International Practice in Participatory Planning forum (launch event on 28 February 2012)
By John Tracey-White, RICS International Sustainable Development Advisor
Participatory approaches to planning are now widely promoted as alternatives to traditional top-down planning methods. Early examples of using participatory methods for planning village development started in the 1950s in the UK. During the 1970s and 1980s the application of the participatory techniques shifted to the international arena and became a key component of donor and NGO funded slum upgrading housing schemes and agricultural/rural development projects in English, French and Spanish speaking countries.
While they fell out of favour in the 1980s and 1990s, the methods have recently had something of a renaissance in local community planning and affordable housing projects in developed economies. Now various European countries have developed area based initiatives – the Kvarterloft approach in Denmark being a noteworthy example.
The workshop on the 28th February is an endeavour to gather together practitioners in the field of participatory planning (typically architects, surveyors, planners and social scientist) to compare their recent experiences of using the techniques in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and mainland Europe. It is the start of a new collaboration between RICS and the Prince’s Foundation, and other potential partners. This builds on the relationship already established between RICS and the Prince’s Foundation with development of the new Oxford University MSc. Course in Sustainable Urban Development.
The collaboration aims to centre around running further joint events focusing on international experience in designing and building communities, particularly addressing climate change, urban migration and poverty alleviation issues. Although the focus is primarily international the techniques are equally applicable to those involved with the 'Big Society' local planning concerns in the UK and other planning initiatives in European countries.
Papers presented at the events and practice material generated from joint research activities will be published as part of RICS Global Sustainability in Practice discussion paper series. A discussion forum has already been set up on LinkedIn, where members of the group can exchange views on the subject.