E-government and Planning: Key Citizen Participation Issues and Applications

Citizen participation is a common goal of local governments. Local governments face the challenge of giving information to and getting input from citizens. The use of the Internet for citizen participation is growing among local government planning departments. This book explores the issues related to on-line citizen participation for local government planning departments. In designing for e-government planning departments need to consider accessibility, trust, and the types of participation tools that are most appropriate to meet citizen needs.The John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Polic

Planning for Sustainability in Small Municipalities: The Influence of Interest Groups, Growth Patterns, and Institutional Characteristics

How and why small municipalities promote sustainability through planning efforts is poorly understood. We analyzed ordinances in 451 Maine municipalities and tested theories of policy adoption using regression analysis.We found that smaller communities do adopt programs that contribute to sustainability relevant to their scale and context. In line with the political market theory, we found that municipalities with strong environmental interests, higher growth, and more formal governments were more likely to adopt these policies. Consideration of context and capacity in planning for sustainability will help planners better identify and benefit from collaboration, training, and outreach opportunities

The process of planning for sustainable development: dimensions, comparisons, and insights

Sustainable development has been praised as an important new planning paradigm. However, there has been little evaluation of the impact of the concept on the planning process. The purpose of this article is to provide an assessment of the key dimensions of planning for sustainable development, and to use these dimensions in a comparative assessment between communities in the USA that integrated sustainable development into their local comprehensive plan and communities that did not. Results of the analysis indicate limited impact of the concept on the planning process, though process dimensions provide measures for tracking future influence.planning process; public participation; resource commitment; sustainable development.

Utility of interactive computer-based materials for enhancing public participation

Citizen involvement in environmental policy setting is important for insuring policy viability. However, traditional public meetings are criticized for being an ineffective means of conveying information, especially for complex policy issues such as watershed management. An interactive technology-based approach to public meetings provides a promising alternative. This pilot study compares knowledge, commitment and satisfaction levels of two groups of participants at a watershed meeting: one group attended a traditional meeting format and the other attended a technology-based format. Group survey results show technology-based participants report a higher level of meeting satisfaction and a stronger influence of the meeting on watershed attitudes. Comparisons of knowledge and commitment levels may require a multiple meeting format to highlight group differences.

E-participation in planning: an analysis of cities adopting on-line citizen participation tools

E-government tools provide municipal planning departments with an alternative means to inform and engage their citizenry. We examine the use of information and communication technology e-government tools to promote citizen participation in the planning process. The analysis is based on an examination of municipal planning-related websites for the 590 US cities with a 2000 Census population of 50 000 or more. We also explore the influence which demographic contextual factors have on what tools are provided. Principal findings highlight the dominance of simple, information-based, e-government tools. The analyses also suggest that population-related and geographic-related variables are significant and pervasive influences on the provision of these tools.