Participative Planning Processes in the Absence of the (Public) Space of Democracy

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the role, limits and opportunities of participation programmes in a\ud local political context where consensus-building and inclusionary practices are not high priorities.\ud A public housing neighbourhood in Palermo is used as a case study in order to critically highlight\ud the ambiguous role that participative practices tend to play in fragile contexts. The case study\ud also highlights the need for some preconditions for effective participatory practices in planning.\ud These preconditions are focused on Arendt’s notion of the ‘space of democracy’. Some concepts\ud developed by Hannah Arendt will be used to explain the necessity of these preconditions, and their\ud relevance to the political discourses of participatory planning processes will be discussed

Reconsidering neoliberal urban planning in times of crisis: urban regeneration policy in a “dense” space in Lisbon

“…Harvey, 1993)-where appropriated public space exists that constitutes the tangible and symbolic space in which civic and political action takes place (cf. Bonafede & Lo Piccolo, 2010).…”

Questioning the Universality of Institutional Transformation Theories in Spatial Planning: Shopping Mall Developments in Palermo

“…This is a key difference with Anglo-Saxon and British planning systems, inasmuch as the aforementioned trends towards decentralization, privatization and strategic planning have often clashed with planning cultures more oriented towards the prevalence of the legal decision, on the one hand, and the design of urban form, on the other hand. As a result, relatively low level of formal public participation to decision-making are found (Bonafede and Lo Piccolo 2010;Seixas and Albet 2012). Unsurprisingly, comparative studies hardly find an agreement when assessing Southern European planning systems: some refer to them as 'immature' when compared to Central European traditions (CEC 1997;Nadin and Stead 2013), whereas others refer to the urbanism tradition as the 'missing piece' in the 'puzzle' of European planning (Janin Rivolin and Faludi 2005).…”

Shopping malls and neoliberal trends in Southern European cities: post-metropolitan challenges for urban planning policy

“…for the first time in decades, the city was governed by an uncorrupted centreleft administration, which launched a socio-cultural and germinal economic development (söderström et al, 2009). although the first investments were made during the 1990s, the shopping mall developments were launched in the mid-2000s, in a new phase in which a centre-right administration brought back the old instances of manipulative politics, partially discarded during the 1990s (Bonafede & Lo Piccolo, 2010;tulumello, 2015b). Planned to open in november 2015, works never started -see main text termini imerese Hymera shopping mall + outlet centre 52,500 approval of detailed plan pending although shopping mall development broke off at the national level at the start of the economic crisis, seven shopping mall and outlet centre developments have been carried out in the metropolitan area of Palermo (table ii): four centres have been opened and three are in the pipeline -although at least one may never see the light of day in the aftermath of the economic crisis (see below).…”

“…in Portugal, the previously mentioned late democratisation, having resulted in the late development of local authorities, is very evident in the patterns of institutional centralisation, lack of an intermediate administrative level between the state and municipalities, and lack of competency in local authorities (Crespo & Cabral, 2010). all in all, critical studies of urban governance and planning have highlighted generalised delays in innovation trends, low levels of public participation and poor accountability of decision-making (Bonafede & Lo Piccolo, 2010;seixas & albet, 2012;Picone & Lo Piccolo, 2014). for such reasons, southern european planning systems are often referred to as 'immature' when compared to Central european traditions (CeC, 1997;nadin and stead, 2013).…”

“…it is based on the idea that southern european countries, for historical and socio-cultural reasons, have undergone a late economic development pattern compared to other leading european countries. specifically for our case studies, the late democratisation of Portugal (Costa Pinto, 2006) and the criminal conditioning of local politics in southern italy (Cannarozzo, 2000;Bonafede & Lo Piccolo, 2010) have caused a significant delay in international investment necessary for the development of shopping malls. as we will discuss in the next section, there were no shopping malls in Palermo until 2009, something probably unique in the european context.…”