There are many expressions used to describe the involvement of users in decision making in the field of the built environment. What is the difference between them? Can anyone recommend reliable resources on the matter? Thank you!
Hi Deena, they are all related and depending on the discipline you work in and the cultural/academic background of the person you ask. They may use some of these terms interchangeably and mean different things.
In my experience from product and service design, participatory design means full participation of end-users in the design process from conception to final production. This involves co-research, co-ideation, co-design, and co-creation (or co-production). It's about devolving power and privilege from the designers to the end-users. I use the term end-users widely, it's essentially the people who will directly benefit from the outcome, e.g. users of a piece of technology, the audience of an experience, or the inhabitants of a new place.
Community participation is about the same thing but emphasises the community characteristic of the target group. So that could be a neighbourhood, or a community of people from the same background. Traditionally this has been more about consultation with the community, rather than empowerment of the community as equal voices. However, this is changing with the ascent of government and councils adopting service design approaches to planning and public services.
Collaborative planning seems to be more about consensus than letting the ideas come from the community. Again, I would put this in the "consultation" bracket. The final say is firmly in the hands of the planners/designers - they may genuinely want consensus, but are unlikely to compromise on their privilege to have the final say if consensus is not reached.
Because these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, you need to look at the motivation that underpins a particular project, and the methods used. Arnstein's ladder of citizen participation may help here. Avoid the tokenism, and if you want true participation, strive to be somewhere in the top third: https://www.gov.scot/resource/doc/49303/0122794.pdf
All the best
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