CONCEPT FACTSHEET
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Considers SOIL QUANTITY, QUALITY and PERFORMANCE challenges ****
In URBAN, PERI-URBAN and RURAL settings
No Net Land Take (NNLT) Hierarchy: MINIMIZE/REUSE
Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Hierarchy: AVOID/REDUCE
| Mail spatial planning challenges it addresses: | LACK OF PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION |
|---|---|
| LACK OF CONTEXT SENSITIVITY | |
| POOR ACCESS TO SERVICES AND SECLUSION | |
| Main soil challenges it addresses: | LAND GRABBING |
| UNUSED LAND | |
| Main Families of Soil Practices it connects to: | DE-SEALING |
| CREATING URBAN GREEN SPACES | |
| RESTORING FOREST COVER | |
| Spatial morphology it is mostly linked to: | ALL SPATIAL MORPHOLOGIES |
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Participatory planning is an approach to designing active, livable cities that makes urban planning accessible, community-driven, and collaborative. It is grounded in the belief that blending local knowledge of residents' lived experiences with expert technical knowledge leads to more resilient and equitable outcomes. By engaging stakeholders at every stage, this approach seeks to bridge the gap between abstract planning policies and the specific realities of the communities they serve (Lara, 2023).
Although there is no robust line of participation in soil advocacy, participation serves as an instrument for climate-adaptive design, advocates for green spaces, and indirectly supports soil stewardship. Initiatives such as community gardens and farms, community-managed and claimed public spaces, transform residents from passive inhabitants to active soil stewards, reclaiming and improving the soil quantity and quality of their immediate environment.
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Contents
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Emerging from the Western social, political, and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, the concept evolved from a demand for democratic agency into a core tenet of modern urban governance. It is predicated on the belief that co-creation strengthens "sense of place," fosters social consensus, and ensures that interventions are grounded in the specific realities of the communities they serve. During this era, participatory demands were often radical political responses to top-down, state-led bureaucracy. Modern practice draws from these roots, such as advocacy planning (Davidoff, 1965) and transactive planning (Friedmann, 1973), but has evolved to operate within horizontally dispersed, market-driven governance models. Today, it is increasingly seen as a key strategy for mediating territorial conflict and ensuring social equity.
Participatory planning moves beyond simple consultation into co-creation, which is also a core phase of the SPADES project. Participatory methods that engage with stakeholders and communities for a soil-inclusive design could include:
While effective participation leads to better-informed plans and a strengthened democracy, citizen engagement occurs across a distinct spectrum. Superficial processes are highly susceptible to "tokenism," which occurs when citizens are informed of decisions already made, or are superficially engaged to fulfill external agendas without genuine power to influence outcomes. In contrast, meaningful participatory planning requires a fundamental shift in power dynamics. As Hannah Arendt (1958) emphasizes through her concept of the public realm, true political agency relies on a space of appearance where citizens can act together, ensuring their voices are not merely heard but actively shape the status quo.
The application of this concept can help address the following soil-related planning challenges: