Who Speaks For The Poor?

Abstract

The citizen participation movement of the 1960's, as embodied in the anti-poverty program, opened new opportunities for the development of working relationships between professional planners and low-income neighborhood residents. A Pittsburgh study on resident assessments of conditions in anti-poverty program neighborhoods suggests that these relationships can offer false assurances of democracy to planners who prefer to operate with popular sanction. On the basis of much supportive evidence, planners and citizen participants in Pittsburgh's anti-poverty program were highly critical of existing neighborhood conditions. However, the results of a survey of over 6,000 residents indicate that these views were not shared by the vast majority of the people living in the neighborhoods. This discrepancy between the high level of dissatisfaction expressed by a relatively small number of citizen participants and the apparent contentment of their neighbors highlights the role of activist minorities in the citizen participation movement—a phenomenon that deserves careful evaluation by planners seeking to legitimate their low-income neighborhood activities through resident involvement.

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