Community planning

In the case of community planning, the stakeholders will come into contact with one another at the very beginning of the planning process, while exploring the sit uation and the problem, and find out about everyone’s interests, intentions and ideas. The plan is created by consensus as a result of shared thinking (involving of course external designers and engineers in certain
questions), and as a result there is no need to inform, and to get the acceptance of, the public, as whoever has felt inclined to be involved has participated in the planning. The stakeholders will display commitment: ownership of the project is considerably stronger, so the designer and the commissioner need not be afraid of bumping into obstacles during implementation of the plan. Community planning is therefore not another, wider and more thorough round of social consultation, but an entirely different planning method involving members of the local community, inviting them to think together.

 
This article based on the following document: Community development methodological guide