ABSTRACT
Public participation professionals (PPPs) are individuals working in the public, private, or community sectors to design, implement, and/or facilitate public participation processes. The institutionalization of the public participation field is seen not only in the legislation that created participatory settings or public agencies dedicated to public participation, but also in the adjustment that the actors make to the new context created by laws. The power relationships associated with participatory processes and the context of commercialization that affects the activities of most PPPs represent important obstacles to innovation. David Kahane and Kristjana Loptson show that in the collaboration between academics and practitioners there is a strong potential for learning, critical reflexivity, and the transformation of practices. The enthusiasm in academic circles for deliberative democracy has also fostered the emergence of a new generation of participatory mechanisms that some PPPs have taken advantage of.
