TY - JOUR
T1 - I plan, you participate: A southern view of community participation in urban Australia
AU - Lahiri-Dutt, Kuntala
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - Community participation, an imperative ingredient in any intervention, in spite of all the recent emphasis, it has continued to remain a form of collective bargaining. Instead of reversing its position in face of community opposition, governments are tempted to reinforce it by seeking the scientific opinion from experts. By favouring this opinion as the rational approach, the government undermines the essence of community participation. To illustrate this point, the paper traces the recent history of M5 East Motorway Tunnel Exhaust Stock located in a residential area of Sydney. I show how, between two modes of knowledge systems of two groups opposing each other, a privileging process subordinates citizens' preferences and understandings to those held by experts. Thus the process of participation becomes circumscribed by the government's implicit preferences that are imposed on the community in the name of a more 'scientific' view irrespective of citizen opinions.
AB - Community participation, an imperative ingredient in any intervention, in spite of all the recent emphasis, it has continued to remain a form of collective bargaining. Instead of reversing its position in face of community opposition, governments are tempted to reinforce it by seeking the scientific opinion from experts. By favouring this opinion as the rational approach, the government undermines the essence of community participation. To illustrate this point, the paper traces the recent history of M5 East Motorway Tunnel Exhaust Stock located in a residential area of Sydney. I show how, between two modes of knowledge systems of two groups opposing each other, a privileging process subordinates citizens' preferences and understandings to those held by experts. Thus the process of participation becomes circumscribed by the government's implicit preferences that are imposed on the community in the name of a more 'scientific' view irrespective of citizen opinions.
U2 - 10.1093/cdj/39.1.13
DO - 10.1093/cdj/39.1.13
M3 - Article
SN - 0010-3802
VL - 39
SP - 13
EP - 28
JO - Community Development Journal
JF - Community Development Journal
IS - 1
ER -