Participatory Evaluation within a Paradigm of Sustainability

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Participatory Evaluationwithin a Paradigm of
Sustainability

• Kyle Beidler
• CRP 484/584
• 2.19.02

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Background

• What is Participation?
• The act or state of participating, or sharing in
  common with others as, a participation of joy.
• Community fellowship association.
• Distribution division into shares.

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Background

• What is Participation?
• The redistribution of power that enables
  have-nots excluded in the political and
  economic processes to deliberately be included in
  the future.
• The conception of Empowerment the ability to
  make decisions that control your own future.

Arnstein, Sherry R. 1969. A ladder of citizen
participation. Journal of the American Institute
of Planners. 35 (4) 216-224.
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Background

• Foundational Assumptions
• A participatory democratic process is fundamental
  in a collective shift towards sustainability.
  (Principle of Democratic Change)
• Those affected by a decision should participate
  in the decision making process. (Politics of
  Inclusion)

Roseland, Mark. 1998. Toward sustainable
communities. New Society Publishers, Stony
Creek, CT.
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Questions

• Based on these democratic principles
• How should grades be assigned for this course?
• What should the extent (level) of participation
  be throughout the decision making process?
• What kind (type) of participation should be
  involved ?
• When (in which stages) should you or others
  participate?
• What would facilitate participation?
• What are the risks and barriers to broadening the
  extent of direct participation in grading
  decisions?
• (Also think about the participatory process you
  propose versus the process you use you within
  your group.)

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Classroom Responses
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Relationship with Sustainability

• Thering and Doble (2000) suggest
• Sustainability is an emerging paradigm associated
  with a post-industrial worldview.
• This worldview perceives the social structure as
  a non-hierarchical, web-like network.
• Within this network, decisions are guided by
  participatory processes and behavior.
• Thus, as a paradigm, sustainability represents a
  shift in our sciences, views, values, goals, and
  behaviors.

Thering, Sue and Doble, Cheryl. 2000. Theory and
practice in sustainability. Landscape Journal
19 (12) 191-200.
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Relationship with Sustainability
Post-Industrial Paradigm
Science Ecology
Worldview Webs networks
Values and Goals Sustainability within a context
of growing social ecological concerns
Behavior Participatory
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Relationship with Social Capital

• This paradigm shift, which relies on
  participatory foundation, multiplies the
  importance of social capital (Roseland 1998).
• However, this shift also implies a shift in type
  of behavior (Thering and Doble 2000).

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Implications

• Medieval hierarchies, traditional methods, and
  existing educational programs are unable to meet
  the needs of todays communities centered of
  environmental and social thought of a
  post-industrial society.
• Toadys community needs include
• Multi-disciplinary approaches
• Informed citizenry
• Methods of sustainable evaluation
• Processes of participatory decision making

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Implications

• Therefore, there is a need to develop a framework
  to evaluate existing decision making processes.
• Evaluation concepts include
• The level of participation
• The educational objective of participation
• The type of participation
• The stages of the participatory process

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The Levels of Participation
Arnstein, Sherry R. 1969. A ladder of citizen
participation. Journal of the American Institute
of Planners. 35 (4) 216-224.
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The Objective of Participation
Bloom, Benjamin S. 1956. Taxonomy of cognitive
objectives. New York, David McKay Co.
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The Type of Participation
Whitmore, Elizabeth. 1998. Understanding and
practicing participatory evaluation. Jossey-Bass
Publishers. San Francisco.
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Stages of Participation
Seaman, Corrintha. 1998. Bioregional
communication Watersheds, community
participation and synchronicity. Thesis, Iowa
State University.
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Stages of Sustainability Reporting

• Maclarens stages of developing indicators
• One Define urban sustainability goals
• Two Define the scope
• Three Choose an appropriate framework (i.e.
  issue based, sector base, etc.)
• Four Define selection criteria
• Five Identify potential indicators
• Six Evaluate and select final set
• Seven Collect and analyze data
• Eight Prepare and present report
• Nine Asses indicator performance

Maclaren, Virginia. 1996. Urban sustainability
reporting. Journal of the American Planning
Association. 62(2) 184-202
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A Ladder of Participatory Evaluation
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Visioning as a Participatory Process

• A Visioning process can be conceived as
  interactive participation with in a context of
  sustainability
• Bottom-up methods of participation promote
  dialogue and information diffusion. (Level of
  participation)
• Participatory communication is interpreted as the
  means towards collective action. (Type of
  participation)
• Citizen participation takes place throughout the
  entire planning process. (Degree of
  participation throughout the stages)

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Extension Example
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Extension Example
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Extension Example
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Extension Example
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Conclusions

• Within a paradigm of Sustainability,
  participation is not a one-dimensional process or
  goal.
• As a result, several aspects need to be
  considered including the level, type, and stages
  of participation. As well as, the existing power
  structure within communities.
• More importantly, as a guiding behavior,
  participation also needs to be considered outside
  of the planning process and thus includes the
  evaluation of traditional educational objectives.