ABSTRACT
A major concern over the past 20 years in both rich and poor countries has been with the establishment of greater public involvement in the process of environmental planning. This chapter explores the need for, and potential of public participation in the urban and regional development planning process in developing countries. Although it might be argued that public participation is essentially a preoccupation of planning in advanced industrial countries, it is increasingly coming to be accepted that it is just as important in less developed nations, albeit perhaps in a somewhat modified form (Conyers, 1982; Franklin, G.H., 1979; Potter, 1984b, 1984c).
