What are the best practices for ensuring marginalized groups are heard in the planning process?

Local planner diversity is critical to stakeholder engagement in the planning process. For marginalized groups to be heard in the planning process the planning team must be diverse, speak multiple languages and have planners that are from that community. This way the community's engagement is fully reflected and understood. These planners can design, plan and interact with the community via design, policy, funding and implementation phases with better project ROI. Less money spent on litgation, cost overruns, and negative externalities like gentrification displacement and environmental issues.

Engagement should be in person whenever possible. Surveys will never provide the same feedback as an in person conversation. They define conversation parameters and do not allow for spontaneous engagement. They do not allow for story telling or the opportunity to see expression or feel emotion.

A simple practice is to regularly ask "Who isn't in the room?". Ask other stakeholders. Ask your team. And ask frequently. And then establish strategies to reach those groups (strategies will vary depending on the group you are trying to reach). Its important to know who you are engaging with, but make sure you don't unintentionally create barriers to participation in your efforts to track participants. In past planning processes we have removed registration requirements for our online engagement platform, or greatly simplified the information we ask for, in spite of our desire to know who we are engaging with. Our worry was that it was a deterrent to people who weren't comfortable sharing too much information.

Meet them where they are. Marginalized communities often don't feel empowered to participate in the planning process or in any realm of politics. Don't just say "the door is open, come on in and engage with us". Those who are empowered will walk through that door. To reach marginalized communities, we have to go to them, build relationships, and invite them into conversation about the issues that matter most to them. An open-door-approach isn't enough to hear from them. Planning engagement processes have to make the effort to meet people where they are.

Back in 2020 I was fortunate enough to coalesce with a cohort of 8o professionals in the fields of planning, architecture, design, art, public health, real estate and others. Together we developed the Planning for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (PHEAL) principles. Drawing from that knowledge, here is one of the principles applicable to stakeholder engagement: Engage Authentically. Traditional approaches to community engagement and community planning are not inclusive enough. Planning cannot happen only at City Hall; it must also occur beyond its confinements to include appointed and non-appointed local leaders and community-based organizations.

When it comes to co-creation and co-production in planning, particularly involve various stakeholders and segments, it is importance to diversify the methods used in sharing information, as well as engagement to ensure all segments including marginalized group have access to the process. Planners do play fundamental role in facilitating the process. Thus, their role shouldn't be seasonal, but continuous and consistent. By doing this, it will helps in enhancing the awareness and understanding of public, including the marginalised segment on their role in planning, hence promote active participation.

Esta etapa es clave en los procesos de planificación urbanística. Cuando una comunidad no solo se siente escuchada, sino que además participa del proceso de implementación de una intervención/proceso urbanístico, existe un gran potencial de generar una apropiación ciudadana de la intervención y, de este modo, contribuir en proyectos aceptados por la comunidad y con posibilidades de mantenimiento y vigilancia natural por parte de la comunidad adyacente.

Planning solutions cannot be limited to the decisions taken by the technical experts on based on their isolated knowledge. Cities are made up of different stakeholders who have to be pulled in through active participation for creating inclusive solutions for varied actors building the city together. The marginal groups are often falling back on the spectrum of involved stakeholders in the planning process of their own cities. The need to co-create and co-produce becomes vital to enhance the living conditions of the marginalized segments. There needs to be extra efforts taken up to bring the marginalized groups at the front end of co-creating solutions for them through continuous active participation process.

Co-creation and design are extremely important in producing sustainable long-term solutions. Identifying and engaging local stakeholders ensures that planners and designers get a detailed perspective concerning the area and people that they are planning for or designing for. Co-creation makes available to planning professionals a wide range of resources within the areas that they are planning for which they can use to produce long-lasting solutions. This can only be realised by actively involving the residents by using creative participatory planning and design methods and tools. When communities understand that they are key and appreciated stakeholders in the planning process they actively involve themselves in the planning process.

Co-production and Co-Solution become meaningful when the Stakeholder Conditions Match with the Solutions, Outcomes with KPIs (before & after transitions) with a clear PLANNING framework to regulate & manage the processes.

Processes need to be participative. And to make it truly participative, one needs to address the issue of power imbalances and inequities among stakeholders. Foucault’s theory of weakest link

The best advice I have received is to meet communities where they are. This could mean taking project materials and going to a local rec center or park to engage groups that frequent the areas. This could also look like eliminating the need for technology to give imput. Generally, do what you can to increase access to the planning project and more people will be able to be heard throughout the process.

Power imbalances, prevalent in various facets of business, extend to hierarchical positions, diverse personalities, and life stages, contributing to inequities. Addressing these imbalances is crucial, especially in planning scenarios, where balanced perspectives are essential. Qualified professionals skilled in group dynamics play a pivotal role here, ensuring all voices, even the most reserved, are heard. However, the challenge remains: these skilled individuals are often scarce resources in many organizations, leaving unprepared professionals to navigate these complexities.

Planners should acknowledge and challenge these differences, and seek to promote equity and justice in the planning process and outcomes. Equity means ensuring that all stakeholders have fair opportunities to participate and benefit from the planning process and outcomes, while justice means ensuring that the planning process and outcomes do not harm or oppress any stakeholder group. Examples include the lack of affordable housing options for low-income families, the under-representation of minority groups in decision-making processes, and the unequal distribution of public resources in different neighborhoods (sometimes unintentionally, but mostly by design, allocating budgets without spatial understanding of inequities.)

The impact of globalisation have resulted in local authorities, especially in urban areas competing to attract global investment and firms. As a result, urban policies are inclined towards facilitating and catering the needs of private sectors and global firms, rather than the people. Therefore, it is importance for urban policies to be more people-oriented as it will prospectively change the approaches and ways city government, as decision-maker and services provider to govern their city. People including those who are marginalised and vulnerable need to be empowered to ensure that their involvement in decision-making (directly or indirectly) can bring significant contributions, rather than just a tokenism.

Absolutely, monitoring and evaluation are key aspects, ensuring the planning process truly benefits everyone involved. It's crucial to employ diverse indicators and methods capturing the multi-dimensional impacts, be it social, economic, environmental, or cultural. Involving stakeholders in this phase is essential; their input brings invaluable insight and ensures the process aligns with their needs. Communicating results back to them fosters transparency and trust, reinforcing a collaborative and inclusive planning approach.

Ensure impacted groups are invited to participate in the planning process. Advertise project meetings and information on social media and alternate media channels familiar to disadvantaged groups and communities. Hold public information meetings in venues that are familiar to disadvantaged communities and are easily accessible to those individuals that cannot travel far distances to attend meetings. Provide staff on hand at public information meetings that speak and understand languages familiar to those communities were projects are occurring. Incorporate ideas and recommendations of participants into project plans to ensure plans are representative of those disadvantaged communities thereby increasing ownership and pride in the project.

You need Clear Role-based Workflows and KPIs to monitor and evaluate the planning and outcomes for the marginalized groups and sectors.

Monitoring with the appropriate tools along with a longitudinal study will help gather rich data that can then be used to inform policy decisions. Methods should be diverse and encompass socio-economic, cultural, demographic and psychological aspects to get a clear picture of what is at stake and how it can be resolved or managed.

I love the idea of creating an iterative planning process that features gathering feedback and making adjustments throughout the stakeholder engagement journey. This will yield higher trust, engagement and better project outcomes. It is important to respect and value the time, insights and expertise of the community members in the development of these engagement processes. Identifying ways to equitably demonstrate that you value the stakeholders and building that into the planning budget is critical.

In the public sector, ensuring that marginalized groups are heard in the planning process requires deliberate, culturally sensitive engagement strategies and a commitment to continuous learning and adaptation. To learn and adapt, we must implement robust feedback mechanisms that capture the impact of policies on these communities, encourage iterative policy design with regular community check-ins, and invest in training for public servants on cultural competencies and unconscious bias. By embedding these practices within our operational frameworks, we can create dynamic, responsive planning processes that not only hear but also act upon the voices of all, particularly those who have historically been marginalized.

Continuous Learning, Adaptation and Resilience is the pathways to alleviate the disparities and imbalances in cities/regions.

??In the public sector, best practices for ensuring the voices of marginalized groups are heard in the planning process include inclusive engagement and culturally responsive methodologies. ??To celebrate and acknowledge the input of these communities, we can highlight their contributions, share success stories that demonstrate the positive impact of their involvement, and organize public acknowledgments or events that honor their cultural practices. ??When we celebrate we not only validate the importance of diverse perspectives in our planning processes but also strengthen the trust and relationship between civil society and these communities, demonstrating our genuine commitment to inclusivity and partnership.

My experience living in Harlem and the Bronx: Reduce fear of marginalized people: As long as the society prosecutes innocent people for being there at the wrong time, people will never trust system. Urban planners have a chance to create more visible streets, better community spaces which are not crime laden spots. No other profession has this profound impact on communities for decades. Increase participation: This is providing cultural and play activity spaces, and encourage participation. In this step you can encourage people to participate in small activities to Democracy and beyond. Increase recognition: Community spaces to recognize participation Increase feedback loops with the society.

Living in the country with diverse ethnicity and religions is a blessed whereas it create colorful of lifestyle with respectful. Therefore, all these uniqueness are worth to celebrate and appreciate to ensure the peace and harmony are being maintained in society. Furthermore, the uniqueness also can become an attraction and symbolic of the peace among the communities and create stronger bond between them to be more visible.

This has always been prescriptive for my efforts. When we authored the Green Cities task force recommendations, our simple platform was "Celebrate, Educate, Formulate". This strategy led to recommendations being a living document and we then created the Rapid City Sustainability Committee to create solidarity in the recommendations.

??? Inclusive Urban Planning for Marginalized Groups. When it comes to ensuring that marginalized groups are included in the urban planning process, best practices involve active engagement, representation, and consideration of the unique needs of these communities. Here is a unique approach using Washington as an example: Diversity Driven Town Halls - Washington planners hold town hall meetings and workshops in diverse neighborhoods, making sure to provide translation services and accessible venues to encourage participation from all community members.

Urban planning will become more inclusive to the underprivileged sector if it prioritizes local interest over anything else. When doing physical planning studies, developers must comprehend the spirit of the place. The marginalized sector will enjoy this more because their needs are being considered before establishing extra aspects that can benefit the community.