Public Commons

Part of Literature - Public Administration

posted by Marina Deluca_Howard

The following article is quite old, but never-the-less of great value to anyone interested in issues of citizen participation. The concepts discussed in this article about 1960's America are still mostly unknown by people around the world. Many planners, architects, politicians, bosses, project leaders and power-holder still dress all variety of manipulations up as 'participation in the process', 'citizen consultation' and other shades of technobable.

This article was reprinted in "The City Reader" (second edition) edited by Richard T. Gates and Frederic Stout, 1996, Routledge Press. Their editors' introduction is well worth reading.

Please copy and re-distribute this article.

Let's work to help people understand the difference between 'citizen control' and 'manipulation'. If you're reading this then I assume you are interested in empowering people to take charge of their lives and their surrounding. I salute you for this work. Enjoy.

A Ladder of Citizen Participation - Sherry R Arnstein

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