Towards social meaningful participation

Towards social meaningful participation: An explorative study into meaningful participation processes becoming socially sustainable in mixed-use urban area developments

Yeh, Wanchy (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)

Chen, Yawei (mentor)
van Bortel, Gerard (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Management in the Built Environment

2020-06-24

During the last decade, the acknowledgement for sustainability has arisen to meet the demands for then and future generations. Thereby, the attention has shifted to incorporate the civic demands into urban planning processes. By 2021, a mandatory integration of participation will be obliged from a governmental perspective due to the implementation of the new Environmental and Planning Act. Although there are many kinds of research on the theoretical part of the participation process, it is not yet clear which factors are essential for meaningful participation, while becoming socially sustainable as well. Besides, this study focuses on mixed-use (re)developments, where the configuration of actors is more diverse. Therefore, the main question of this research is: How can a meaningful public participation process be achieved in mixed-use (re)developments and thereby become socially sustainable? To answer the main question, a literature study and empirical study are conducted on participation processes in mixed-use area development. Two extremes of participation processes are selected for the case-studies: top-down and bottom-up. They give insight into the relationship between participation and social sustainability, the social relation of the affected public and the preconditions for meaningful participation in mixed-use areas. The conclusion of this study indicates factors as “observed mutual help”, “improvement of the willingness of affected public” and “transparency” as crucial elements overlapping the communicative planning approaches, preconditions and social sustainability.

social sustainability
meaningful public participation
affected public
mixed-use (re)development

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:002d307d-59a6-49a7-a5f9-55c6b5d93f27

Student theses

master thesis

© 2020 Wanchy Yeh