Gupte, J. Clark, L., Ghosh, D., Babu, S., Mehra, P., Raza A., Sharma, V., Kumar, Y., Mishra, A., Shrivastava, K., Kulkarni, P., Fort, R., Espinoza, A., Chuquipiondo, A., Rathore, J. & Pillai, D. (2022) Embedding Community Voice into Smart City Spatial Planning [IDS Policy Briefing, 186]. IDS.

Public participation in spatial planning is a vital means to successful policymaking and can be enhanced by combining geospatial methods with participatory learning and action. Based on a pilot study in Bhopal, India involving urban authorities, civil society organisations and experts in an informal settlement during Covid-19 lockdowns, the authors find that the obstacles to sustaining public participation are not technological, but arise from a lack of awareness of the added value of ‘second order solutions’. Researchers outline key approaches that emphasise short-term, feasible, and low-cost ways to embed community voice into participatory spatial planning.