What do we mean by “meaningful” community engagement?

Louise LawsonPeter Matthews

Department of Urban Studies

Tackling Multiple Deprivation in Communities: Considering the EvidenceThe Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, 2 June 2009

Structure

• Theoretical background• Physical regeneration• Community planning• Policy implications

Why engage communities?

• Pragmatism• Efficiency• Social inclusion• Social justice

Policy aiming to create an ideal speech situation for rational discourse to produce much better policy

Meaning making in policy

‘once we construe the policy process as an arena for the creation, expression, and communication of meaning, we come face-to-face with the inherent limitations on human ability to control the outcomes of implementation acts.’

(Yanow 1996: 231-2)

Meaning making in policy

Community consultation

“What I would like to know is, they’re talking about building new houses, I would like to know is, are the flats coming down? I don’t want to be sat in my flat for the next 10 year and then to be told your flat’s not coming down, you’re not getting a new house and I’ve [been] stuck up there all that time”

(Resident)

Community consultation

• Seven episodes of consultation 2005-2009, but no sense of purpose – what for?

• Each consultation exercise tells a different story because different questions are asked of different people/constituencies - different agendas, different interpretations and understanding of the whole.

• Some similar issues emerge e.g. desire for better housing but concerns about displacement.

Agency meaning

• legitimisation • “top down”, based on empiric knowledge & “scientific method”

• the more consultation they do the more credibility it has?

Community meaning

• Range of views, interests, experiences

• knowledge usually based on lived experience

• real people’s homes and communities, not a “thing” to be dealt with

Policy implications

• Transformational regeneration is complex – many decisions need to be made without community engagement

• To understand the “community” - utilise existing networks, structures & informants rather than create new meaningless consultations.

• Alleviate concerns, that we know exist, through better planning and communication

Community planning

‘the initial brief idea kinda idea behind community planning community planning’s kinda like a no-brainer it’s like, the public sector has to work together and it has to work together more effectively for the benefit not of itself but of the people it serves and it’s like, this is a genius idea who came up with it I mean it’s so obvious it’s not true’

(Strategic officer)

Community planning

‘Ehm well the one I always the one I generally quote is along at [neighbouring area] they used to I think they used to sweep the streets on a Tuesday and empty the buckets on a Wednesday, and somebody said well why don’t you empty the buckets on a Wednesday and then sweep the streets on a Thursday, the council went well I don’t know why don’t we do that how much will it cost us well won’t cost you anything because the streets you sweep on a Thursday sweep on a Tuesday and then streets you sweep on a Tuesday sweep on a Thursday won’t cost you anything you’re just changing changing your days around’

(Community volunteer)

Community planning

‘in terms of resource what [community regeneration fund] done, was say well there's the resource which is dedicated to the community planning partnership you can agree on a set of priorities and you can use that money to do it and it works, it’s not always straightforward but it does work it brings people together at the table’

(Strategic officer)

Community planning

‘that the Council’s very false I think they’re false I think they’re false and they’re all words, I think they offer you the moon and give you nothing’. ‘Been there seen it done it got the tshirt there’s no point do you know what I mean there’s no point to the agenda has already been drawn decisions have already been made […] we know the local authority works to a five year plan […] and always has done ehm and I can’t see that changing so for them to say they’re consulting the community at an area level […] they’re talking about stuff that was decided five years ago […] who’s kiddin’ who […] to me it’s a con.’

(Community volunteers)

Policy difficulties

• Imperative to engage community• Contradictory policy aims• Officer exhaustion• Consultation fatigue

Policy implications

Policy as praxis (Flyvbjerg, 1998; 2001)Is it ethical to consult with communities when there will be no substantive, meaningful outputs from their engagement?

Alternatives

‘community participation should not be seen as a pre-requisite for the delivery of decent services. People living either in poor or more affluent areas are entitled to both quality services and an acceptable living environment. We should not accept a situation where people living in more deprived communities have to go to countless meetings or engage in endless arguments with decision makers simply to receive a level of service that other people take for granted’

(Scottish Social Inclusion NetworkStrategy Action Team 1999: 23)

Policy questions

• Is it right to sometimes not engage communities?

• Is this politically possible?• What would be lost?• What would be gained?

References

Flyvbjerg, B. (1998). Rationality and Power: Democracy in Practice. London, University of Chicago Press.

Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Scottish Social Inclusion Network Strategy Action Team (1999). Inclusive Communities. Edinburgh, Scottish Social Inclusion Network.

Yanow, D. (1996). How Does a Policy Mean?: Interpreting Policy and Organizational Actions. Washington D.C., Georgetown University Press.

Thank you

Louise LawsonResearch Fellow

L.J.Lawson@lbss.gla.ac.uk

Peter MatthewsPhD Researcher

p.matthews.1@research.gla.ac.uk