Please join us for the next Urban Studies Graduate Student colloquium, with coffee, croissants and conversation on Tuesday March 19, 9:30-11am, in the Office of the Institute of Urban Research, Meyerson Hall G-12. The series provides a way for graduate students who are or have been a part of the Urban Studies Certificate program to come together to share their work.

Full Title: "Leveraging Public Engagement to Support Implementation: A quantitative analysis of the relationship between public participation and local government sustainability plan implementation"

Author: Kirsten Kinzer, City and Regional Planning

Discussant: Dr. Adolph Reed, Political Science

Abstract:

Practitioners and scholars often reference stronger implementation as one value of public participation in urban and environmental planning. And yet, it is not clear how public participation impacts implementation or when this impact occurs. Does public engagement in planning have a direct impact on implementation? Alternatively, does it lead to a stronger plan which in turn leads to more successful implementation? Or, does public participation that continues into implementation lead to stronger outcomes? My presentation focuses on these research questions within the context of American local government sustainability planning. Using data drawn from adopted sustainability plans and 36 quantized qualitative interviews with sustainability planners, I test the relationships between public participation, the plan, and implementation outcomes via a correlation analysis. I conclude the presentation with recommendations for practitioners on how to structure public participation to maximize its impact on implementation.