Public Participation in the planning process is among the main pillars of the modern urban planning. General public, civil society organizations and citizens—as individuals and groups—have an essential role in preparing physical and development plans for their communities. The level of public in the planning process depends highly on the political and administrative system in the country. The decision makers’ well, therefore, to involve the community in the planning decision making is important to achieve effective and real involvement.

This study aims to investigate the community involvement in the planning and decision making process at the local level as a priority to the municipal election candidates in the West Bank. This ultimate goal was achieved by analyzing the municipal election campaigns for 475 election lists in 2017-municipal elections in the West Bank. The analyzed data includes: the election programs, the printed materials and the broadcasted interviews and video materials.

The study focuses on two aspects of the community involvement: (1) the community as an actor in the planning and decision making process; and (2) the community as a monitor on the municipality performance.

The results indicate that 54% of the campaigns considers the community as a main partner in the decision making process. A lower percent (11%) indicates that the community is/will be a monitor on the municipality performance. The study recommends to design and run awareness programs for the public and the candidates in order to deepen the understanding of the public participation in the development process.

Conference Title

2nd Palestine Urban Forum

Conference Country

Palestine

Conference Date

Oct. 30, 2017 - Oct. 31, 2017

Conference Sponsor

UN Habitat