Public participation in planning for sustainable development: operational questions and issues

The call for radical change to the traditional planning approaches in terms of policy, management, administration, information, knowledge, values and actions is not new. Consequently, the search for efficient and effective public participation is never ending. Malaysian town planning has progressed since the colonization period and it is a challenge for the government to shape a new approach to encourage participation from the public. This paper proposes quality public participation and its importance for sustainable development, the changing approach of participation in Malaysian planning process, role of actors involved in participation and some methods to facilitate quality participation and issues related to its operation