Canadian Urban Institute

Beyond the Ballot Box: Making Democracy Work
By Jeff Evenson and Nicole Swerhun

Over the next few decades, most urban regions will be involved in processes of renewal and restoration unlike anything we have seen in the past 60 years. Building and restoring urban infrastructure systems will fundamentally alter the urban framework. At the same time, the need to rethink municipal services and address social equity and economic opportunities for an aging and increasingly diverse ethno-cultural population will also challenge our sense of community and belonging. The growing size of the urban economic regions that create most of the world’s wealth will challenge us to provide new forms of good urban governance. As we become more global, we will require methods that go beyond the ballot box for communities, neighbourhoods, and citizens to participate in the decisions that affect the quality of their daily lives.

The impacts of climate change, the effects of regional expansion, the transportation of goods and people, the growing gap between rich and poor, and the need to ensure urban health, safety, and security seem to require urban governance mechanisms at an ever-increasing scale. Where villages were once consolidated to form boroughs and boroughs became cities, cities have now amalgamated into mega-cities and super-regions to deliver urban services. Today mega regions encompass municipalities, counties, states, and provinces; some even cross national borders.

Mega-regions are the organizing units of the world economy. The New York–based Regional Plan Association has  defined mega regions as “large networks of metropolitan regions that are linked by environmental systems and geography, infrastructure systems, economic linkages, settlement patterns, and shared culture and history”(www.angeloueconomics.com/megaregions.html). Richard Florida’s research indicates that “the global economy takes shape around perhaps 20 great Megas — half in the United States and the rest scattered throughout the world. These regions are home to just 10 percent of total world population, 660 million people, but produce half of all economic activity, two thirds of world-class scientific activity and three quarters of global innovations” (“The New Megalopolis,” Newsweek International, July 3-10, 2006).

In the face of this “super-sizing,” many people feel increasingly disconnected from the decisions that affect their daily lives. The electoral system does not seem to address issues at a scale meaningful to citizens. While local decisions are being taken by “mega-regionalized” institutions, participation rates in local elections are falling. Voter turnout, regularly used as an indicator of civic engagement and participation, is regularly less than 40% in Europe and North America. In southern Ontario, part of the powerful Great Lakes Basin mega-region, voter turnout at municipal elections is sometimes less than 35%.

The traditional processes of public consultation are used most often to support changes in land use or transportation infrastructure or to assess the environmental impact of certain development options. Common complaints about public consultation are that it is costly and time-consuming. Many citizens feel ill served and isolated by the processes mandated by land use, transportation, and environmental legislation, which are delivered in a manner that leaves participants unclear about what influence their perspectives or priorities have on decisions.

People are losing interest in the traditional processes of public consultation and becoming cynical about its outcomes; turnouts at public meetings are low, and those meetings are often dominated by “the same old crowd.” This trend reinforces complaints about costs and time, further erodes trust, and leads to confrontations and outcomes that satisfy no one.

Growing numbers of design and engineering professionals, however, are dedicated to improving how citizens are engaged and to creating opportunities for effective participation. The Canadian Urban Institute is in the forefront of efforts to improve public engagement.

If democracy is to be a fore for equity and opportunity, the formation of social capital must keep pace with global economic growth and wealth creation. Social capital is a critical community asset – the attitude, ability, and willingness of people to engage in collective and civic activities. CUI works to build social capital by helping establish and build relationships between individuals, organizations, and governments that create space for deliberation and learning, and ultimately enable reasonable, defensible decisions to be made, issues to be resolved, and processes to move forward.

At the CUI, we have worked with decision makers at all levels – from the Cabinet to informal groups around kitchen tables – and we know that trust is built when the rationale behind decisions is transparent, defensible, and based on the best information available. We build that trust by combining big-picture strategic thinking with expert implementation of the “mechanics” of good process. These “mechanics” help translate processes into manageable, deliberate, and respectful steps that enable effective two-way communication between decision-makers and the constituencies they serve. Recently we worked with the Toronto Community Housing Corporation to build a model for involving public housing residents in decisions about the revitalization and redevelopment of their neighbourhood. Our work with the Canada Lands Company brought three levels of government and the community together to resolve questions about the future use of former farm lands within the city limits of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

In our experience, the best processes involve face-to-face dialogue that is designed to foster meaningful, focused debate among participants with different perspectives on a particular issue. We hold workshops that combine facilitated plenary discussions with self facilitated small-group discussions. We have also run successful “drop-in” sessions, where participants see a brief overview presentation, and then visit a series of stations that inform them and seek their feedback on key issues.

Our facilitation approach focuses on identifying the range of perspectives that exist, and then working with participants to find common ground. We often use three to five focus questions over the course of two- or three-hour meetings, along with graphics and other materials (such as maps), and we provide varied methods for participants to provide feedback, such as using dots to express likes and dislikes (e.g., green dots to identify strengths and red dots to identify weaknesses), or sticky notes to get people moving around a room to review and comment on display boards. In every case, we provide opportunities for all participants to hear from each other – this is one of the critical education steps in the process. CUI has helped in arranging large-scale, high-profile, public engagement exercises (Toronto 2008 Olympic Bid, Toronto 2015 Expo bid), in bringing the corporate sector and social services to work together (Toronto City Summits 1 and 2), in designing, organizing, and facilitating high-profile events (more than 200 charrettes, 120 round table breakfast seminars, and 50 major conferences), and in facilitating large public meetings (Secondary Plan for the Toronto Central Waterfront, the Lawrence Heights Revitalization project). Members of our team have also carried out consultation and engagement projects in the United States (post-Katrina New Orleans, Norfolk, Baltimore, and Boca Raton) and for the United Nations.

We also believe in sharing knowledge. We use traditional and new media to reach out to constituencies and to involve people in a wide range of learning opportunities. We are committed to including people who are usually not involved in these kinds of discussions. Our practical experience with using new media in public engagement processes includes cable broadcasts (City Summit 1, Technical Forum), webcasts (Parc Downsview Park Annual Public Meeting 2006), special-purpose websites (Expo 2015 Bid consultations), online surveys (Urban Energy Solutions 2007, Canadian Sport Centre Strategic Plan, 2007), and blogs. We put public input in a context that is meaningful to decision makers and the citizens who participate. It is essential that participants are aware of their impact on the development of public policy. This creates participants who are engaged, committed, and clear about the contribution they are making to the quality of their daily lives.

See more pages related to CUI's connector practice.