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Public Participation in Urban Development: Case Studies from Cincinnati, Ohio Public participation in urban development: Case studies from Cincinnati, Ohio A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Geography of the College of Arts and Sciences by Susan L. Jakubowski B.A. Washington and Jefferson College M.A. University of Cincinnati 25 March 2014 Committee Chair: Colleen McTague, Ph.D. ii Abstract Public participation, a means by which citizens can influence local government in the decision making process, is commonly employed in American cities. Public participation is conceptualized as a significant element of democracy and as such, it is subject to impact in both practice and theory by changes in political ideology. Using three case studies of public participation in urban development projects in Cincinnati, Ohio, this research explores the way that participation strategies have evolved along with and in response to changes in political ideology. The results of these studies are then evaluated within a historical theoretical framework of public participation and indicate that contemporary strategies may not be adequately accounted for by traditional theorizations of participation. The results further indicate that concepts such as empowerment and the public should be expanded within the participatory framework to include the more recent ways in which they have manifested. iii Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Unifying Themes 9 Chapter 3: Marching to the beat of a silent drum: Wasted consensus-building and failed neighborhood participatory planning 19 Chapter 4: Saving the streetcar: Neighborhood organization, protest, and successful protection of an urban transportation project 59 Chapter 5: In my backyard: Empowered public participation in a rails-to-trails development project 88 Chapter 6: Conclusion 112 Works Cited 118 iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Statement of the problem The ‘participatory turn’ can be used to characterize the nature of urban development that has been occurring for over a decade (Krivy and Kaminer, 2013). This turn, characterized by an increased involvement of the public in the decision making processes of urban development, is both a reaction to and a reflection of broader shifts in the political ideologies governing contemporary urban policy making. Contemporary participatory strategies are tied historically to the strategies that developed in the 1960s under radical, reactionary, and anti-statist ideologies (Krivy and Kaminer, 2013). Since that time there has been significant shift in government policies towards governance, those processes which rely on market competition for the allocation of resources and which rely on networks with non-governmental actors such as the private corporate sector and the public citizenry to make decisions and implement policy (Tickell and Peck, 1996). Governance evolved out of neoliberal economic policies including devolution, privatization, and retrenchment and these policies carved out new entrepreneurial roles for American cities. The impact that this political shift had on public participation is ambiguous. One group of participation theorists argue that governance allows for more opportunities for public participation due to its collaborative nature and reliance on non-governmental partners (Denters and Rose, 2005; Osborne and Gaebler, 1992). The concern for this group is that the participation be useful and authentic and not merely posturing (King et al., 1998). Another camp, however, argues that contemporary participatory strategies have been divorced from these radical ideologies as well as any other significant and meaningful political ideologies and that instead these strategies have been rendered impotent 1 within the reigning sociopolitical context of neoliberalism (Beaumont and Loopman, 2008). Much attention has been given to how shifts in ideology in politics in general has impacted the nature of participation, but little has been given to how strategies have reacted to and evolved as a result of these changes. Not paying attention to contemporary strategies has resulted in theory lagging behind practice, exposing voids in the use of theory to account for these strategies within its existing conceptualizations. This research addresses that theoretical void by examining several current examples of public participation strategies and identifying the areas in which existing theory is unable to account for these strategies. A conceptual examination of the role of power in public participation is the main theme that unifies the three case studies that make up this research. Case studies The research that comprises this dissertation examines the state of public participation in urban development in Cincinnati, Ohio. Three case studies are presented and then evaluated within the existing theoretical literature. Each of the case studies is presented in an article formatted for submission to a peer-reviewed academic journal in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements for the Department of Geography. The first case study examines the outcome of the participatory planning process that was used to create the 2002 Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan. In that case, the planning process was very intensive and inclusive and produced a document that 2 created specific goals that reflected the input of participants. One of the goals of the plan called for specific amounts of housing to be developed over specific time periods in order to avoid the displacement of existing residents that many feared would happen with reinvestment into the area. Though satisfied with the goals, over time, participants were less and less satisfied with the results of the development due to the fact that no method for monitoring progress had been instituted, though it was specifically called for within the plan itself. In other words, it was unclear whether the goals were being met or not. In this pilot study, we created and tested a GIS based system to monitor progress on the housing goals and showed that progress could in fact be monitored. From this, we concluded that a participatory plan that creates specific goals but then does not monitor progress toward those goals renders the participatory process unsuccessful and powerless. The second case study examines the role that public participation played in the final stages of the decision making process that determined the fate of the Cincinnati streetcar project. Construction of the streetcar system began in 2012 though the project had been in the works for many years before that. The project began under the direction of then Mayor Mark Mallory despite the fact that consensus on the project was never achieved, neither within the city government nor the public. The main issues of contention were how the project would be funded for construction and operation and whether it was a viable engine for economic growth. The debate dominated the November 2013 election at which time it seemed an anti-streetcar city council had been elected and it was expected that this would obviously lead to the discontinuation of the project. The fate of the project came down to a final vote by City Council in December 3 of 2013 when the project was saved due to the swing votes of two council members. The next day the Cincinnati Enquirer proclaimed “Streetcar has engaged citizens to thank” (Andrews, 2013). Just days after the municipal election, a group of concerned citizens had formed a grass roots organization, Believe in Cincinnati, which sought to influence the outcome of the project. These citizens undertook a fast moving campaign in which they sought to organize a large, visible group of supporters of the project. They collected signatures for a charter amendment to continue the project and worked with council members and members of the corporate community to address the funding issues that were the concerns of council members. The participatory actions of this citizen group were successful in impacting a major urban development decision; however, the nature of the group, the types of participants and the actions undertaken by them do not reflect the typical way that these concepts are developed in participatory literature. The third case study examines the participatory strategy of a grass roots organization that is seeking to convert an abandoned train rail line into a multi-use recreational trail. This project, the Wasson Way project, was started in 2011 by an individual citizen who gathered public support via a door-to-door campaign and by addressing local neighborhood groups and retail merchants. He then presented the project to members of Cincinnati’s City Council and gained support among its members. His organization was incorporated as a non-profit with a Board of Directors and eventually evolved into an organized group with specific committees to address and carry out the many activities of the group. The group, with over 3000 supporters as of 2014, utilizes social media such as Facebook and a website to update its members of 4 the progress of the project, to inform members of upcoming activities, and to link the project to other relevant topics, such as healthcare, child safety, the national Rails-to- Trails movement, alternative transportation and concerns for property values in order to expand the support base for the project. At the time of this paper, the project was still in progress with the City working to secure the right-of-way necessary to begin construction.
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