PARTICIPATIVE PLANNING IN THE CONTEXT OF METROPOLITAN GOVERNANCE. A CASE OF CLUJ METROPOLITAN AREA

Abstract

Public participation became an essential element of the modern governance practice and a norm in the contemporary spatial planning. It is also endorsed as an important component in creating sustainable development and an efficient tool in strengthening legitimacy. Nevertheless, there is also a lack of confidence in management decisions and in political structures as mechanisms to conduct effective strategic governance and to address the needs of various stakeholders in the strategy and policy formulation. The aim of study is to examine how public participation is perceived in the view of different stakeholders in a complex governance setting of a metropolitan area. The findings show that the process of public participation is perceived differently depending on the group of stakeholders and the actual public involvement differs between the rural areas and the urban core. Although public engagement is widely endorsed, there are different views on what this process should comprise. Nevertheless, the question of how far the common citizens actually influenced the spatial development of the metropolitan area, is open for debate.

Keywords

• public participation, metropolitan governance, public engagement, strategic planning.