INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR GEO-INFORMATION SCIENCE AND EARTH OBSERVATION
PGIS & P- Mapping in PSP
Participatory Spatial Planningand Good Governance
Rationale, Principles, Characteristics, Operationalisation
Participation means different things to different people
‘Good Governance’
Accountability - transparency & visibility of government decisions and policies, accountability mechanisms, responsiveness to lower levels community involvement a means to generate
accountability.
Accountability not the end in itself, a means of supporting higher-level social-political goals of: Legitimacy, Participation Respect for Rights, Empowerment Equity (not simply, equality), and Competence (including efficiency).
UNDP - Good Governance
UNDP (1997) core characteristics of GG:
Participation; Rule of law; Transparency;
Responsiveness; Consensus-orientation;
Equity; Effectiveness and efficiency;
Accountability; Legitimacy; Strategic
Vision; Resource Prudence; Ecological
Soundness; Empowering and Enabling;
Spatially grounded in communities.
Historical Phases of “Participation”
"Self-help" schemes 1960s-1970s Labour inputs of local people in land clearing, tree
planting, ditch digging, etc., "blood & sweat".
Needs Assessment late 1970s-1980s Problem identification & prioritising by local people.
Identification of potential Solutions 1990s Identification of solutions by local people, Incl. use indigenous / local knowledge
“Decentralisation”– towards Participation
De-concentration of administrative authority. Delegation of decision-making authority. Devolution of decision-making powers.and: De-institutionalise: transfer public functions
outside of govt. authority to non-governmental or private sector bodies, i.e. privatise; or disengage to NGOs; or, devolve to local authority bodies.
Why ‘Participation.?
What are the strengths / positive points about Participatory (Neighbourhood or Community) Planning ?
Rationale for Participatory Planning
o Democratic decision-making + equity component.
o Local accountability.o Economic & Technical efficiency of activities .o mobilise under-utilised local physical, human,
institutional, and knowledge resources.o Policy impact (effectiveness) improved better
feedback – implementation & policy more adaptive & responsive to internal conditions.
o Strengthen understanding of local variability in natural & social ecology.
o Long/term view & stability of policy programmes, and commitments to sustainable management.
Intensity of Participation - “Ladder”
Information Sharing, communication between outsiders and local people,
primarily technical information, e.g. needs assessment.
Consultation Outsiders refer certain issues to local stakeholders, for
further details, or refinement, or e.g. for prioritising.
Involvement in Decision-making by all actors, Involve local people in decision-making, policy-setting.
Initiating Actions Initiatives of local people who are empowered
e.g. self-mobilisation to perform activities
Community Participation Purposes Continuum
Facilitate Collaborate Empower(Mediate)
LESS------------------------------------------------MOREEmphasis on self-reliance
Emphasis on action and collective actionEmphasis on internal process
Explicit recognition of specific socio-economic groups / actors
Requirement for political commitment from outside partiesEmphasis on bottom-up inputs to decision-making
"Participation as a process having its own inherent value –as an end in itself"
LESS------------------------------------------------MORE
What is wrong with Participation?
What are the deficiencies / weaknesses / problems with Participatory local planning
?
Obstacles to Participation in Spatial Planning. External political resistance to 'real' local empowerment. internal local holders of power will not give it up. breadth of needs, priorities, opinions, etc. between
actors in the local community is too wide.women especially are frequently excluded from early stages of decision-making, etc.
minorities - e.g. ethnic groups, castes, - are frequently excluded.
there is an absolute scarcity of resources to be shared - and, overall there is poverty.
unequal distribution of access to power - ultra-poor, elderly, children, handicapped, refugees, inarticulate.
serious time constraints involved in processes of participation.
participation may be costly.
Problems of Local Institutions
Local-level planning organs are not in policy-setting position; therefore difficult to advise policy-makers.
Influenced by local elites and politicians Limited Capacity of local staff – w.r.t. calibre,
commitment, (corruption), and continuity. Skills of govt. staff and NGO cadre less developed at
local level Local govt. officers normally subordinate to their
central offices. Ethnic, religious, caste, language conflicts often
found within the local level. National requirements to support national goals &
policies, even not in interests of local population, therefore locally unpopular.
Indicators for Assessing Participation
Target Groups' Role in Problem Identification, Design, Planning Part. in preparing proposal; & in project planning Indigenous knowledge in problem identification & prioritisation. Distribution of Part. between groups
Target Groups' Role during Implementation Financial contributions; Labour contributions ITK in identifying possible solutions or, Dependency on outside
expertise Distribution of Part. between target groups
Beneficiaries' Role in Continuation Continued use of ITK / or, dependency Degree of local ownership and control Flow of income from project Local initiatives for new projects
Village sketch mapping exercise with villagers
How to be Participatory?
What approaches and methods to encourage / promote a participatory planning approach
?
Instruments for Participation
"Top-Down" - Information Sharing untargeted, one-way dissemination:
Mass media, information dissemination Public meetings, public exhibitions
"Top-Down" - Consultation + Information Sharing more targeted, partially two-way information:
Public hearings Local Community meetings and workshops RRA methods
"Two-way' - Consultation + Information Sharing Public Fora; PRA methods; Focus groups, Interest groups
Instruments for Participation
"Bottom-up" - Decision-Making + Consultation + Information Sharing Initiating Actions
Advocacy planning Petitions; Elections Civil Action; Demonstrations PRA
"Stand Alone" - Initiating Actions instruments for Empowerment implementing participation within a community:
Social Mobilisation; animateurs, etc.
Local K is a key to PSP
Local Knowledge, IK, ITK, ISK
Local Knowledge is a resource that disadvantaged & marginalised groups control - whilst land, property, resources, labour are appropriated;
resource needing little investment for realisation; reflects capability, competence of local
community places community on equivalence with outsiders local knowledge is operational.
Identification / Selection of ‘Stakeholders’
Select by a consistent variable? – e.g. number of people involved, or economic power and/or economic vulnerability, or level of knowledge, or political influence?
Do parties identify and select themselves? – or are they “obvious” ?
How do categories of parties change with geographical scale?
Arguments for proactive, positive discrimination to support weaker, less articulate actors.
Gendered Space
Ignorance – (huh?) IK of resources & resource management
Invisibility – Spatial scale of women´s activities
Exclusion Women´s spaces , restricted spaces
Gendered ISK & Genderising GIS
GIS as ‘masculinist’, materialist positivist technology
handles only discrete, bounded, pre-defined units of analysis, and
unable to cope with ambiguity, fuzziness, abstract concepts or synthesis, and
straight-jacketing emotions and spiritual values. GIS is missing reflexivity, & ignoring qualitative
info “feminisation of GIS”. Hall 1996, Kwan 2002, …
Promoting 'Participation‘ in Geo-Information terms
Facilitation elicit local knowledge of ITK and NRM, school children assist with GPS, participatory
mapping, for baselines & on-going monitoring.
Collaboration [activities under ‘facilitation’], + e.g. participatory assessment of needs,
collaborative spatial problem analysis, joint prioritising of interventions, joint map legend
Empowerment [activities under collaboration], + importantly: “taking over” sustainably self-determination & local initiative in all stages.
Which is P-GIS?
P-GIS as form of ‘participatory spatial planning’ (PSP) which makes use of maps and GI output, especially GIS. Core is ‘degree of participation’ in planning, essential issues are: processes, activities, instruments,
and procedures that involve participation?
P-GIS is ‘doing (technical) GIS with some degree of people’s participation – Participation could be simply data collection, or , choice
of data inputs, data layers, analysis, data queries. Core activity is the GI outputs (maps, etc.),
Which is P-GIS?
P-GIS as form of ‘participatory planning’,
specifically, ‘participatory spatial planning’
(PSP), makes use of maps, GI output,
and especially GIS’.
Which is P-GIS?
Spatial planning can hardly not include maps, etc., though can be PP without maps, e.g. the PP of a school curriculum or a cultural policy.
Core element is the ‘participatory’ in PSP, what are the functions, processes, activities,
measures, instruments, procedures of spatial planning which involve participation?, and
what criteria and indicators to measure the presence & degree of participation?
Good Practice Sequence in PGIS
Pre Conditions
Purpose purpose purpose• Partnership• Positively discriminate• Power • Products• Participation is learning • Participation is slow• PRA principles – flexibility, innovative,
involved, triangulation
Reiteration
Check the Purpose – for whom?
Check Impacts and EffectsFor whose benefits? At whose costs?
Where does Power shift to / from?
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