ABSTRACT
In the 50 years since the publication of Sherry Arnstein’s “Ladder of Participation”, what have we learned about citizen participation that can help us plan for climate justice and resilience in the Anthropocene? How can the planning profession shift its paradigm to better disrupt inequitable systems and create structures to enable equitable, thriving communities? This chapter reviews lessons for practice from four female scholars (Sherry Arnstein, Donella Meadows, Audre Lorde, and Grace Lee Boggs) whose work responded to the social and ecological crises of the late 1960s. Although these four thought leaders did not appear to have been in dialogue with one another at the time, their work (1) named different aspects of the complex, interrelated social and ecological crises that contribute to climate injustice today, and (2) called on planners and community members to disrupt the systemic structures that threatened life on earth and to create new structures that redress the harm of past inequities. Drawing on their combined legacies, we offer seven propositions that complement Arnstein’s “Ladder of Citizen Participation” and support intersectional planning and movement building. We imagine that the ladder will continue to help planners name, expose, and oppose the noir side of citizen participation, including abuses of power and entrenchment of the status quo. Used in tandem, we imagine these propositions on collective power will support planners in facilitating processes that build collective capacity to advance climate justice and resilience.
