Auditing citizen engagement in heritage planning: The views of citizens

Abstract

Abstract: Drawing the citizen back into public fora has become the issue of the day in democratic countries around the globe. On the political stage, there is growing alarm over a perceived “democratic deficit,” which has inspired a variety of innovative means of engaging citizens in public policy decisions. This plethora of engagement mechanisms invites the question of how citizens evaluate these engagement opportunities, a question that reveals a decided lacuna of studies regarding citizen assessments of these various mechanisms. This study is a report from the citizen participants on the merits of a Nova Scotia model of citizen engagement in policy development. It examines a citizen task force organized by Voluntary Planning, which conducted a citizen consultation process to create policy recommendations for heritage preservation in Nova Scotia, using its distinctive technique of citizen engagement. This study is the first evaluation of the Nova Scotia process from the perspective of citizen participants conducted to date. It concludes that the process used is highly regarded and enhances the legitimacy of such mechanisms as the “voice of the people” for citizens themselves and government decision‐makers.

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