The Paradox of Participation: A Case Study on Urban Planning in Favelas and a Plea for Autonomy

Abstract

The participatory planning method called Plano Global Específico (PGE; Specific Global Plan) has been used in Belo Horizonte, Brazil since 1995 for interventions in favelas (spontaneous settlements). Although the responsible municipal agency describes it optimistically, inhabitants have manifested significant discontent. This article focuses on the reasons for this controversy, analysing the PGE method against the background of Brazilian re‐democratisation and Belo Horizonte's public policies for favelas. The article argues that institutionalised participation does not favour the qualitative leap towards citizen control or autonomy, but is essentially attached to heteronomous planning structures.

Inclusion-Elitist Paradox in Participatory Public Budgeting A Case Study on Surakarta City, Central Java, Indonesia

“…This finding is similar to that of Kapp and Baltazar in Brazil [6]. They found that participation potentially leads to conflicting perception between government and society and existing social, economic environments, and power relation.…”

Collaborative Design Squared. Creating together the tools for working together

“…This seems to be at least in part due to what Kapp and Baltazar (2012) have called the Paradox of Participation: the idea that the process of taking part in something is usually mediated by institutional structures that allow for it and, by doing so, restrict or dictate when, where and to what degree stakeholders are able to take part. In other words, being a part of a collaborative process is of little effectiveness when the rules that mediate relationships in that process are predetermined by someone else.…”

Pathology of Social Accountability in Civil Society: Cultural Commodification

“…Meanwhile, the problem of civil society's role in social accountability is traced to social accountability variable consisting of: (i) government's political will to involve the society, (ii) capability of society member group organization, (iii) information transparency variable, and (iv) environment context variable [9][24] [25][26] [27]. Pathological metaphor used in the study of public administration science to explain various pathologies leading to dysfunction, for example: bureaucratic pathology [20] and democratic pathology [28][29] [30]. Analysis on bureaucratic and democratic pathologies is used because the structure of social accountability occurs in the context of relation to bureaucracy and society interrelation in the practice building on democratic principle.…”