One common idea within participation theory is the need for new approaches in decision making that emphasize a two-way interaction between decision makers and the public as well as deliberation among participants. Citizens should be given the opportunity to weigh evidence, discuss and debate potential decision options and possibly arrive at mutual agreements by which all parties can abide. The demand for sound scientific information and public participation is particularly great especially in adapting to some of the impacts of climate change such as floods due to sea level rise. The uncertainties and the socially sensitive nature of such risk, makes it important for all relevant stakeholders to be involved. This study draws on two research projects carried out in Sweden and Denmark with the intention of engaging stakeholders in finding suitable ways of adapting to climate change. The two cases that have been selected for this study include the SEAREG (Sea Level Change Affecting the Spatial Development in the Baltic Sea Region) and the BALTCICA (Climate Change: Impacts, Costs and Adaptation in the Baltic Sea Region). Using a comparative case study method, this thesis looks into the design of participatory processes and the conceptions that underlie them, as well as the consequences on the active participation of other stakeholders with a particular focus on the public. Some of the main differences on the extent of public participation between these projects are sorted out and compared using theoretical perspectives from participation theory. Both cases cut across the local and national scales of decision making and use flooding scenarios in communicating with the public. However, the design of these scenarios as well as the participatory models differ.

The aim of the thesis is to examine the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) Planning that is recognized as the most appropriate approach in the international arena for the wise-use and sustainability of water resources. In this framework, the thesis has been organized in two major parts: Theoretical framework and the Konya Closed Basin case study analysis. The first part draws a theoretical framework on IWRM planning and discusses its principles, aims and implementation tools through an internationally accepted point of view. The second part, meanwhile, examines the interpretation of the IWRM planning in Turkey and its implementation in the case of the Konya Closed Basin IWRM Planning Process. The study reveals that only an integrated approach at the basin scale can solve the water demand problems of different human activities, which puts pressure on the carrying capacity of the water resources and their basins. Despite the inadequacies in the related institutional and legal frameworks in Turkey, Konya Closed Basin IWRM planning, especially Tuz Lake Management Plan studies, comes to forefront as a pioneering IWRM planning practice: The capacity building, public participation, and awareness raising principles of the IWRM planning approach have been positively realized during this planning process. Besides, the components of the plan are also compatible with the theory of IWRM planning, which consists of strategic, goal-oriented, and participatory planning approaches.

Institutional philanthropy (which includes the spectrum of all formalized grantmaking organizations) remains one of the least understood and researched aspects of giving. There is also limited scholarly attention to the relationship between foundation governance and grantmaking, despite normative claims about 'elite' foundation boards selecting 'elite' nonprofit's. Yet, foundations are increasingly using committees of community volunteers to allocate grants, rather than leaving grant decisions to a traditional board of directors. The goal of community involvement in grantmaking is better grant decisions, due to community members' information advantage and consequently greater knowledge of community needs. However, no one has tested whether community boards are making different decisions than traditional boards, much less whether their decisions are better. Drawing on a sample of 6 funders who use both community and traditional boards, their 616 grantees, and 955 comparable non-grantees I build on the economic model of giving to identify differences and similarities in the characteristics of nonprofit's that receive grants. Although I find much more congruence between grant decisions of community and traditional boards than literature expects I explore this finding through an in depth case study of two foundations who do this type of work. I find, similar to previous work in the public sector that simply involving community members in a grants process does not automatically generate different organizational decisions. Instead, it is only when a public participation program is effectively designed that grant decisions truly reflective community input.

Comparative research was conducted to assess the environmental impacts of the Adopt-a-Pond program, which operates throughout Hillsborough County, Florida. The Adopt-a-Pond program was established in 1992 and designed to address nonpoint pollution through outreach and stormwater pond enhancement. However, the program had never been thoroughly and scientifically evaluated. Therefore, assessments of water quality and vegetative characteristics were made at ninety Adopt-a-Pond participants and eleven control ponds to explore the potential impacts of the program on measurable environmental parameters. Statistical analysis of the results failed to demonstrate any statistically significant environmental improvements associated with the Adopt-a-Pond program, and measures of program activity did not illustrate a consistently positive relationship. These results indicate a need to readdress the policies and implementation of the program. Poor compliance by program volunteers, evident by the limited span of group participation (mean = 2.5 years) and relatively low percentage of actively involved residents, is the most likely culprit for the unremarkable improvements in pond quality, as pond enhancement techniques are firmly established in the literature. Overall, these conclusions underline the need for an integrated evaluation component in policymaking and an adaptive management approach to environmental management. A more detailed analysis is warranted to provide time series data, which examines ponds both before and after entry to the program and after implementing landmark improvement measures. In the end, the results of the study have provided a better understanding of the AAP and other similar restoration programs, and hopes to allow for enhancement of AAP program restoration practices.

For this research project I used grounded theory methodology and qualitative research methods to examine how and why citizens participated in local community-based planning and land development entitlement processes, and learn about their experiences participating in those processes. I conceptualized the citizens' main concern as preserving the character of the place they consider their community. This research demonstrates that citizens participate in community-based planning and land development entitlement processes out of a concern for preserving the character of their communities. They define the character of their communities in terms of their geographic boundaries, history, traditions, people, lifestyle, and qualitative features including land uses, architecture, terrain, and environmental attributes. "Preserving Place" refers to citizens' efforts to maintain the character of their communities as they know and embrace them. Citizens participate in collaborative community-based planning because they believe the process affords them an opportunity to set public policy that directly impacts their lives and their communities. Likewise, citizens participate in land development decision-making and entitlement processes in an effort to ensure that land use decisions are consistent with their community plan and preserve their community's character. Citizens form networks, such as voluntary community organizations, through which they organize their efforts and mentor each other to learn about complex local government land use processes and how to participate in them effectively. Through their network organizations citizens also marshal resources when necessary to mount formal legal actions in response to land development decisions they perceive as inconsistent with their community plan and their community's character. Citizens who participate in local government land use processes are often pejoratively called "activists" and accused of being "anti-growth" or "NIMBY" (Not-In-My-Back-Yard). However, this research shows the main concern of citizens who participate in the community-based planning and other land use processes is not to oppose growth and development in their communities; but rather to plan for growth and development and ensure they occur in a way that respects and preserves what the citizens know as the character of the places they consider their communities. I collected data from public records of community-based planning workshops and other land use decision-making processes that affected three communities in Hillsborough County, Florida between 1998 and 2011. I analyzed public record archives and interviewed 22 citizens, all of whom had participated in community-based planning or plan review processes and land development entitlement processes. The model that emerged from the data in this research demonstrates how significant the character of a community is to the people who embrace the community and consider it their home, and how their concern for preserving the character of their community motivates people to get involved in land use policies that affect them. The model further demonstrates the capacity of citizens to organize their efforts to defend and preserve their community's character. This research contributes to the literature on citizen participation by providing an explanatory model that demonstrates how and why citizens participate in local government land use processes. This research can also be applied to practice to improve collaborative processes and help local government land use policy makers and land developers understand the motivations behind citizen participation in land use processes, and thus how to approach the resolution of conflicts among citizens, planners, local governments, private landowners and land development interests.

In this thesis I develop a critical theory of public participation and deliberation in post-communist Romania. Primarily, this theory is developed from a critical assessment of two intermediate-level Romanian institutions: the deliberative system that has formed to debate the authorisation of a proposed gold mining project in Roșia Montana, Romania and the legitimacy claims of the series of hybrid forums that were convened as part of that project's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The hybrid forum legitimacy claims were assessed based on a standard of hybrid forum legitimacy developed in this thesis from deliberative democracy theory and practice. Grounded in new institutionalism theory, this thesis describes the historical and contemporary socio-economic conditions that have shaped Romanian public participation and deliberation.

Much attention has been paid to the increasingly important role of women as social and political actors in Latin America. Though recent scholarship has examined women's activism in primarily urban contexts, this paper focuses on the case of poor rural women in Nicaragua. Based on participant observation and interview data collected over five consecutive weeks, this paper traces the pathways by which women's activism emerged in a context where traditional gender roles still predominate. These women's forms of participation—often on the basis of their interests as mothers—constitute a "politics of immediate needs” that responds to concrete matters of survival while introducing new issues of direct concern to women into the public sphere. However, community participation has also generated additional burdens for women who now juggle productive, reproductive, and activist roles. By exploring the complexities of these dynamics, this paper provides an ethnographic account of the highly nuanced contestatory process by which women enter the public sphere, collectively organize, and begin to challenge various gendered aspects of their society. / text

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Over the last few decades, thermal treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been strongly opposed in North America. The reasons for public opposition are complex and could vary from community to community. Typically, public antagonism towards thermal treatment option is clearly revealed during the planning process of energy-from-waste facilities. Concepts such as NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) have become synonymous with the siting of MSW thermal treatment facilities. Given the highly controversial nature of such projects, effective organization and conduct of the municipal planning process is of high importance. The literature suggests that public opposition can be fuelled by the perception of unfair outcome and unfair planning process. Therefore, the equity dimension of the planning process has gained importance. This research explores the planning processes surrounding the development of thermal treatment plants for MSW in the province of Ontario, Canada by focusing on the equity dimension. The research aims to reveal the role and the nature of substantive equity, procedural equity, and cost and time efficiency, as well as the role of contextual elements in planning processes. Additionally, the research intends to provide recommendations on the effective incorporation of the equity dimension into the waste management planning processes. Through a review of the literature on planning controversial facilities with a focus on waste disposal plants, it was revealed that the clear delineation of substantive and procedural equity as well as the identification of the main elements that fall under these notions are absent. Different studies present various elements of substantive and procedural equity, but they fall short in consolidation and analysis of linkages among the elements. In addition, it was revealed that the study of the contextual elements in relation to substantive and procedural equity has been quite limited. Three research questions were identified that were informed by two assumptions derived from the consulted literature. To answer the research questions, three cases of planning thermal treatment plants in Ontario were investigated using qualitative research methods. The first case studied the Halton region thermal treatment project that was initiated in 2006 but was soon dropped without reaching the stage of full environmental assessment. The second case study focused on the Niagara-Hamilton thermal treatment project that was a joint effort between the city of Hamilton and the regional municipality of Niagara to find a local solution to the waste problem. An environmental assessment was conducted; however, before its completion the parties decided to stop the project and concentrate on other waste management alternatives. Finally, the third case studied the Durham-York thermal treatment project that underwent a full environmental assessment process and is currently close to completion. This research contributes towards expanding the conceptual discourse about the role of equity in planning waste disposal facilities with a particular emphasis on thermal treatment plants. More specifically, the thesis contributes towards delineating the notions of substantive and procedural equity and distinguishing their elements. It introduces the notion of context and explores those contextual elements that influence substantive and procedural equity during planning processes for thermal treatment facilities. As a result, the thesis develops a comprehensive analytical framework that consolidates the major elements that fall under the domains of substantive equity, procedural equity, and context that have previously been dispersed in the literature. In addition, the research establishes linkages among the elements within each domain and across domains. Based on the findings of the case studies, the notion of distributional equity is reconsidered. Whereas the distributional aspect of the equity dimension is undoubtedly important, the thesis concludes that the substantive equity should go beyond the locational aspect of planning. The existence of cross-domain linkages and their importance and diversity confirms that the notion of equity should be studied and discussed in broader terms which acknowledge not only procedural or distributional issues, but also contextual elements and efficiency questions. The existing scholarship places particular emphasis on locational considerations (siting) and procedural issues; however, it fails to present a comprehensive and multidimensional view of equity and explain how this is embedded within the broader context. This research is an attempt to present equity with all its diversity and complexity and build a foundation upon which further work in this direction can be conducted. More broadly, this research contributes to the better understanding of the perceptions and motivations behind public opposition towards infrastructure projects, and particularly waste management facilities. Given the complex nature of public opposition phenomenon, the research addresses the need to build an in-depth understanding of public motivations and perceptions that shape attitudes towards proposed projects.

This research critically examines the process of public participation in the politically contested arena of environmental impact assessment (EIA) in two case studies: the Ekati diamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories and the Richards Bay Minerals project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Each case offers the chance to examine and compare the potentialities of expanded public participation in EIA and the promise of deliberative environmental decision-making. The concept of deliberative public participation has become the new normative standard for citizen engagement in numerous planning and policy-making processes, including EIA. It calls for increased participation by previously disadvantaged communities in the decisions that affect them through multi-stakeholder dialogue. Addressing the need for a realistic assessment of deliberative democratic practice, this study explores the limits of deliberative process by looking at specific examples of EIA, bringing into focus political processes, power relations and the structural conditions affecting citizen engagement.