Words (in)action: the orchestration of participation in planning through Statements of Community Involvement in England

Drawing on empirical material this article examines the political work enacted through the seemingly mundane procedures and texts that shape planning practice and community participation, yet which reflect the exercise of different forms of power. Through application of Foucauldian power theory, the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTown planning review Vol. 94; no. 5; pp. 491 - 512
Main Authors Dobson, Mark, Parker, Gavin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Liverpool Liverpool University Press 01.09.2023
Subjects
Citizen participation
Community involvement
Community participation
Community planning
Community relations
Inscriptions
Local authorities
Power
Texts
Urban planning
participation
planning
ideology
contingency
power
text
community
governance
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Summary:Drawing on empirical material this article examines the political work enacted through the seemingly mundane procedures and texts that shape planning practice and community participation, yet which reflect the exercise of different forms of power. Through application of Foucauldian power theory, the article shows how the design and the specificities of inscription of Statements of Community Involvement (SCIs) reflect institutional resistance to mandated participation, such that the promise of participation inputs are held contingent. This assessment highlights how local authorities rarely commit to participatory activity beyond statutorily defined requirements and how such texts structure community relations on this basis. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0.
ISSN:0041-0020
1478-341X
DOI:10.3828/tpr.2023.6