Current Issue
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Public Participation in Alberta's Land-use Planning Process (Monique Passelac-Ross)
Why do we need public participation in environmental and resource management decision-making? Sherry Arnstein, who created one of the best known typologies of citizen participation in public policies, states that citizen participation is the "cornerstone of democracy". Many scholars have discussed the substantive and process rationales for public participation in resource development and environmental decision-making, noting that the two are hard to separate. The main substantive justification is that public participation promotes better outcomes: decision-making is improved by a range of opinions, concerns, information and types of knowledge. The process rationale holds that public participation is a democratic and human right: it matters for its own sake, regardless of whether or not it produces better outcomes. In particular, it increases the accountability of decision-makers, it legitimizes decision-making and thus makes decisions more acceptable by citizens, it engenders public trust towards the government and empowers citizens.