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Example 1: Valletta . Consultation is equated with testing
public opinion through conducting public opinion questionnaires, for
residents and users of local services, covering demographic, social,
cultural and commercial dimensions. These public opinion surveys are fed
back into the planning process.
Example 2 : Lisbon . In the Castle neighbourhood there are
very strong social ties, and people are aware of their shared interests.
Nevertheless, there exists no solidaristic community group acting as an
advocate on behalf of the community. In the absence of same, planners
and architects of regeneration had to consult at an individual level,
working individually with older people and the socially marginalized to
gain acceptance. This required a huge expenditure of time, that probably
could have been used more productively.
Example 3 : Vilnius . The OTRA has a strong commitment to
Community Capacity building but in the way that this is conceptualised
and implemented it works more as individual capacity building. The focus
is on utilising capacity to preserve the built environment (as in
Valletta and Lisbon ) and not to build sustainable communities. The
regeneration strategies tend to produce individual beneficiaries (a
rehabilitated house, a new timber balcony, structural repairs) rather
than tangible community outcomes.
In each of these cases it is fair to say that the regeneration agency
is to a large extent driven by urban planners and architects and as a
consequence their agenda-environmental/heritage preservation- tends to
prevail.
Outcome
- Individual participants see a real and tangible benefit as a
result of their engagement with the urban regeneration process.
- Individuals may find that their interests and those of the
regeneration agency do not necessarily coincide.
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Partnership, Urban regeneration and
the European city: a community participation perspective
