ABSTRACT
Participation in the planning process is the major independent variable. To explore some of the relevant variables in collaborative planning theory, a game has been designed around a model of a general planning situation. The underlying conceptual hypothesis is that acceptance of innovative features in community plans varies with participation in the planning process, tending to increase as participation increases. The player roles are defined by the general body of information on value preferences and life styles of low income slum residents and of middle income suburban residents. The experience from the pretests of the experimental game devised to test these hypotheses and the related propositions suggests that the game situation is much more related to the community conflict hypothesis, and that a separate game might be designed to explore the important phases of the innovation diffusion process prior to conflict.
