ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the need for planning practice to build on collaborative enquiries which identify not only possible futures, but the needs, desires, fears and limitations of stakeholders who can make things happen – or prevent them. It provides a general introduction to participatory methods, pointing out that most of the methods discussed in the rest of the book can be used in participatory enquiries. It then outlines in more detail two quite different approaches to participatory research in planning: one that involves practitioners and/or stakeholders through structured workshops, such as design charrettes or scenario building; the other grounded in participatory action research projects whose research aims are defined by the needs and desires of communities themselves, and whose methods and dissemination are the outcome of ongoing dialogue.
