Public participation in environmental decision making: Findings from communities facing toxic waste cleanup

Even though public participation is fundamental to the planning process, practitioners struggle with low levels of participation and with developing methods to broaden the public's voice in local decision making. I conducted a study to examine why some people participate in planning processes while others do not. Factors motivating participation were identified from the planning and political science literatures and their effects were empirically assessed using data from a survey of 341 residents in four North Carolina communities facing environmental decisions involving toxic waste sites. The results reveal that participation is limited by a lack of awareness of public meetings and that participation is more common than planners recognize because residents find ways to participate other than by attending formal meetings. These results challenge planners to reconsider their views of what participation entails and to consider policies proposed here to increase participation.