Democracy in progress: using public participation in post-industrial landscape (re)-development

Abstract: The last decades have seen a rapid change in attitudes towards the environment, which reflects a greater environmental awareness of environment amongst professionals as well as the general public. Public participation has become increasingly more important, playing a relevant role in determining the way society will manage, protect and reclaim the environment. This trend is “now ” recognized by landscape architects, landscape ecologists, and sociologists, among others. A wide range of methods have been established all over the world, including new ways of people interacting, new types of events, new services and new support frameworks. This paper addresses the benefits of using public participation in the reclamation of post-industrial landscapes, and the ways in which the introduction of public opinion can improve the design process. Although public participation has gained wide acceptance among private and public domains, academic literature and research offers still limited understanding on how to accomplish it and what contributes to its success. The relevance of public participation is discussed through exploring the definitions of public participation, why the public should be involved and the role of participation in project acceptability. Using a best practice approach, this article discusses the use of public participation in the re-development of a post-industrial landscape, Emscher Park, located in the Ruhr Region, Germany. This case is selected to explore contributions to achieve sustainable development and the reasons why public participation should be an integral part of post-industria