A changing climate seriously challenges our sociopolitical and economic systems. Elaborating on one possible element of a successful human response, this paper looks at how participatory governance is treated in the literatures on social justice and climate change. This paper applies the works of Habermas and Foucault, as well as recent work from the fields of urban and environmental planning, to clarify how the balance between structure, power, and agency influences attempts to address social inequality and climate change. Applying this general framework to a case study of Durban, South Africa, the paper then discusses the effectiveness of participatory structures in practice. This case study provides a productive space to study the intersection of social and environmental concerns. It also allows us to explore how interactions between formal and informal participation expose the limits both of confrontational (Foucauldian) and of consensus-based (Habermassian) approaches to governance. These limitations are instructive as we attempt to create cities that are both socially just and environmentally sustainable.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbersR, 2000Inventing Local Democracy: Grassroots Politics in Brazil (Lynne Rienner, Boulder, CO).
2.
AbrahamsenR, 2000Disciplining Democracy: Development Discourse and Good Governance in Africa (Zed Books, London).
3.
AckermanJ, 2004, “Co-governance for accountability: Beyond ‘Exit’ ‘Voice’”World Development32447–463.
ArnsteinS R, 1969, “A ladder of citizen participation”Journal of the American Institute of Planners35216–224; reprinted 2000, in The City Reader Eds LeGatesRStoutF (St Edmundsbury Press, Suffolk) pp 240–252.
6.
AylettA, 2010, “Conflict, collaboration, and climate change: Participatory democracy and urban environmental struggles in Durban, South Africa”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research34(4) forthcoming.
7.
BallardR, 2007, “Participation, democracy and social movements”Critical Dialogue: Public Participation in Review3 (2) 17–21.
8.
BallardRBonninDRobinsonJXabaT, 2008, “Development and new forms of democracy in Durban”Critical Dialogue: Public Participation in Review4 (1) 3–10.
9.
BanuriTWyantJAkumuGNajamARosaPinguelli LRaynerSSachsWSharmaRYoheGAgarwalABernowSCostanzaTDowningTKarthaSKhoslaASagarARobinsonJTothF, 2001, “Setting the stage: Climate change and sustainable development”, in Climate Change 2001: Mitigation, Report of Working Group III, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) pp 75–110.
10.
BarnettCScottD, 2007, “Spaces of opposition: Activism and deliberation in post-apartheid environmental politics”Environment and Planning A392612–2631.
11.
CarrM, 2004Bioregionalism and Civil Society: Democratic Challenges to Corporate Globalism (University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, BC).
12.
CleaverF, 1999, “Paradoxes of participation: Questioning participatory approaches to development”Journal of International Development11597–612.
13.
CohenJ.1996, “Procedure and substance in deliberative democracy. Democracy and difference: Contesting the boundaries of the political”, in Democracy and Difference: Contesting the Boundaries of the Political Ed. BenhabibS (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ) pp 95–119.
14.
CookBKothariU, 2001Participation: The New Tyranny? (Zed Books, London).
DEAT, 2007South Durban Basin Multi-point Plan Case Study Report Governance Information Publication: Series C, Book 12, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Durban.
18.
de SouzaM L, 2006, “Social movements as ‘critical urban planning’ agents”City10327–342.
eThekwini Municipality, 2004Making City Strategy Come AliveImpress Investments Pty Ltd, eThekwini.
24.
EybenR, 2003, “The rise of rights”, IDS Policy Briefing 17, May.
25.
FagottoEFungA, 2006, “Empowered participation in urban governance: The Minneapolis Neighbourhood Revitalization Program”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research30638–655.
26.
FlyvbjergB, 1998a, “Habermas and Foucault: Thinkers for civil society?”The British Journal of Sociology49210–233.
27.
FlyvbjergB, 1998bRationality and Power (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL).
28.
FoucaultM, 1981, “Omnes et singulatim: Towards a criticism of ‘political reason’”The Tanner Lectures on Human Values volume 2, Ed. McMurrinS (University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, UT) pp 223–254.
29.
FoucaultM, 1986, “Of other spaces”Diacritics Spring, 22–27.
30.
FoucaultM, 1991, “Governmentality”, in The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality Eds BurchellGGordonCMillerP (Harvester Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead, Herts) 87–104.
31.
FreundB, 2002, “City Hall and the direction of development: The changing role of the local state as a factor in economic planning and development in Durban”, in Durban Vortex — South African City in Transition Eds FreundBPadayacheeV (University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg) pp 11–41.
32.
FreundD, 2001, “Brown and green in Durban: The evolution of environmental policy in a post-apartheid city”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research25 (4) 717–739.
33.
FungAWrightE, 2001, “Deepening democracy: Innovations in empowered participatory governance”Politics and Society295–41.
HellerP, 2001, “Moving the State: The politics of democratic decentralization in Kerala, South Africa, and Porto Alegre”Politics and Society29 (1) 131–163.
40.
HolmesTScoonesI, 2000, “Participatory environmental policy processes: Experiences from North and South”, WP 113, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, Sussex.
41.
HolmesTScoonesI, 2001, “Participatory environmental policy processes: Experiences from North and South”PLA Notes40 (February), 76–78.
42.
IPCC, 2000, “IPCC Special Report: Emissions scenarios”, in A Special Report of IPCC Working Group III Eds NakicenovicNSwartR, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Geneva.
43.
JenssenS, 2008, “Deliberative democracy in practice”Acta Politica4371–92.
44.
McGeeRBazaaraNGaventaJNierrasRRaiMRocamoraJSauleNJrWilliamsEZermeñoS, 2003, “Legal frameworks for citizen participation: Synthesis report”, LogoLink, University of Sussex, Brighton, Sussex.
45.
MansbridgeJ, 1983Beyond Adversary Democracy (Chicago University Press, Chicago, IL).
46.
MeloM ABaiocchiG, 2006, “Deliberative democracy and local governance: Towards a new agenda”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research30587–600.
47.
MohanG, 1999, “Not so distant, not so strange: The personal and the political in participatory research”Ethics, Place and Environment241–54.
48.
MohanG, 2002a, “The disappointments of civil society: The politics of NGO intervention in Northern Ghana”Political Geography21125–154.
49.
MohanG, 2002b, “Participatory development”, in The Companion to Development Studies Eds DesaiVPotterR (Edward Arnold, London) pp 45–50.
50.
MunasingheMSwartR, 2005Primer on Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Facts, Policy Analysis, and Applications (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge).
51.
OECD, 2001, “Engagingcitizens in policy-making: Information, consultation and public participation”, OECD Public Management (PUMA) Policy Brief 10, July.
52.
OwensS, 2000, “‘Engaging the public’: Information and deliberation in environmental policy”Environment and Planning A321141–1148.
53.
PelletierDKraakVMcCullumCUusitaloURichR, 1999, “The shaping of collective values through deliberative democracy: An empirical study from New York's North Country”Policy Sciences32103–131.
54.
PelhzzoniL, 2001, “The myth of the best argument”British Journal of Sociology52 (1) 59–86.
55.
PiperLDeaconR, 2006, “Deepening democracy, enhancing elite control or just ineffectual? Ward Committee Politics in the Msunduzi Municipality”, Center for Civil Society Grant Report, Durban.
56.
PithouseR, 2006, “Rethinking public participation from below”Critical Dialogue: Public Participation in Review224–30.
57.
RobertsDDiedrichsN, 2002Durban's Local Agenda 21 Program 1994–2001: Tackling Sustainable Development (Natal Printers, Durban).
58.
RobinsonJ, 2004, “Squaring the circle? Some thoughts on the idea of sustainable development”Ecological Economics48369–384.
59.
RobinsonJ, 2008, “Developing ordinary cities: City visioning processes in Durban and Johannesburg”Environment and Planning A4074–87.
60.
RutlandTAylettA, 2008, “The work of policy: Actor-networks, governmentality, and local action on climate change in Portland, Oregon”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space26627–646.
61.
SathayeJNajamACocklinCHellerTLecocqFLlanes-RegueiroJPanJPetschel-HeldGRaynerSRobinsonJSchaefferRSokonaYSwartRWinklerH, 2007, “Sustainable development and mitigation”, in Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) pp 692–743.
ScottDOelofseC, 2005, “Social and environmental justice in South African cities: Including ‘invisible stakeholders’ in environmental assessment procedures”Journal of Environmental Planning and Management48445–467.
64.
ShahA, 1997, “Developing participation”PLA Notes number 30, 75–78.
65.
SmitBPilifosovaOBurtonIChallengerBHuqSKleinRYoheG, 2001, “Adaptation to climate change in the context of sustainable development and equity”, in Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Report of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) pp 897–906.
66.
South Africa, 1998, Republic of South Africa Act No. 117, Local Government Municipal Structures Act Government Gazette 18 December.
SwartRRobinsonJCohenS, 2003, “Climate change and sustainable development: Expanding the options”Climate Policy3(S1) S19–S40.
69.
TaylorPFransmanJ, 2004, “Learning and teaching participation: Exploring the role of higher learning institutions as agents of development and social change”, WP 219, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, Sussex.
70.
WCED, 1987Our Common Future World Commission on Environment and Development (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
71.
WilcoxD, 1994The Guide to Effective Participation (Partnership Books, Brighton, Sussex).
72.
WileyDRootCPeekS, 2002, “Contesting the urban industrial environment in South Durban in a period of democratisation and globalisation”, in Durban Vortex-South — African City in Transition Eds FreundBPadayacheeV (University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg) pp 223–258.
73.
World Bank, 1997World Development Report: The state in a changing world (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
74.
World Bank, 2000aConsultation with Civil Society Organisations: General Guidelines for World Bank Staff NGO and Civil Society Development Unit (World Bank, Washington, DC).
75.
World Bank, 2000bWorking Together: The World Bank's Partnership with Civil Society NGO and Civil Society Development Unit (World Bank, Washington, DC).
76.
YoheG WLascoR DAhmadQ KArnellN WCohenS JHopeCJanetosA CPerezR T, 2007, “Perspectives on climate change and sustainability”, in Climate Change 2007. Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) pp 813–837.
