The Public Participation Handbook

Internationally renowned facilitator and public participation consultant James L. Creighton offers a practical guide to designing and facilitating public participation of the public in environmental and public policy decision making. Written for government officials, public and community leaders, and professional facilitators, The Public Participation Handbook is a toolkit for designing a participation process, selecting techniques to encourage participation, facilitating successful public meetings, working with the media, and evaluating the program. The book is also filled with practical advice, checklists, worksheets, and illustrative examples.

The authors, Hans & Annemarie Bleiker, have over 20 years been doing research on the role of citizen participation (CP) in getting important -- but controversial -- public projects & programs implemented. They began their research in the 1960s at MIT's Urban Systems Laboratory. They tried to figure out why some administrators (they call them Implementation Geniuses) almost always implement their proposals -- no matter how controversial -- when their colleagues have their proposals torpedoed by opponents, be they internal or external opponents. They found that Implementation Geniuses are so much more effective managers than their typical counterparts because they approach CP very differently. They don't use it to develop support: instead they use it in working with their opponents.Specifically, they use CP to develop informed Consent. And that, the authors define as:"the Grudging Willingness of Opponents to (grudgingly) Go Along with a Course of Action that they -- basically -- are Opposed to". This handbook takes the poorly understood, fuzzy subject of public involvement & organizes it into an orderly, understandable set of concepts.

New media forums have created a unique opportunity for citizens to participate in a variety of social and political contexts. As new social technologies are being utilized in a variety of ways, the public is able to interact more effectively in activities within their communities. The Handbook of Research on Citizen Engagement and Public Participation in the Era of New Media addresses opportunities and challenges in the theory and practice of public involvement in social media. Highlighting various communication modes and best practices being utilized in citizen-involvement activities, this book is a critical reference source for professionals, consultants, university teachers, practitioners, community organizers, government administrators, citizens, and activists.