The focus of this article is about challenges and experiences with dialogue oriented
civic participation in urban development processes in Germany. The article builds
on the implementation and evaluation of several participatory processes, which were
realised in eleven German cities since 2012. In Germany, civic participation has become
an integral part of planning practice in most communal authorities in the past decades
and especially in the last fifteen years. Many methods for participatory planning
processes have been developed and municipal authorities set up their own guidelines
for good participation. Unfortunately, within the context of post-democratic trends,
public participation in local politics has received the same criticism from political
scientists, as has the representative democracy. In many cases, instead of being an
effective instrument for feedback between state and citizens, it reproduces social
injustice. The article analyses the challenges for civic participation regarding its
democratic legitimization and implementation practice within urban planning processes
between top-down oriented governmental actions and local bottom-up contexts. It ends
with a proposal of how civic participation could be improved and societal inclusion
strengthened in local democratic processes, and to increase the effectivity and acceptance
of public planning.
