to empower communities to achieve their
own goals, yet guided enough to ensure (for example) that women
are included, as well as stressing the ecological goals of urban
greening. Based on this TEI and ICSC have developed a web site
(www.icsc.ca/urban/main.htm) and a booklet (in Thai) that highlights
each step in the process starting with site preparation and establishing
the community working group, through to monitoring and evaluating
the green plan.
Results
In addition to adding green space, this project has reinforced
the need for community participation. The trees and vegetable
gardens that have been planted represent only a small fraction
of the benefits. After 4 day-long workshops, numerous planning
days, and considerable labour, the members of these communities
have worked together in a way that they have never worked before.
As one resident of Bangkok Noi put it, "…the most important
thing is to build community power." These people not only
have learned something about urban environmental problems and
the role of urban forestry and agriculture to address these problems,
but also have connected both their neighbourhoods and their actions
into a larger context and in doing so have grown together as communities.
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