Listen to the citizens stories!

Listen to the citizens stories; they are experts on the area they live in. They also have the ability to see the big picture, which the municipality often is unable to. Lisa Bomble, project leader for Planning in Dialouge and a PhD student at Chalmers University of technology talked about this at the event Urban Lunch-time, in Gothenburg, Sweden on 20 March.

We have already talked about this!

Lisa has conducted a study on dialogues with citizen and citizens' stories in Lerum and Uddevalla, in Sweden. Some of the experience gained from the study is that people's stories and needs are the same no matter who they talk to from the municipality; the residents' context is always the same. They also expect that the municipality can see and understand the big picture. The municipality, however, are not always aware of all the processes that occur which can cause problems. There is also often a frustration that residents are invited to an additional first meeting in the plan process, we have already talked about this two years ago!

Understanding the big picture through stories

Everyone tries their hardest, their intentions are always good but the result is not always ideal anyway according to Lisa. One of the success factors is to try and understand the big picture with the help of residents' stories. Another important aspect is to communicate the process and provide feedback on where in the process they are to the residents. The residents' own stories are a good source for providing feedback.

Time, transparency and trust

Residents often take the opportunity when meeting representatives from the municipality and talk about the issues the feel passionate for, even if the meeting is not about that particular issue. To get a comment that someone would rather have a new road than a school can in itself be relevant information, but the comment will be difficult to handle if it is the final meeting before the school gets built. By working with citizen participation when the problem gets described and defined and by having a transparent process that shows the work done and the process forward create understanding among the citizens. They can then give opinions that are linked to the issue and thus are easier to handle. It creates trust, but it takes time. To be able to create a good relationship with residents, it is all about time, transparency and trust.

Questions?

Contact project leader Lisa Bomble, lisa.bomble@chalmers.se

Read more about the project Planning in Dialouge