Practitioner’s Guide to Participatory Planning

About This Course

Urbanization is expected to add 1.2 billion people to cities in Asia and the Pacific by 2050, putting immense pressure on already strained infrastructure and services (United Nations ESCAP, 2019). This growth presents both challenges and opportunities for urban professionals and policymakers. While urbanization can reduce poverty and inequality by improving employment opportunities and quality of life, poorly planned urbanization can lead to congestion, higher crime rates, pollution, increased levels of inequality, and social exclusion (World Bank, 2020).

Traditional planning approaches and the bureaucratic shuffle, often overlook the unique needs and aspirations of all community members, resulting in urban spaces that overlook these diverse requirements of their inhabitants. The need for inclusive, sustainable, and community-driven planning is more urgent and so is the need to for a more empathetic planning approaches. Involving residents in decision-making ensures that projects meet local needs and fosters a sense of ownership. By engaging with and integrating existing community assets—such as local businesses, cultural programs, and public art—urban planners, engineers, social development professionals, designers can all together contribute to a vibrant and resilient urban framework (Project for Public Spaces, 2018).

This course, "Practitioner’s Guide to Participatory Planning: Observing, Reimagining, and Engaging for Change," seeks to bridge that gap by placing communities at the heart of the planning process. A course is designed to keep communities at the core of planning processes, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are met. It involves observing, reimagining, and engaging with urban spaces to create environments that are not only functional but also equitable and resilient. By focusing on inclusive growth, this course aims to empower practitioners to foster meaningful change in their communities.