Four perspectives on political participation in the city

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed an increasing public demand for an involvement. This paper explores four alternative perspectives on participation – participation as co-operation, concession, incorporation and control. Using a case study from Guildford England, it is demonstrated that local government uses each of these to modulate its relations with community groups. As a consequence, participation ceases to be simply a device to decentralize power and promote self-determination by community groups in the planning and design of the environment, but instead becomes a tool of urban management.