K6ET 2115 - Urban Controversies and Citizen Participation

Associating the public to the decision-making process increasingly appears as a « good policy » practice.

Transcribed in most legal systems as a requirement for local governments, citizen participation has integrated day-to-day methodologies. As a complement to representative democracy, it shows, however, many limits: issues of biases, perimeters and methods raise questions about the goals of citizen participation, and its success in reaching these goals. While public action is in a state of disarray, especially in regards to ecological transition and the climate crisis, new and innovative approaches challenge classical participatory paradigms.

Additional requested information: (eg mainly theoretical or mainly practical or a mixture of the two):

This workshop develops a strong professional point of view, and will help students link practical issues regarding citizen participation (processes, stakeholders, legal frameworks, case studies…), to the broader philosophical and theoretical issues at stake.

The course will rely on a general understanding of urban projects processes in an European context from students, as well as some global knowledge of ecological issues at stake (density vs sprawl, net zero carbon trajectories for european cities…)

3 workshops x 4 hours

This workshop validates 2 credits.

The final assessment will include an in-class simulation/roleplay of a citizen participation case study (50% of total grade), completed by a short brief (<2 pages, bullet points form, 25% of total grade). General participation in class completes the grading (25%)