A big part of engaging citizens includes understanding the needs and wants of a particular community; the other part involves engaging people to take a deeper look at their built environment and public spaces. While both aspects of participation take time and commitment, the difficulty of the latter is compounded by a general vagueness in as to the manner of effective approach.
Public space (read: social, civic, democratic) is not easy to grasp, create or sustain. It is eternally becoming as it changes with social flows and physical interventions. Participation is a similarly slippery term, especially since it has become diluted and misused. In many ways, you cannot have public space without participation.
