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The process and content of community education for participatory community planning in two towns in Massachusetts
Abstract
This study begins by reviewing the literature on community education, identifying two major strands, the progressive, exemplified by Elsie Ripley Clapp, and the conservative. The literature on citizen participation in planning, especially land-use planning, is reviewed and again two major forms are identified, the strong and the weak. A third review chapter examines relationships between education, planning, and democracy. A survey of environmental and planning professionals is used to create a starting list of categories for further qualitative research. Two towns are chosen for their small size, their rural character, their recent history, and their open Town Meeting-Board of Selectmen form of government. This form of local government, peculiar to New England, includes a local legislative body responsible for local law and taxation open to all registered voters, together with an executive branch. Citizens of these towns are therefore empowered by definition on at least one level to act regarding local political and economic conditions. Recent records of planning board meetings are examined and compared with the survey of professionals, resulting in the addition of several categories. The results of two series of community meetings is recorded, and there is a discussion of barriers to participation. The results of a survey of citizens in the two towns, the most successful aspect of the study, and one which again resulted in several more categories being derived, is then reported. The results of this triangulated study are summarized and discussed in the final chapter, which includes a discussion of the stimulation of motivation for participation. This discussion is based on the proposition that a reasonable expectation of positive action resulting from participation is a precondition for the stimulation of motivation. This realization of this expectation may be hampered by the powerful effects of outside political and economic forces but may be facilitated through increased self-reliance for basic needs satisfaction, enabling further empowerment. A final note concerns the implications for local government of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which could allow citizens formerly unable to participate increased access to participation in decision making.
Subject Area
Adult education|Education philosophy|Education history|Urban planning
Recommended Citation
Hutcheson, Thomas Worthington, "The process and content of community education for participatory community planning in two towns in Massachusetts" (1993). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9329629.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9329629