Porat, Sagit; (1999) Public Participation in Planning: The open plan process of the Wibautas. Masters thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Contemporary planners and planning literature are engaged in debate about the future of planning as a democratic enterprise, and the form it should take regarding the involvement of public in the planning of the environment. The Netherlands' planning system has firmly established mechanisms of citizen participation in the planning process, but those are criticised for being expensive and ineffective. The Dutch inspraak procedure is reactive in nature -- after a plan has been drafted the public is invited to comment on it. This only allows for minor alterations of details, but rarely enables conceptual changes in the making of the plan. Strong opposition to plans presented recently in Amsterdam resulted in bitter defeat of the local government in two referenda. The municipality realised a modification was required to the legally compulsory participatory measures, and the Open Plan Process was introduced. This is a study of a specific Open Plan Process. Inhabitant, workers and users of the vicinity of the Wibautas, a major traffic route in Amsterdam, were invited to participate in the making on the plan: not merely suggest changes to a draft, but actually assume the role of the visionary-planners; to point out the problems they see in their neighbourhood and the best way to correct them. Although other plans are being drawn-up in a similar way in Amsterdam, this one was unique for its wide scope and the significance of the area in question -- particularly its importance to the Amsterdam traffic system. For this reason it is in the heart of the main political dispute in the city today. The paper discusses the origins of the process, its development, and the problems that arose during it progression. It attempts to examine the new 'rules of the game' it necessitates from members of the public, planners and civil servants, and politicians in the quest for new means of achieving an equilibrium between democracy and 'the perfect plan'.

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