participation

From the Field

Wind Power: Transition Without Debate

Leny Patinaux & translated by Oliver Waine - 9 February 2024

At a time when the construction of wind farms is regularly the subject of criticism and protests, Leny Patinaux...

From the Field

Resisting the Neoliberal City? The Popular Initiative in Berlin

Thomas Chevallier - 17 February 2023

Western representative democracy is in crisis. In response, direct democracy is emerging as a possible path to...

From the Field

Covid‑19 in China: A Civil Society in the Making

Beiyi Hu - 18 May 2021

Beiyi Hu examines responses to Covid‑19 in China, focusing on civil-society efforts at the social, political, and...

From the Field

Montreal’s Alleyways: A Laboratory for Democratic Life

Joëlle Zask & translated by Oliver Waine - 12 February 2021

The participation of a city’s inhabitants in democratic life begins with forms of everyday sociability and...

Reviews

The Just Transition, Economic Democracy, and the Green New Deal

Evan Casper-Futterman & Jason Spicer - 5 November 2019

Can participatory and economic democracy in the US support a Green New Deal? Evan Casper‑Futterman and Jason Spicer...

Reviews

Reclaiming the “Right to the City” Through Participatory Budgeting

Tyler James Olsen - 19 February 2019

Participatory budgeting is growing in many cities around the world. Can it become a tool for urban dwellers to...

From the Field

Saving Ivy Island: A Civil War in North Portland

Lauren Everett - 15 January 2019

Lauren Everett examines two different approaches by community activists confronting change in a tight-knit Portland...

Debates

Deafening Discord: Reclaiming Residents’ Anger in Working-Class Neighborhoods

Pierre Chabard & translated by Oliver Waine - 26 October 2018

We recently published an article showing how, in Roubaix in northern France, elected officials took steps to...

Debates

Silent Suppression: How Local Politicians Stifle Collective Action in Working-Class Neighborhoods

Julien Talpin & translated by Oliver Waine - 19 October 2018

Taking as its starting point a study of a neighborhood roundtable in the northern French city of Roubaix, this...

Essays

Institutional Roadblocks to Achieving Environmental Justice Through Public Participation: The Case of CSO Control in US Cities

Rebekah Breitzer - 24 January 2018

Rather than meaningfully involving representatives of environmental-justice communities in decisions about the...

From the Field

The Americanization of French social movements? Community organizing and its discontents in the banlieues

Julien Talpin - 29 June 2017

In this second of two articles, sociologist Julien Talpin discusses the importation to France of American...

From the Field

What’s the matter with the banlieues? Exploring the importation of the American community organizing tradition by French social movements

Julien Talpin - 22 June 2017

With the eclipse of the once-powerful Communist and Socialist Parties in France, and these parties’ traditional...

From the Field

Building a Multifaceted Campaign for Public Higher Education

Stephen Brier & Michael Fabricant - 4 October 2016

In their new book, Austerity Blues: Fighting for the Soul of Public Higher Education, Michael Fabricant and Stephen...

Debates

Climate Action Plans and the “Climate-Just” City

Cecelia Walsh-Russo - 27 September 2016

In the face of major climatic changes, more and more US cities are developing climate action plans. But while these...

From the Field

Civic Innovation and Creative Campaigns: How Fresh Ideas Are Compromising Local Democracy

Stephanie Savell & Gianpaolo Baiocchi & Elizabeth A. Bennett & Alissa Cordner & Peter Taylor Klein - 27 October 2015

The trend of civic innovation in contemporary activism relies much on modern tools of communication as a...

Debates

Social housing in Africa: a model to be (re)invented?

Alexandra Biehler & Armelle Choplin & Marie Morelle & translated by Oliver Waine - 16 October 2015

While the question of housing for working-class populations remains a recurrent issue in sub‑Saharan African cities,...

From the Field

The participatory production of temporary public spaces in times of crisis

Paula Orduña-Giró & Sébastien Jacquot & translated by Oliver Waine - 8 May 2015

Are participatory measures a viable solution when it comes to developing urban spaces in times of crisis? According...

From the Field

Participatory Budgeting in New York City

Celina Su - 1 December 2014

Over the last four years, participatory budgeting has spread from one to more than 45 cities in the US. Reporting...

Debates

The Localism Act in London: institutionalising urban divisions

Justinien Tribillon - 16 April 2014

By decentralising planning powers to local communities, the British Conservative government claims that they are...

Debates

Will local-government reform in London involve or abandon its citizens?

Martine Drozdz & translated by Oliver Waine - 3 July 2013

While the current financial crisis has compromised local authorities’ ability to deliver municipal services, the...

Debates

The Negotiated Urbanism of Grand Paris Express

Lara Belkind - 12 June 2013

In the fragmented context of Paris’s metropolitan and regional politics, the Grand Pari(s) design consultation and...

From the Field

Renovation and consultation: Parisian approaches to redeveloping public spaces

Bruno Gouyette & translated by Oliver Waine - 6 February 2013

When renovating its public spaces, how does the city of Paris implement consultation processes required by French...

Essays

Participatory democracy in France: subsumed by local politics

Rémi Lefebvre & translated by Oliver Waine - 9 January 2013

In spite of the development of new forms of participatory democracy, turnout at local elections in France has never...

Debates

Participation and housing policies: a century-old phenomenon

Marie-Hélène Bacqué & Claire Carriou & translated by Oliver Waine - 24 October 2012

The recent renewed interest in participatory housing experiments is, in fact, linked to a much longer history that...

From the Field

(Re-)Inventing self-build housing in Strasbourg

Anne Debarre & Hélène Steinmetz & translated by Oliver Waine - 17 October 2012

In the world of alternative housing, Strasbourg is an important player. Here, Anne Debarre and Hélène Steinmetz...

From the Field

The Vertical Village: the long road travelled by a Lyon housing cooperative

Marie-Pierre Marchand & translated by Oliver Waine - 10 October 2012

The “Village Vertical” development that has taken shape in a mixed-development zone in Villeurbanne, near Lyon, is...

Debates

Participatory democracy in large-scale contexts: citizen participation in urban planning in Paris and Córdoba

Héloïse Nez & translated by Oliver Waine - 19 October 2011

Participatory urban planning often comes up against the question of scale, with local councillors accepting to...

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