"Deep engagement" and urban regeneration: tea, trust, and the quest for co-design at precinct scale

This research paper focuses a new methodology for community engagement: ‘deep engagement’, comprising a range of formal and colloquial actions to support community engagement in urban regeneration, and examine the responses of communities to redevelopment. The conceptualisation of ‘deep engagement’ emerged from ‘deep play’ (Geertz, 1973), arguing that our role, as researchers, is to endeavour to access to community perspectives-towards socially sustainable redevelopment. For this, ‘deep engagement’ comprises nurturing dependability among involved communities, to better embed socio-cultural diversities and local know-how in the processes of urban regeneration. This paper presents two case studies in Victoria (Australia), where the proposed methodology was tested in mid-suburban regeneration, at precinct scale. In result, ‘deep engagement' clarified the diversity of community concerns towards urban redevelopment. Additionally, this research demonstrates the importance of developing ‘deep engagement’ methodologies, integrating casual actions with communities, to enable the identification of opportunities for urban regeneration, and to encompass the diversity of socio-cultural needs at local scale. ‘Deep engagement' can support a better embededness of local know-how in urban design, planning processes, enhancing the quality of regeneration outcomes while reinforcing the participation of communities in the processes of decision-making.

[1]  John Forester,et al.  The Deliberative Practitioner: Encouraging Participatory Planning Processes , 1999 .

[2]  M. Marshall.  Sampling for qualitative research. , 1996, Family practice.

[3]  Rina Ghose,et al.  The complexities of citizen participation through collaborative governance , 2005 .

[4]  Annika Agger.  Towards tailor-made participation: how to involve different types of citizens in participatory governance , 2012 .

[5]  Ann McAfee.  Tools for Change: CityPlan Vancouver's Strategic Planning Process , 2013 .

[6]  Peter Newman,et al.  The participative route to sustainability , 2006 .

[7]  K. Kernaghan,et al.  Moving towards integrated public governance: improving service delivery through community engagement , 2009 .

[8]  S. Brody,et al.  Mandating Citizen Participation in Plan Making: Six Strategic Planning Choices , 2003 .

[9]  M. Murray,et al.  Governance and Community Engagement: The Australian Experience , 2017 .

[10]  Anselm L. Strauss,et al.  Basics of qualitative research : techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory , 1998 .

[11]  Anthony J. Nownes.  Citizen Participation in Local Government , 2007, Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, Third Edition.

[12]  P. Newton,et al.  Towards a new development model for housing regeneration in greyfield residential precincts , 2011 .

[13]  Jeff Sutherland,et al.  Manifesto for Agile Software Development , 2013 .

[14]  A. Kearns,et al.  Community engagement in regeneration: are we getting the point? , 2010 .

[15]  John Abbott,et al.  Sharing the City: Community Participation in Urban Management , 1996 .

[16]  Pieter Jan Stappers,et al.  Contextmapping: experiences from practice , 2005 .

[17]  Sharon Zukin.  The Cultures of the Cities , 1995 .

[18]  Jim Peterson,et al.  Urban Infill: Extent and Implications in the City of Monash , 2008 .

[19]  G. Bergeron.  La gouverne politique , 1977 .

[20]  S. Bond,et al.  Public Participation and New Urbanism: A Conflicting Agenda? , 2007 .

[21]  R. Eversole.  Remaking participation: challenges for community development practice , 2012 .

[22]  Michael Fagence,et al.  Citizen Participation in Planning , 1977 .

[23]  S. Glackin,et al.  Redeveloping the greyfields with ENVISION: using participatory support systems to reduce urban sprawl in Australia , 2013 .

[24]  Robert A. Kozak,et al.  Participatory landscape planning and sustainable community development: Methodological observations from a case study in rural Mexico , 2010 .

[25]  Guangyu Li,et al.  The future of infill housing in California: Opportunities, potential, and feasibility , 2006 .

[26]  C. Aulich.  From Citizen Participation to Participatory Governance in Australian Local Government , 2009 .

[27]  P. Newton,et al.  Understanding Infill: Towards New Policy and Practice for Urban Regeneration in the Established Suburbs of Australia's Cities , 2014 .

[28]  D. Day.  Citizen Participation in the Planning Process: An Essentially Contested Concept? , 1997 .

[29]  C. Geertz,et al.  The Interpretation of Cultures , 1973 .

[30]  Martin Mowbray,et al.  Community capacity building or state opportunism , 2005 .

[31]  D. Jarvis,et al.  Evidencing the impact of community engagement in neighbourhood regeneration: the case of Canley, Coventry , 2012 .

[32]  Randolph T. Hester,et al.  Community Design Today: From the Inside Out , 1989, Landscape Journal.

[33]  Marilynn B. Brewer,et al.  Principles and Methods of Social Research , 1986 .

[34]  Jane-Frances Kelly.  Cities: Who Decides? , 2010 .

[35]  P. Newman,et al.  The Costs of Urban Sprawl - Infrastructure and Transportation , 2010 .

[36]  Edmund M. Burke.  A participatory approach to urban planning , 1979 .

[37]  David R. Godschalk,et al.  A Collaborative Approach to Planning Through Urban Activities , 1966 .

[38]  Developing a community-based approach to urban redevelopment , 2001 .

[39]  Stephen Glackin,et al.  Processes for developing affordable and sustainable medium-density housing models for greyfield precincts , 2015 .

[40]  Jeffrey A. Juarez,et al.  Extracting or Empowering? , 2008, Landscape Journal.

[41]  N. Denzin,et al.  Introduction: The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research. , 2005 .

[42]  Mary M. Somerville,et al.  A comparative study of two design charrettes: implications for codesign and participatory action research , 2014 .

[43]  Keith Wiley,et al.  Infill Development: Perspectives and Evidence from Economics and Planning , 2011 .

[44]  A. Gilchrist.  The well-connected community: A networking approach to community development , 2004 .

[45]  C. King,et al.  Building capacity to engage: community engagement or government engagement? , 2012 .

[46]  Tone Bratteteig,et al.  Spaces for participatory creativity , 2012 .

[47]  S. Arnstein,et al.  Ladder of Citizen Participation , 2020 .

[48]  Crystal Legacy,et al.  Instruments of Planning : Tensions and challenges for more equitable and sustainable cities , 2016 .

[49]  Mark Francis,et al.  Proactive Practice: Visionary Thought and Participatory Action in Environmental Design , 1999 .

[50]  J. Innes,et al.  Reframing public participation: strategies for the 21st century , 2004 .

[51]  Pieter Jan Stappers,et al.  Probes, toolkits and prototypes: three approaches to making in codesigning , 2014 .

[52]  D. Silverman.  Doing Qualitative Research , 2009 .

[53]  Un-Habitat.  The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003 , 2004 .

[54]  J. Innes.  Planning Through Consensus Building: A New View of the Comprehensive Planning Ideal , 1996 .

[55]  P. Newton.  Beyond greenfields and brownfields: the challenge of regenerating Australia's greyfield suburbs , 2010 .

[56]  Stephen Glackin,et al.  Greening the Greyfields: Unlocking the Redevelopment Potential of the Middle Suburbs in Australian Cities , 2012 .

[57]  R. Burby.  Making Plans that Matter: Citizen Involvement and Government Action , 2003 .

[58]  C. Legacy,et al.  Understanding and addressing community opposition to affordable housing development , 2013 .

[59]  T. Reddel,et al.  From consultation to participatory governance? A critical review of citizen engagement strategies in Queensland , 2004 .

[60]  Leonie Sandercock,et al.  When Strangers Become Neighbours: Managing Cities of Difference , 2000 .