“I do not want to be heard”. Re-emphasising the relationship between long-term participation and decisionmaking

Abstract

Participatory processes in spatial planning are not always taken serious by participants, since they are not seen as a leverage for decision-making. This article aims to unfold the relationship between long-term participation processes typical for spatial planning and decision-making. In our desk research we particularly explore the possibility that publicly debating participatory processes could reemphasise this relationship. During a Participatory Design (PD) process in the Belgian village Godsheide we put this idea into practice via ‘scripting’ public debate on a participatory process using a newspaper.