The aim of this research is to combine theories of public participation and rights-based approaches to governance with discourses on social exclusion and transport disadvantage explored through a case study of a planned mass public transport system in a city adopting a rights-based approach to participatory governance. It does so by using a mixed-method case study approach, utilising qualitative research methods. Quito in Ecuador provided the natural choice for the case study given its rights-based approach to participatory governance determined through the Constitution of 2008 and the Law of Citizen Participation (2010), and shortly after receiving the devolved responsibility for urban planning and transport, the city government took the decision to install a metro line in the city centre. The research addressed three research questions. First, it examined the extent to which transport related social exclusion is intensified by existing practices of transport planning and operation. Second, it looked at the potential benefit of a rights-based approach to participatory governance. Third, it examined how a conceptualised understanding of transport-related social exclusion was able to describe the phenomenon as it exists in Quito, and through a framework devised from the literature to evaluate participatory activities, it considered both the activities of the city government in engaging the public, alongside the response received from citizens and civil society organisations. The research concluded that a rights-based approaches to participation in decision-making can address transport-related social exclusion and mobility challenges. Although Quito’s metro project fell into the ‘prepare-reveal-defend’ model of decision making, there were genuine attempts by the city government to initiate participation. Some initiatives took place after the decision was made, and others were overly complex i.e. the formulaic process of the ‘Offering of Accounts’. The research also determined that cultural change is required for residents to embrace a new open government, and that civil society organisations have a key role to play on fostering better participatory processes, and ultimately decision-making.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:761333 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Wootton, Gayle |
| Publisher | Cardiff University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://orca.cf.ac.uk/116529/ |
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