European inventory of
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» NEW! » Arnstein - A Ladder of Citizen Participation

Arnstein, S. P. (1969). A Ladder of Citizen Participation. Journal of the American Planning Association 35 (4): 216-224. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2018.1559388

Although not specifically devoted to cultural policy issues in a strict sense of the word, Arnstein’s classical article on citizen participation in urban planning is a good example and corrective for any project concerning participatory governance in culture.
Arnstein opens her article with a fundamental question: ‘What is citizen participation and what is its relationship to the social imperatives of our time?’ The model that she provides in response to this question has become one of the most widely referenced and influential models in the field. The author claims that the central issue in the concept of participatory governance is power relations and that a redistribution of power is needed to enable citizens to have purposeful and intentional involvement in decisions concerning their future.
In her typology of citizen participation, Arnstein defines eight rungs on the ladder of participation, where each one includes different participation levels, from manipulation and therapy through tokenism (informing, consultation and placation) to citizen power (partnership, delegated power and citizen control). According to the author, only the final, eighth rung, which offers citizens the possibility of the highest level of participation, should be understood as participatory governance in the true sense of the word. It is only this rung that provides citizens with a direct opportunity to share control and power with others, which serves as a guarantee that they will be included in decision-making processes.