Applying mixed methods action research to explore how public participation in an Indian City could better resolve urban sustainability problems

Abstract

Public participation in governance is regarded as a key element in enhancing urban sustainability. While there is a wealth of participation efforts in Indian cities, there are inadequate processes for regular, inclusive, egalitarian, informed and well-structured democratic participation that provide a real say to citizens in public decision-making. ‘Deliberative democracy’ has emerged as one way to improve effective public participation in decision-making, though it is mostly prevalent in developed countries. An action research initiative was implemented over several years in Pune, India. It used mixed methods to introduce and assess the applicability to the Indian urban context of high-quality public deliberations. This article presents a case study of a deliberative democracy initiative, framing the transformative public involvement needed to address sustainability problems. It also shows how the integration of the mixed methods approach in the action research to design and facilitate deliberative participation processes, helped to broaden and deepen understanding, and enhanced the transformative capacity of the research design.

Can Deliberative Democracy Work in Urban India?

“…The survey results showed a gap between the experienced reality of participation and expectation, measured using the Arnstein Ladder [66]. The difference, termed the Arnstein Gap, in Pune is that people experience participation as "informing" and "consultation" by the local government (with a mean score of 3.6), while their expectation is towards "partnership" (mean score of 5.5) [48]. The mean was calculated by ascribing the value of the levels from 1 to 8.…”

“…Detailed descriptions of these deliberations are presented in previous publications by Menon and Hartz-Karp [35,39,48], including brief assessments, learnings from each case, and explanations about how the principles of high-quality public deliberation were applied in the conduct of these forums. What is of interest to this article are the participants' feedback surveys implemented after each public event which have not been previously analyzed.…”

“…Civic advocacy groups have been willing to support the advocacy for instituting highquality public deliberations in Pune [48]. They have also insisted on having a continued role in developing and implementing public high-quality deliberations, and later, following up on the implementation of recommendations.…”

Analysis of Urban Development Plan Formulation in India with Special Reference to Public Participation

“…Effective and efficient decisionmaking involving citizens can be one aspect of urban sustainability. Public participation here plays a pivotal role in democratic decision making hence supporting sustainability (Carcasson, 2013;Chu, Anguelovski et al, 2016;Fung, 2006;Menon and Hartz-Karp, 2020).…”

“…The decentralized participatory spaces that exist in megacities are fragmented (Singh, 2012). Moreover, Indian cities do not have provisions for engaging citizens like Indian villages that offer platforms like Gram Sabha (Menon and Hartz-Karp, 2020). All the policies are implemented on or through the public, but public participation in policy formulation has not necessarily been seen as an indispensable requirement.…”