ABSTRACT
Democracy demands that citizens play some role in making the decisions that govern them. Citizens in a democracy are not supposed to be simply passive targets of government policy; they should also participate. The policies of urban governments are always the result of participation of some citizens. The key question is the extent to which the demands that officials respond to and the policies they pursue can be representative of the interests of the whole urban population. Evidence indicates that reality falls far short of being representative of the entire population of a city.
