ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by outlining the current planning system and opportunities for engagement, particularly the idea of up-stream or early participation. It then moves onto discussing more fundamental difficulties with engagement within formal planning systems, and outlines the difficulties citizens experience. The chapter describes some of challenges that arise when citizens engage, and the obstacles they often face. Planning's democratic remit ensures that the process has to engage with citizens and communities that, by their very nature, are likely to experience and possess views about places. Planning attempts to combine elements of participatory democracy with, or rather within, a process of representative democracy. Processes attempt to engage a wide range of citizens in decision-making but it often comes across as tokenistic. The world of planning is and should be more than mere property acquisition. Equally, climate change impacts on distinctive places, the threat to home and shelter, and the ways that planning has been actively used against vulnerable ethnic societies.
