Design and Development of Mediated Participation for Environmental Governance Transformation: Experiences with Community Art and Visual Problem Appraisal

Abstract

For environmental governance to be more effective and transformative, it needs to enhance the presence of experimental and innovative approaches for participation. This enhancement requires a transformation of environmental governance, as too often the (public) participation process is set up as a formal obligation in the development of a proposed intervention. This article, in search of alternatives, and in support of this transformation elaborates on spaces where participatory and deliberative governance processes have been deployed. Experiences with two mediated participation methodologies – community art and visual problem appraisal – allow a demonstration of their potential, relevance and attractiveness. Additionally, the article analyzes the challenges that result from the nature of these arts-based methodologies, from the confrontational aspects of voices overlooked in conventional approaches, and from the need to rethink professionals’ competences. Considering current environmental urgencies, mediated participation and social imaginaries still demonstrate capacities to open new avenues for action and reflection.

Ativismo e Participação nas Políticas de Comunicação em Portugal: Experiências Limitadas e Inconsequentes

“…A emergência de recursos tecnológicos e mediáticos facilitadores da participação originou discursos otimistas (Jenkins & Ito, 2015;Papacharissi, 2004), mas há certamente uma diferença entre a existência de estruturas que permitem a participação e a existência de estratégias e procedimentos fluídos que as tornam dinâmicas e vivenciadas (Carpentier, 2009). Witteveen et al (2022) preconizam a transformação dos cidadãos em stakeholders (intervenientes) nos processos deliberativos, de igual para igual nas estruturas de poder, aproximando os paradigmas das teorias políticas e dos modelos organizacionais contemporâneos.…”