CONTEMPORARY

APPROACHES: IDEASof
URBANCATALYST,TRANSIT
METROPOLIS,COMMUNITY
PARTICIPATION Prarthna Roy
311216251061
INTRODUCTION
 Urban design is the process of designing & shaping the physical features of cities, towns and villages, and planning for
the provision of municipal services to residents & visitors.
 It deals with the larger scale of groups of buildings, infrastructure, streets, public spaces, whole neighborhoods and
districts, and entire cities, with the goal of making urban environments that are equitable, beautiful, performative, and
sustainable.
 In the early 1900s, urban planning became professionalized. In the 20th century urban planning was forever changed by
the automobile industry. Car-oriented design impacted the rise of ‘urban design’. City layouts now had to revolve
around roadways and traffic patterns.
 Today, urban design seeks to create sustainable urban environments with long-lasting structures, buildings, and overall
livability. As a result of the New Classical Architecture movement, sustainable construction aims to develop smart
growth, walkability, architectural tradition, and classical design.
 Today the field is being shaped in new ways by an increasingly pluralistic society. The public realm is in the process of
being redefined & reinvented. Environmental change is more incremental and subject to increasing public review.
 At the same time, many cities are expanding at their edges at an unprecedented rate, while central cities are losing
residents, jobs, and public support. A renewed focus on creative urban design is needed now more than ever.

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 URBAN
CATALYSIS

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 According to O. M. Ungers, he suggests the ‘city’ is
often used in a metaphorical sense, and he distinguished
three usages with political overtones:
o Cities as actors (cities competing, winning, or losing
in the global economy)
o Cities as components of globalization, as unitary
entities, and
o Cities as a unified aggregate of groups.

 According to Attoe & Logan in their book, “American

Urban Architecture: Catalysts in the Design of Cities”,
urban design is thought of as a process of arranging
catalytic reactions that are flexible to change and
urgency. Urban catalyst offers modest vision, but impact
should be substantial & integrates the existing urban
fabric.

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 Urban catalysis is defined into 8 characteristics /principles as follows:
1)The new element modifies the elements around it.
2)Existing elements are enhanced or transformed in positive ways.
3)The catalytic reaction does not damage its context.
4)Not all catalytic reactions are the same.
5)Catalytic design is strategic.
6)A product is better than the sum of the ingredients.
7)The catalyst can remain identifiable.

 Urban catalysis can serve as a new model that can either evolve or redefine existing models by equating this idea to the
chemical idea of a catalyst; we can apply the same strategy to speed up, improve, organize and develop the city similar
to that of a chemical reaction.

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CLASSIFICATION of CATALYSTS & PROJECTS

According to Attoe and Logan the catalysis involves the

introduction of one ingredient to modify others. In the
process, the catalyst sometimes remains intact and
sometimes is modified alone. Adapted to describe the
urban design process, catalysts may be characterized as
follows:

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1) The introduction of a new element (the catalyst) causes a reaction that modifies existing elements in an area.
Although most often thought of as economic (investments beget investments), catalysts can also be social, legal,
political, or – and this is our point – architectural. The potential of a building to influence other buildings, to lead urban
design, is enormous.
2) Existing urban elements of value are enhanced or transformed in positive ways. The new need not obliterate or
devalue the old but can redeem it.
3) The catalytic reaction is contained; it does not damage its context. To unleash a force is not enough. Its impact must
be chanelled.
4) To ensure a positive, desired, predictable catalytic reaction, the ingredients must be considered, understood, and
accepted. (Note the paradox: a comprehensive understanding is needed to produce a good limited effect). Cities differ;
urban design cannot assume uniformity.
5) The chemistry of all catalytic reactions is not predetermined; no single formula can be specified for all circumstances.
6) A catalytic design is strategic. Change occurs not from simple intervention but through careful calculation to influence
future urban form step by step. (Again, a paradox: no one recipe for successful urban catalysis exists; yet each catalytic
reaction needs a strategic recipe.)
7) A product better than the sum of the ingredients is the goal of each catalytic reaction. Instead of a city of isolated
pieces, imagine a city of wholes.
8) The catalyst need not be consumed in the process but can remain identifiable. Its identity need not be sacrificed when
it becomes part of a larger whole. The persistence of individual identities—many owners, occupants, and architects—
enriches the city.
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Cases are divided in two groups according to persistency of project as permanent and temporary. Permanent element
covers on building and construction. Temporary element means setting or usage in the moment of specified time.
1) Permanent cases: Although, impact of each project contributes an increasing of users and magnetize an investment,
they also have other role in particular. For example, multipurpose building and sport facilities with metaphor of catalyst
distinctive architecture serves as a landmark that can improve image of the area. However, all of cases are not imply to be
urban catalyst.
2) Temporary cases: Most of cases are traditional and contemporary events, which are held annually. Commercial, art and
music events are held occasional. Temporary setting or installation can be divided to three cases including street vendors,
Yantai (food stall) that appear at night; and container design project as pilot project. Although temporary cases can attract
people, improve local bene t and catalyze social integration, impact on urban fabric change or surrounding improvements
still lack of evidences.

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CATALYST AS A TOOL AND STRATEGY

 An important feature of urban catalysis, as we have seen, is that it is located at the edge of the process. Defining
whether architecture that is serving as catalyst of urban development has a corresponding position located in the
transition zone between different enclaves of the built environment or in a more figurative sense between different
social groups and cultures. The use of urban catalysis can provide an alternative model of urban development, in a
capital oriented urban development society, where the old models of urban design and architecture have failed to
provide adequate solutions to topics that concern the development of our cities.
 In some cases, urban catalysis as a new and alternative process of urban development was essential to provide solutions
offering an archive of best practice projects and a toolkit which could be adapted accordingly. It is important to
highlight that in this case the success of the catalyst is not only based in the formal and functional appeal of a single
project, or the will of the local and central government to make the project work.
 The process bases its success on the synergy which is created between stakeholders, private and public, architects, urban
planners, governmental bodies and citizens which want to achieve mutual benefit throughout the regeneration of a
specific public space. In this case, developing an information and resources pool is fundamental to understand common
goals and difficulties in order to realize a certain strategy.
 Urban catalysis is strategic because it is not dependent on single actions no matter how important or big they can be
considered but in a long-term plan which is able to be implemented and to re-structure itself in relation to context,
economy, social appeal and acceptance.

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CASE STUDY: GUGGENHEIM MUEUM, BILBAO, SPAIN
 The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American
architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. The museum was inaugurated on 18 October 1997
by King Juan Carlos I of Spain, with an exhibition of 250 contemporary works of art. Built alongside the Nervion River,
which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Cantabrian Sea, it is one of several museums belonging to the Solomon R.
Guggenheim Foundation and features permanent and visiting exhibits of works by Spanish and international artists. It is
one of the largest museums in Spain.
 One of the most admired works of contemporary architecture, the building has been hailed as a "signal moment in the
architectural culture", because it represents "one of those rare moments when critics, academics, and the general public
were all completely united about something", according to architectural critic Paul Goldberger. The museum was the
building most frequently named as one of the most important works completed since 1980 in the 2010 World
Architecture Survey among architecture experts.
 The museum was opened 23 years ago this month, by the king and queen of Spain, since when it has become the most
influential building of modern times. It has given its name to the “Bilbao effect” – a phenomenon whereby cultural
investment plus showy architecture is supposed to equal economic uplift for cities down on their luck. It is the father of
“iconic” architecture, the prolific progenitor of countless odd-shaped buildings the world over. Yet rarely, if ever, have
the myriad wannabe Bilbaos matched the original. This is probably because it came about through a coincidence of
conditions that is unlikely to happen again.

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 In Spain, in the bubble years, cities became particularly
fond of monuments whose appearance outran their
content, architectural dumb blondes by Santiago
Calatrava or Oscar Niemeyer or Peter Eisenman that
looked especially redundant when the crash came. In the
other type, private developers use funny shapes as
marketing tools for their towers – see the skylines of
Dubai or many Chinese cities, or London’s car boot sale
of domestic gadgets.
 What both approaches, public and private, have in
common is the use of spectacle to distract attention.
Public authorities might not want you to notice that
their regeneration plans are flimsy. Developers typically
use eye-catching design to justify their stretching of
planning restrictions, or to obscure the fundamental
sameness and ordinariness of their products, or to sell
buildings before they are realised – in some cases too to
deodorise the dirty money that pays for the projects.

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 The use of spectacle was also the basis of the most
sustained critique of the generally lauded Guggenheim, that
its powerful look makes it a poor setting for art. For the
critic Hal Foster, speaking in Sydney Pollack’s
film Sketches of Frank Gehry, the building trumps the art it
is supposed to serve: “he’s given his clients too much of
what they want, a sublime space that overwhelms the
viewer, a spectacular image that can circulate through the
media and around the world as brand”.
 The museum was opened as part of a revitalization effort
for the city of Bilbao. Almost immediately after its opening,
the Guggenheim Bilbao became a popular tourist attraction,
drawing visitors from around the globe. In its first three
years, almost 4 million tourists visited the museum, helping
to generate about €500 million in economic activity. The
regional council estimated that the money visitors spent on
hotels, restaurants, shops and transport allowed it to collect
€100 million in taxes, which more than paid for the
building cost.

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 The so-called "Bilbao effect" refers to how the museum
transformed the city. The term, however, has also been
employed by critics who have denounced the museum
as a symbol of gentrification and cultural
imperialism. The Wall Street Journal suggested that the
Bilbao effect should be called the Bilbao anomaly, "for
the iconic chemistry between the design of building, its
image and the public turns out to be rather rare.“
 What impact has the development had? It has surpassed
all expectations not only as a work of Art but also as a
catalyst for development. The museum drew 4.5 million
visitors between 1997 and 2001. They have spent
money on accommodation and restaurants that, in turn,
has had an impact on the commercial sector of the
economy. It is estimated that the museum has added an
additional 660 million Euros to the Gross Domestic
Product and 117 million to the annual tax base of the
city. Over 4000 new jobs have been directly attributed
to the development of the museum (Vidarte, 2002).
More than anything it has changed the image of the city
in the world's eyes.

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 The investment by the Basque government has reversed
the economic decline of Bilbao. The city has been
transformed from a decaying industrial and port city
into a prestigious centre for the arts. It has, however,
focused on buildings and not on the quality of the public
spaces amongst them despite the new buildings,
including the Guggenheim, being designed to integrate
'into the city's urban structure’.
 The spaces lack any human-scale detail and contain no
activities that attract people to them. The blank walls of
the Guggenheim, for instance, result in no eyes on the
open space fronting it. This and such spaces have
become havens for negative behaviour. An opportunity
for good detailed urban design that enhances the life of
the city has been lost. The space in front of the
Guggenheim now houses Jeff Koon's mammoth 'Puppy'
that helps reduce its visual size.

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SUMMARY
In summary, the main function of the urban catalyst is to inspire and lead the construction of the city, and promote
sustained, gradual development of urban structure. To introduce the urban catalyst concept in the revitalization of the
historic urban quarter can be used to illustrate the impact of the originally independent urban development to the
conservation of historic urban quarters. It is not only the impact on the surrounding environment from a single
conservation project, but also a potential chain reaction of the project in historic urban quarters. In fact, this is a higher
level to reflect the issue of the revitalization of historic urban quarter, but also a manifestation of the role of the urban
catalyst.
The revitalization and development of the historic district is a paradox complementary. If it says that the revitalization
based on respect of the city culture is the basis, then a right update is an extension of the revitalization. It is the inheritance
of the urban context and the hope of the revival of the historic urban quarter. The urban catalysts strategy can thus provide
the possibility of a combination of two issues. The next chapter will focus on discussion of catalytic strategies based on the
revitalization of the historic urban quarter.

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 TRANSIT
METROPOLIS

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 A transit metropolis is an urbanized region with high-
quality public transportation services & settlement
patterns that are conducive to riding public transit.
 While transit villages & transit-oriented developments
focus on creating compact, mixed-use neighborhoods
around rail stations, transit metropolises represent a
regional constellation of TODs that benefit from having
both trip origins & destinations oriented to public
transport stations.
 Transit metropolis & TOD are among the planning
strategies being introduced to help reserve ridership
losses & advance more sustainable patterns of urban
development.

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 In an effort to reduce mounting traffic congestion problems & improve environmental conditions, a number of Chinese
megacities, including Beijing and Shenzhen, have embraced the transit metropolis model for guiding urban growth and
public – transport investment decisions.
 Transit metropolises recognize that one or two TODs as islands in a sea of automobile-oriented development (AOD)
will do little to get people out of cars & into trains and buses. Only when TODs are organized along linear corridors, as
in Stockholm and Copenhagen, and Curitiba, or inter-connected by high-capacity transit at a regional scale can they
significantly reduce car-dependence and improve environmental conditions.

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PRINCIPLES
 Quality public transit: Public transit is
strongly linked to urban development.
High quality, convenient transport depends
on dense & connected neighborhoods. The
goal of a transport system is to connect a
high number of riders with the city in a
comfortable, efficient, and affordable way.
 Active transport: The interests of
pedestrians and cyclists should be at the
heart of urban planning. Decision-making
should shift residents – particularly car
users – to active transport. Many
commuters already take two non-motorized
trips on a daily basis by walking to and
from transit hubs to their homes or cars. It
is important to build on this and encourage
non-motorized transport holistically.
 Car use management: Car use and
parking policies play an important role in
creating a safe, human-oriented urban
environment. Since the 1980s, cars have
dominated cities. Despite individual car
trips accounting for 27.4% of all urban
trips (or 36% in cities with over 1 million
residents), car infrastructure is supported
with four times the amount of investment
that public transit receives.
 Mixed use neighborhoods: A mixture of
land uses enhances the local economy by
densifying & diversifying the design of the
community. Mixed-use neighborhoods
favor short trips by foot or bike. Similarly,
buildings should minimize how much
energy & water they consume and require
for building & maintenance.
 Neighborhood centers & vibrant ground
floors: A built environment with adequate
public space promotes social interaction
between residents. Sustainable urban
communities must be sufficiently dense &
contain a variety of uses that are
complementary to residential life. Public
spaces should be connected to the urban
transport network & serve as vibrant,
human-centered places of activity.
 Community participation & collective
identity: Community participation is
essential to building a vibrant, inclusive
neighborhood that is safe & equitable.
Stimulating community participation
creates a more equitable, harmonious
relationship between varying social groups
living in the same area. Respecting the
unique identity of local communities,
results in a higher share of residents
engaging in civic, cultural, and economic
activities, generating a sense of belonging
& ownership of the city.
 Public spaces: The purpose of public
space is not only to enhance public life &
social interaction, but also to provide a safe
environment for pedestrians & cyclists.
Public space is the place of encounter,
exchange, and circulation within a
community. All individuals have the right
to access public spaces, regardless of
personal, social, or economic condition.
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 Transit investment has double the economic benefit to a city
than does highway investment. It can enable a city to use
market forces to increase densities near stations, where most
services are located, thus creating more efficient sub-centers
and minimizing sprawl.
 Transit enables a city to be more corridor-oriented, making it
easier to provide infrastructure.
 Transit enhances the overall economic efficiency of a city;
denser cities with less car use and more transit use spend a
lower proportion of their gross regional product or wealth on
passenger transportation.
 Transit oriented development is also a major solution to the
serious and growing problems of climate change and global
energy security by creating dense, walkable communities that
greatly reduce the need for driving and energy consumption.
This type of living arrangement can reduce driving by up to
85%.
 TOD is rapidly sweeping the nation with the creation of
exciting people places in city after city. The public has
embraced the concept across the nation as the most desirable
places to live, work, and play. Real estate developers have
quickly followed to meet the high demand for quality urban 20
places served by rail systems.
FACTORS DRIVING THE TREND

 Rapidly growing, mind-numbing traffic congestion

nation-wide
 Growing distaste for suburbia and fry-pit strip
development
 Growing desire for quality urban lifestyle
 Growing desire for more walkable lifestyles away from
traffic
 Changes in family structures: more singles, empty-
nesters, etc
 Growing national support for Smart Growth
 New focus of Federal policy

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COMPONENTS
 Walkable design with pedestrian as the highest priority
 Train station as prominent feature of town centre
 Public square fronting train station
 A regional node containing a mixture of uses in close
proximity (office, residential, retail, civic)
 High density, walkable district within 10-minute walk
circle surrounding train station
 Collector support transit systems including streetcar,
light rail, and buses, etc
 Designed to include the easy use of bicycles and
scooters as daily support transport
 Large ride-in bicycle parking areas within stations
 Bikeshare rental system and bikeway network
integrated into stations
 Reduced and managed parking inside 10-minute walk
circle around town centre/train station
 Specialized retail at stations serving commuters and
locals including cafes, grocery, dry cleaners
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BENEFITS
 Higher quality of life with better places to live, work,
and play
 Greater mobility with ease of moving around
 Increased transit ridership
 Reduced traffic congestion, car accidents and injuries
 Reduced household spending on transportation,
resulting in more affordable housing
 Healthier lifestyle with more walking, and less stress
 Higher, more stable property values
 Increased foot traffic and customers for area businesses
 Greatly reduced dependence on foreign oil, reduced
pollution and environmental damage
 Reduced incentive to sprawl, increased incentive for
compact development
 Less expensive than building roads and sprawl
 Enhanced ability to maintain economic competitiveness
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CASE STUDY: SINGAPORE
 The city-state of Singapore is internationally renowned for its
successful integration of transit and regional development, placing the
urbanized island of 5.1 million inhabitants on a sustainable pathway
both economically and environmentally. Its transformation over the
post–World War II period from a backwater port awash in third-world
poverty to a dynamic, modern, industrialized city-state has been
remarkable.
 As part of a national economic development strategy, Singapore has
embraced Scandinavian planning principles that call for radial corridors
that interconnect the central core with master-planned new towns. Its
structure plan, called the Constellation Plan, looks like a constellation
of satellite “planets,” or new towns, that surround the central core,
interspersed by protective greenbelts and interlaced by high-capacity,
high-performance rail transit. Radial rail links interconnect Singapore’s
high-rise urban core with the hierarchy of subcentres, and a looping mix
of heavy and light rail lines connects the subcentres.
 Singapore adopted the approach of building new towns that are not
independent, self-contained units but rather nodes with specialized
functions that interact with and depend on one another. Some satellite
centres are primarily industrial estates, others are predominantly
dormitory communities; most are mixed-use enclaves.
 About three-quarters of residents of master-planned new towns work
outside their town. Most, however, commute within the radial corridor
that connects their town to Singapore’s central business district. Travel
is thus predominantly within, not between, rail-served corridors. The
dispersal of mixed land uses along corridors has created two-way travel
flows and spread travel demand more evenly throughout the day. 24
 Singapore’s progressive “transit first” policies complement its transit-oriented “Constellation Plan”. The city has
introduced a three-tier fiscal program that comes as close to “getting the prices right” within the urban transport sector
as any city in the world.
 The first tier of charges is subscription fees for owning a car. Made up of high registration fees, import duties for
automobile purchases, and a licensing surcharge based on a quota system (a certificate of entitlement that is indexed to
congestion levels), these charges principally cover the fixed costs associated with providing basic levels of road
infrastructure and parking facilities.
 The second tier of charges is use related, in the form of fuel taxes and parking fees. These charges cover the incremental
costs for scaling road capacity to traffic volumes and maintaining roadway infrastructure.
 The third set of charges—in the form of real-time ERP—forces motorists to internalize the externalities they impose
when using their cars during peak hours. Fees fluctuate according to congestion levels, forcing motorists to bear some
of the costs they impose on others in the form of time delays and air pollution.
 Within a month of initiating ERP in 1998, traffic along a main thoroughfare fell 15% and average rush hour speeds rose
from 36 to 58 kms per hour. Vehicle quotas, congestion prices, and an assortment of fees and surtaxes (which add as
much as 150% to a car’s open market value) have reduced the annual growth of Singapore’s vehicle population from
6% in 1997 to less than 3% in 2010—a remarkable achievement for a city in which per capita incomes have risen faster
over the past two decades than virtually anywhere in the world.

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 Charging motorists more to own and use cars is but one form of transportation demand management (TDM) found in
Singapore. As in Europe, car sharing has gained a foothold in Singapore, the only Asian city where this is the case.
Singapore also has an off-peak vehicle licensing scheme that allows vehicles holding such licenses to be used only
during the morning and evening off-peak periods Mondays through Saturday and any time Sunday.
 Although higher prices and TDM have boosted transit usage, their influences are being eclipsed by rising income, which
continues to push up Singapore’s rates of car ownership and motorization. Singapore has among the most affordable
housing (thanks to government provisions of mass-produced units), freeing up personal income for the second most
costly durable good purchased by households, the private car. In the early 1990s, the ratio of the average housing price
to average annual household income (2.3) was far lower than the ratio of the average price of a new car to income (3.7).
 Rising congestion is reflected by statistics on the density of cars on land constrained Singapore’s fairly fixed supply of
road supply. In 1995 (the year the vehicle quota system was introduced), the number of vehicles per km of road was
180; by 2010, the figure had risen to 250. Car ownership increased by only 11% between 2000 and 2005; between 2005
and 2010, it increased 39%.
 In the face of this rapid rise in car ownership, Singapore is turning to higher congestion tolls as a way to temper
motorization.

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 Singapore’s centralized form of governance has allowed land development and transit services, which are overseen by
different authorities (the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Land Transport Authority), to be closely coordinated,
both institutionally and financially. Revenues generated from high vehicle ownership and usage charges, for instance,
go to the general treasury, which channels them into vastly enhanced and expanded transit services as well as the
construction of the armature of rail TODs (for example, sidewalk networks, civic squares, bus staging areas).
 Because of the island-state’s world-class transit service offerings and TOD built form, congestion tolls are politically
possible, as for a significant share of trips, travel times are lower using public transit than private cars. of 8.9 million
daily motorized trips made in Singapore in 2010, 4.5 million were by rail or bus transit (Singapore MRT 2011). Long-
range planning goals call for raising this share to two-thirds.
 The role of rail transit in capturing larger shares of motorized trips has increased, and it is slated to continue to do so in
coming years. The length of Singapore’s world-class rapid transit system more than doubled, to 138 kms in 2011 from
67 kms in 1990, leading to a doubling of ridership, to nearly 2 million riders a day, from a little under 1 million in 1998.
In 1999, Singapore added automated light rail services to the mix, with trackage increasing from 8 kms in 1999 to 29
kms in 2010.
 Bus ridership in 2011 was only 1.5 times higher than total rail ridership, down from 3 times higher than rail in 1998.
Singapore’s latest land transport master plan, released in 2008, embraces “making public transport a choice mode” and
“managing road usage” as strategic thrusts toward retaining its status as a world-class transit metropolis.

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 COMMUNITY
PARTICIPATION
Community participation is provided and facilitated by
various legal provisions. In many countries, constitution
provides the basic framework for empowerment of both the
urban local government and the citizens. The mechanism of
creation of Wards Committees, local groups, self help groups
etc., provides the structure for citizens participation.
Institutions of local government are highly participatory,
primarily by virtue of their close interface with local
communities. It enables ownership of local development
initiatives, which contributes to successful implementation of
local development initiatives.

Community participation aims at involving the citizens in

municipal functions e.g., setting priorities, budgeting
provisions, etc. They provide for the participation of citizens
in the decision-making process on local issues.

The term community participation is also known as public

participation. It can be understood as the involvement of
people in the process of decision making. Here, decisions are
those planning, political, administrative or any other kind of
decisions that are related to the people directly or indirectly.
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 Participation, in order to be meaningful, requires institutional capacity of the local governments to come up to the
aspirations of local communities. Fiscal strength constitutes the most important parameter of institutional capacity.
Citizen and Community participation, therefore becomes an imperative in strengthening fiscal strength of local
government through generation of local government revenue and efficient allocation of the locally raised resources to
various local development initiatives.
 Generally public participation seeks and facilitates the involvement of those potentially affected by or interested in a
decision. The principle of public participation holds that those who are affected by a decision have a right to be involved
in the decision-making process. Public participation implies that the public’s contribution will influence the decision.
 In a democratic region, public participation plays a vital role for peoples’ empowerment.
o Public participation is part of “people centred” or “human centric” principles.
o Public participation is advanced by the humanist movements and in the context of postmodernism.
o Public participation may be advanced as part of a “people first” paradigm shift. In this case, it is argued that
whether it can sustain productive and durable change.
 Community participation can contribute greatly to the effectiveness and efficiency of a programme; the crucial factor in
its success is the attitude of agency staff in the field. If staff do not treat people with respect or are seen to favour
particular individuals or groups within a community, this can have a highly destructive effect on participation. For this
reason it is important to identify key representatives and groups within the affected population early.

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AIMS of COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
 The community develops self-reliance
 The community develops critical awareness
 The community develops problem solving skills

DIMENSIONS of COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

 Community participations has three dimensions;
 Involvement of all those affected in decision making about what should be done and how
 Mass contribution to the development efforts i.e to the implementation of decision
 Sharing in the benefits of the programme (World Bank, 1978).

BENEFITS of COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

 Justification for community participation come from a variety of sources, including lessons learned from the failures of
conventional top-down planning as well as the achievement of community based programmes.

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TYPES of COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
Participation can be viewed from different perspectives and there are several types of participation. They include:
 Passive Participation: People participate by being told what is going to happen or has already happened through
unilateral announcement by administration.
 Participation in Information Giving: People participate by answering questions posted by extractive researchers using
questionnaire surveys or similar approaches and do not have the opportunity to influence proceedings.
 Participation by Consultation: People participate by being consulted, and external people listen to views and may
modify these in the light of people’s responses but do not involve them in decision-making.
 Participation for Material Incentives: People participate by providing resources, for example labour, in return for
food, cash, or other material incentives, yet people have no stake in prolonging activities when the incentives end.
 Functional Participation: People participate by forming groups to meet predetermined objectives related to the project
after major decisions have been made.
 Interactive Participation: People participate in joint analysis, development of action plans, and formation or
strengthening of local institutions.
 Self-mobilisation: People participate by taking initiatives independent of external institutions to change systems. They
develop contacts with external institutions for resources and the technical advice they need, but retain control over how
resources are used.

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INCENTIVES & DISINCENTIVES of COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
INCENTIVES
The following are some of the main reasons why people are usually
willing to participate in humanitarian programmes:
 Community participation motivates people to work together —
people feel a sense of community and recognise the benefits of their
involvement.
 Social, religious or traditional obligations for mutual help Genuine
community participation — people see a genuine opportunity to
better their own lives and for the community as a whole
 Remuneration in cash or kind
There are often strong genuine reasons why people wish to participate in
programmes. All too often aid workers assume that people will only do
anything for remuneration and have no genuine concern for their own
predicament or that of the community as a whole. This is often the result
of the actions of the agency itself, in throwing money or food at
community members without meaningful dialogue or consultation.
Remuneration is an acceptable incentive but is usually not the only, or
even the primary, motivation.
DISINCENTIVES
The following are some of the main reasons why individuals and/or
community may be reluctant to take part in community participation:
 An unfair distribution of work or benefits amongst members of the
community
 A highly individualistic society where there is little or no sense of
community
 The feeling that the government or agency should provide the
facilities
 Agency treatment of community members — if people are treated as
being helpless they are more likely to act as if they are
Generally, people are ready and willing to participate; the biggest
disincentive to this is probably the attitude and actions of the agency
concerned. Treating people with respect, listening to them and learning
from them will go a long way toward building a successful programme;
it will also save time and resources in the long run and contribute greatly
to programme sustainability. Fieldworkers who expect members of the
affected community to be grateful for their presence without recognising
and empathising with them as people may satisfy their own egos but will
have little other positive effect.
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FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEGREE of COMMUNITY
PARTICIPATION POSITIVELY
 Relevance and accountability
 Education status of the community
 Community infrastructure (including communication network)
 Economic factors
 Social and cultural factors
 The level of intersectoral collaboration
 Suppression of involvement and initiative by projects which create dependency
 Political stability
 Good leadership
 Motivated community
 A sense of ownership
 Locally available resources

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COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS
TOP-DOWN – APPROACH
 In the traditional approach, the decisions are made by senior persons, the so called “experts”. Research may be carried
out through surveys to what the community thinks or believes to be the problem, but in the end it’s usually the health
workers who makes the decisions on what goes into the programme based on medically-defined needs.
BOTTOM-UP – APPROACH
 In this approach members of the community make decisions.

METHODS USED IN RAPID ASSESSMENT of SITUATIONS

 Daily routine schedule
 Seasonal calendar
 Time trends
 Direct observation
 Transect walk
 Venn diagram
 Key informants interviews of individuals from the community
 Focus group discussion (FGD)
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NEED FOR COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC PLANNING
 Participation is important for a healthy representative democracy. Involving citizens in decisions that affect them locally is one way to
renew public trust and return credibility and legitimacy to all levels of government.
 While participation has long been part of the tradition of planning, we continuously need to find new ways to actively engage citizens
in decision making, and part of this process is helping citizens understand the role they can play in deciding their own futures. In other
words, citizens come to understand they have a contribution to make, and therefore become full participants in the process, rather than
waiting to see What programs and services they will receive for their tax dollars.
 A carefully constructed participation program encourages an open exchange of information and ideas. This requires that planners
consider alternate opinions, especially those of underserved or underrepresented minority, low income, elderly, and disabled
populations. Together the participants establish a collective vision for the future, and share responsibility for problems as well as their
solutions.
 Collaborative problem solving generally can be accomplished with less confrontation and fewer hurdles, since participants understand
what opportunities are available and also whatever resource or other constraints must be considered.
 Involving citizens also assures that the solutions (and possibly some very creative or unconventional solutions) are tailored to local
needs.
 State planning enabling legislation often provides for public input regarding land use and other decisions.
 The need to shift the emphasis from the individual to the community. This is because many influences on a behaviour are at the
community level and not under the control of individuals, these include; social pressure from other people through norms, shared
culture, and the local social economic situation.
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Citizen and Community participation Can Be Facilitated in Following Ways:
 By stressing the benefits to be gained. This will work only so long then the benefits must become obvious. The
intangible benefits as well as the tangible should be emphasized. These are frequently omitted and are, by far, the true
gains Of community action.
 By adopting online participating model, the internet facilitates sharing of the key ingredient of participation -
information - to assist vision formation, informed decision-making, scenario-building and the like.
 With an appropriate organizational structure available for expressing interest. This may require organizing a more
neutral group than may be in existence in a community. However, in some situations, existing groups are adequate.
Situation judgment is required by persons with appropriate experience and competency.
 By helping citizens find positive ways to respond when their way of life is threatened. Most people want to act
responsibly. use these situations to help people find positive ways to deal with threatening predicaments.
 By stressing the commitment or obligation each of us have toward improving the community. However, people will not
continue to participate unless the experience is rewarding, or at least not too distasteful.
 In crisis situations have long been successfully used as a basis for gaining citizen participation. Crises should not be
invented but, if they exist, they become powerful motivation. The closing of a major plant, closing of a school, loss of
train service, and a major drug problem are examples of threats to a people's way of life that have served as rallying
points for citizen participation.
 The most positive of all approaches to facilitate greater participation is to provide citizens with better knowledge.
Obviously, the knowledge has to be in their value system. When it is, experience shows they usually act accordingly.
Adequate time and means Of diffusing the new knowledge must be employed for satisfactory results.
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DRAWING ON LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
Communities often have detailed knowledge about their surroundings. It makes sense to involve communities in making
plans because they know local conditions and the possibilities for change.

MAKING PROGRAMMES LOCALLY RELEVANT AND ACCEPTABLE

If the community is involved in choosing priorities and deciding on plans, it is much more likely to become involved in
the programme and take up the services.

DEVELOPING SELF-RELIANCE, SELF CONFIDENCE, EMPOWERMENT AND PROBLEM – SOLVING

SKILLS.
The enthusiasm that comes from community participation can lead to a greater sense of self-reliance for the future e.g.
communities are usually willing to participate in water a programme because they see that benefits will come. The
feeling of community solidarity and self-reliance from participating in decisions over, their own future through a water
project can lead to future activities.

BETTER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORKERS AND COMMUNITY

Community participation leads to a better relationship between the community and the health workers instead of a servant
master relationship, there is trust and partnership.
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TYPES OF COMMUNITY GROUPS

SELF-HELP GROUPS
Run by people for their own benefits e.g. cooperatives, church saccos etc
PRESSURE GROUPS
A group of self-appointed citizens taking action on what they see to be the interests of the whole community putting on
pressure to improve the school, get garbage collected, do something about a dangerous road etc.
TRADITIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
E.g Njuri Njeke in (Meru), these are well established groups, usually meeting the needs of a particular section of the
community, others rotary, club, mothers union parent-teacher associations, and church groups.
WELFARE GROUPS
Exist to improve the welfare of a group; merry-go-round, feeding programmes etc.

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CONCLUSION
Based on the above analysis, the following principles are offered for community participation to become fair and effective:
1) establish an independent agency backed by legislation to set the terms of reference for community participation;
2) accord the agency the legislative competence to guarantee participation and input from disadvantaged and minority groups;
3) provide guidelines backed by legislation for the management and organisation of community participation forums;
4) provide funding for appropriate expert input and resources to enable the participatory forums to carry out the tasks required of them.
Finally this study implies that the public participation process for the SMS was still very much dominated by the interests of executive
government with little real and effective input from disadvantaged and minority groups.

If community participation is to be taken seriously in urban planning decision-making and to be inclusive of disadvantaged and minority
groups, major rethinking is required with respect to the “consultation”, or participation process. This will require the terms of reference to
be very carefully worked out and the procedures, methods, and techniques for running the actual forums to be clearly set down at the
outset. While executive government by definition will always control the process, the implementation of the legislation and regulations is
the responsibility of the bureaucracy - that is, the role of expert panels, the selection of representatives from government agencies and non-
government organisations, the management of community forums, and the methods to limit control over the process by elite groups are in
the domain of bureaucracy. These are all matters that require serious consideration from the part of bureaucrats if community participation
is to work effectively and to be accorded the public legitimacy it requires.

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THE END.
THANK YOU.

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