Policy, Planning, and People: Promoting Justice in Urban Development

Chapter 17. Beyond the Ladder: New Ideas about Resident Roles in Contemporary Community Development in the United States

Chapter 17 Beyond the Ladder: New Ideas About Resident Roles in Contemporary Community Development in the United States Rachel G. Bratt and Kenneth M. Reardon During the second half of the twentieth century, the role of residents in community development programs across the United States gained considerable attention as civil rights leaders and community activists pushed municipal governments and their federal partners to develop more participatory planning processes. This greater resident voice in community development programs was stimulated by the negative effects of many Urban Renewal programs as well as the launch of the War on Poverty in the early 1960s, with its requirement of “maximum feasible participation” by the poor. Sherry Arnstein’s seminal 1969 paper “A Ladder of Citizen Participation,” written during this period of growing interest in resident participation, has framed much of the subsequent discourse on this topic in the United States. Since that time individuals and community groups have become involved in public debates in ways that were not envisioned four decades ago. In addition , recent years have witnessed growing dissatisfaction and upheaval resulting from the deregulation of housing and financial markets. This has been accompanied by a precipitous decline in public confidence in the ability of elites to manage either the economy or the delivery of basic government services. It is timely, therefore, to reconsider the role residents should play in the planning of a diverse set of public initiatives. By revisiting the Arnstein 13423-Policy Planning and People_Carmon1.indd 356 3/14/13 9:48 AM 357 Beyond the Ladder Ladder, we hope the next generation of planning students will be better able to appreciate the range of strategies through which residents can meaningfully participate in shaping their own future. This chapter focuses on community development rather than the broader spectrum of planning activities for a number of reasons. First, because we are using the Arnstein Ladder, it is logical to stick to community development programs, since this was her focus. Second, the bulk of the planning literature on participation is concentrated in community development. Finally, an examination of resident participation in a single planning subfield is far more manageable for a paper, as opposed to a full treatment of the history/lessons of participation in planning, which would require a book. By tracing forty years of community development practice, and the dramatic changes in context in which this practice has taken place, we hope to offer a new theoretical understanding of the role of residents in community development. The over-arching goal is to ensure that the next generation of planners looks to the needs of residents, especially those of the poor, as the focus of future urban policy debates and community development practice; appreciate the breadth and complexity of the strategies that foster resident participation; and reflect on how their roles can interact with and support resident initiatives. Definitions A number of phrases have been used to refer to the role residents play in community development. Most of the participation literature uses the word “citizen.” Since many residents in countries throughout the world are not citizens , and many of these are poor and of color, we do not want to exclude these groups from a role in planning initiatives, even at a rhetorical level. Therefore, we feel that “resident” is a more inclusive term than “citizen” when discussing participation in planning. We prefer this term to the more inclusive “public participation,” since our focus is on the individuals living in a particular community, as opposed to a broader array of stakeholders. In most of this chapter, therefore, we use the term “resident participation.” However, in discussing Arnstein’s Ladder and other relevant literature, we use the language of the author, which is typically “citizen participation.” Arnstein defines citizen participation as a “categorical term for citizen power”: 13423-Policy Planning and People_Carmon1.indd 357 3/14/13 9:48 AM 358 Rachel G. Bratt and Kenneth M. Reardon It is the redistribution of power that enables the have-not citizens, presently excluded from the political and economic processes, to be deliberately included in the future. It is the strategy by which the have-nots join in determining how information is shared, goals and policies are set, tax resources are allocated, programs are operated, and benefits like contracts and patronage are parceled out. (216) Clearly, this definition includes the desired end-result of participation, more equitable policy outcomes, not simply the...