Citizens' Reception of Public Consultation

Background

The phenomenon of public participation has been the focus of global debate for the last 30 years. Analysis of participation often focuses on perspective of the initiators of participatory activities (e. g. public consultation on revitalization, participatory budgeting, spatial planning etc.). However there is a lack of knowledge on the citizens’ reception of participation.

Research aim

The main aim of the project is to provide insights in this respect by answering the question: How does the citizens’ reception of participation (understood as citizens’ opinion on public consultation conducted by local governments) look like taking into account: 1) quality of decision making, 2) level of trust to the local government, 3) sense of agency.

Methods

Qualitative, comparative, multiple-case study approach is applied in the research. The purposeful case study areas selection is based on typology of historical regions of Poland and administrative division of municipalities in Poland. The case study analysis will apply: 1) desk research of available data pertaining to a particular case in terms of participation: scientific literature, press releases, official documents and 2) in-depth interviews with local elites’ representatives (e.g. NGOs, business, media, local politicians, local leaders) who will be identified within desk research.

Results and conclusion

The research enables to assess reception of participation with respect to the quality of decision making, level of trust to local government and citizens’ sense of agency. Moreover the project provides verified methodological approach on how to assess the local elites’ reception of participation to be used in applied research concerning various topics at more detailed levels, e.g. local community revitalization, environment protection, culture etc. which may give an input for local government to improve public consultation or in particular circumstances even recommend not to conduct any.