Browsing by Subject "public participation in planning"

Public consultation has become a legally mandated part of planning practices in many countries, including Finland. At the same time as planners have to adapt their practices to include the public, cities have become more diverse than ever before. How to incorporate urban residents’ different perspectives and social realities in the planning process in a way that leads to socially just outcomes is one of the key questions in twenty-first century urban planning. This thesis examines this topic through a case study of a participatory planning project in Jyväskylä, Finland. One of the City’s aims with the project was to increase the participation rates of residents from immigrant backgrounds. The actions of the municipality are analysed by applying Othengrafen and Reimer’s cultural planning model, in which planning practices are examined as artifacts reflective of their wider cultural context. The thesis finds that the case reflects cultural narratives of immigrant integration as a unidirectional process rather than as an exchange between cultures. The focus is on teaching the immigrant how to become a participant in the Finnish society through the adoption of new practices and behaviours. This can also be regarded as part of gaining cultural citizenship, referring to the performative way in which borders between the national community and others are constructed in twenty-first century Europe.